Not as big as Morrowind, but a game that will keep you occupied for quite some time.
Gameplay (9):
In a word, awesome. You can be just about any type of adventurer: warrior or pacifist, male or female, criminal or saint, sorcerer or brute, Khajit or Imperial. You have a vast number of possibilities for playing through the game, and if you are like me, will find yourself making multiple characters to play through the game on different files. In fact, it's almost a requirement in order to get all the guild accomplishments, unless you made a super-versatile character that can be successful in all the guild quests. For me it's more fun to play with a specialist that is very strong in a few fields.
The fighting is typical action-RPG fare. It involves selecting weapons and armor, and using different strategies on different enemies. Melee fighting may be a little simplistic, but there are techniques you can learn as you progress to make the battles more interesting. I prefer a good barehanded fighter who can use raw strength to pummel adversaries, but there is something to be said about sneaking around the forest in a chameleon camouflage and doing 6x damage with a bow and arrow. There is also the option to be a pure mage, and defeat opponents with your skills in the arts of wizardry.
Levelling up varies from skill to skill. I found that alchemy (especially with the crops from the farms), repair, and acrobatics were some of the easiest ones to upgrade. Magicks, speechcraft, armor and combat skills were fairly easy, but mostly because you use them so much. The slowest skills to upgrade would have to be mercantile and athletics. To make matters worse, you can no longer sell things for profit with a high mercantile rating, like you could in Morrowind. You can only break even at a maximum level. -- 9/10
World and Graphics (8):
The world is divided up into two parts, Tamriel - the "overworld", and Oblivion - the "underworld" which is full of lava and monsters. These realms are connected by numerous portals all over the map. Expansion packs add new realms, but I will only cover the main ones. You play most of the game in Cyrodiil, the imperial center, and start out in a dungeon just outside of the Imperial City. The overworld is full of stunning landscapes, and is highly mountainous. The detail in the world is very high, with many cities as well as cabins and farms in remote places, often located far off the main roads. It would take a very long time to explore it all.
The people, wildlife, and architecture all look superb, though most of the people could easily be re-created with the character creator (like the arena champion "adoring fan" that follows you around if you let him). But really, that just says more about the versatility of the character creator than the lack of variation in the game's characters. If I would give it one criticism, it would be that they all seem to have the same "average" build. No fat, skinny, muscular, tall or short characters. Every NPC is average everything. The only real difference lies in a character's race. Orcs can be really muscular, High Elves can be very tall, and Wood Elves are the runts of the game's races. Most human races are average size, with exception of the tall Nords.
Sound (8):
Though not usually something I pay a lot of attention to, the sounds of this game are really good. The voice acting is well done and there are so many characters with large dialog. I liked the music, and thought it fit the game well. Bethesda did a really good job producing sound for this game. -- 8/10
Story (9):
If you were judging the story by console RPG standards, this game would be pretty basic as far as main storyline. The main story is nothing more than finding an lost heir to the assassinated emperor, who initially doesn't know who he really is, and trying to restore the throne before a powerful cult named the Mythic Dawn overthrow the empire. They want to do this so that their daedric god may rule over both Oblivion and Tamriel, wreaking havoc on its citizenry. A pretty straightforward and short main quest, however, is not all this game has to offer in story.
In this game, you can join many guilds, the main ones being Mages', Thieves' and Warriors'. Each guild has its own story line, and you will also have many quests given to you by those you encounter throughout the game. This is where the depth of Oblivion comes in. Every person you meet on the street, and in inns, is a potential story. Some quests are rewarding, while others are just silly. You have to use some judgment on which ones you want to pursue, or else you will waste a lot of time. This flexiblity in story line makes it so you can pretty much choose your own story, which I think is a good thing. -- 9/10
Overall (8.5)
This game could be better in some areas, but the overall vastness and flexibility of the game make it a must for any fan of RPGs, or any gamer for that matter. This is also just one of those games that makes your Xbox 360 collections a real collection. I just couldn't see having a Xbox 360 without having this game. Though it may not take up as much of your time as Morrowind would have, it is definitely a time consumer. It's just fun to go around and see what you can do in this vast world. -- 8.5/10