Single-player RPG that boasts quality graphics, suitable soundtracks, and a huge storyline. Follows true to Morrowind.
The most important category in rating RPGs, and Oblivion scores a bulls-eye with the seemingly endless quests which are each designed to fit any level of player, whether you're a first time gamer, or a veteran first person shooter. There can be much said about the good things from Oblivion, but I'll concentrate on the downsides, since there's simply too much to enjoy about Oblivion.
Perhaps the most annoying fact about the gameplay is the physics engine in the game. Even first time players will notice this glaring problem with the character's inability to walk or jump over small boulders or even semi-steep inclines. For most games nowadays, the player could and should be able to climb up steep hills and jump up to boulders. However, in Oblivion, you'll often get stuck halfway up the hill/boulder. The weird part is that you seem to be walking smoothly up the hillside, then just as the gradient shifts a few more degrees, your character seems to have hit an invisible wall and will be unable to continue another inch up that said hill. Now, this may seem trivial at the moment, but if a monster is chewing at your leg at that time, or your mission goal is just 10 feet away from you, you'll be feeling much more passionate about this "glich" than right now. For those bunny-hopping fans out there, you're probably thinking you'll just leapfrog over the hill, but unfortunately, this "glich" is complete in the sense that there is no way around it. You could jump all year, and all you'll accomplish is increasing your acrobatics skill... and still be 10 feet away from your goal. Even horses face the same problem, as they'll hit that invisible wall just as you do.
The next problem in Oblivion is the auto-levelling of enemies. So if you're a Level 1 character, most of the enemies you face will be levelled so that you have a chance at beating it, while if you're a Level 20 character, most of the enemies are in the range of level 15-25. This can have both good and bad results.
The good is obviously that you'll get a challenge throughout the game without the problem of you overpowering your enemies late in the game with your level 50 character and vice versa for the monsters.
However, this brings about the problem of not having any incentive for the player to level up! I mean, why in the world would anyone want to level up above level 16, when at level 16, all the loot is already maximized? If it wasn't for the better loot, there wouldn't even BE any reason to level up. So by auto-levelling foes, Bethesda has created an environment where you seem to be doing things very repetitively; at level 1, you need to smack a goblin 4 times to kill it, and at level 30, you STILL need to hit for 4 times. That, I don't understand the concept of.
Amongst all the good parts in Oblivion's gameplay is the intricate network of triggers in the game. What I mean by this is that quite a few of the quests are interlinking, so by completing a quest, you may change the reactions of some of the computer AI characters towards you. For example, before you join the figher's guild, and you talk to figher's guild members, they'll treat you like a weakling, but after joining, and advancing in ranks, they'll treat you with respect. The spinoffs from this are great, as you can tell. For instance, you can use this newfound respect to tease out some extra juicy info from those mentioned figher's guild members after joining the guild.
Another great feature accompanying Oblivion is the difficulty slider. It lets you instantly change the difficulty of the game, even in mid-swing of your sword. This lets novice players get through the more challenging parts of the game without dying 15 times, so it helps keep the flow of the game while still allowing expert players to slide the difficulty right to the end, so that even a rat takes 3 blows to be vanquished. This slider is innovative in the sense that it doesn't give you only 3 degrees of freedom as most games do by giving a choice between "easy", "medium", and "hard". Instead, it is a freely adjustable slider that can suit ANY player's standards. Thus, the difficulty of Oblivion can be nothing but "just right".
Graphics:
Nothing much needs to be said about the graphics simply because they're the best graphics in an RPG in the present era with the exception of Half Life 2. However, the sheer variety of weaponry and armor that you get to see equipped on your character and on enemies make up for the lack in pure video quality. Also, the world graphics are truly amazing, especially with the "make it pretty" mods available through this very site. The sky changes colours, clouds appear and disappear with the time of day and region in Cyrodiil, and even the shadows lengthen according to the sun's movement. However, you do need a top-of-the-line video card to view Oblivion at it's max settings. I have a Radeon 9600 XT, and even that only gives me low settings on the auto-setup.
Sound:
Great soundtrack that really captures the mood of the player whether it is during a peaceful gallop around the countryside, a fierce battle with a Dremora lord, or a suspenseful nightime stalking of an assassination mark.
Value:
With a game that comes with so many quests, value isn't even an issue. Oblivion easily generates at least 50 hours of gameplay on the first run, even for those veteran players who are used to first person fighting games. To add even more value to the game, Bethesda has continued on with Morrowind's create a player attribute selector. So even after one playthrough of the storyline, many will be tempted to restart a new character and try out new abilities and strengths. The beauty of Oblivion is that no one character is complete, so if you're a melee warrior mage the first time, you'll still need to experience the suspense of being an archer thief in order to feel the complete Oblivion experience. As well, after one playthrough, you'll most likely be yearning for more gameplay experience that lets you explore Cyrodiil to it's limits (all 16 miles of it) while the spectacular Oblivion soundtrack strums out from your speakers.
Pros: Amazing game length, huge variety of spells, weapons, armors, and attributes, great soundtrack.
Cons: Poor physics engine, auto-levelling, resource hog.