Take A Byte XIII

By Tristan Clark

Tristan can't wait for the release of Oblivion.

Like so many people, I am feverishly awaiting the release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The game promises to totally take over my life for a good few weeks, which really is a worry, considering I’m doing Honours at university and am actually expected to do a lot of study. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be studying – anything from alchemy and acrobatics to destruction magic and stealth. Somehow, though, I don’t see those things lending themselves too well to an essay on the theory of narrative structure.

Real-life woes aside, it really is amazing how much stuff there will be in Oblivion. The graphics look great, the world is simply huge, every NPC lives out their own lives, and – my personal favourite – every line of dialogue in the game is spoken. They’ve recorded over 50 hours of dialogue, which will apparently take up half the DVD. That’s pretty crazy.

To me, Oblivion looks like a true next-gen title. It’s the kind of game that actually seems to belong on a flash new console like the Xbox 360, rather than simply being a current-gen title with a fresh coat of paint, as so many of the launch titles are. The new consoles (bar the Revolution it seems) are really taking a ‘more of the same’ approach in this generation. We’ll be seeing the same kind of games – I imagine it’ll be hard to move for all the WWII shooters that will continue to flood the market.

It generally takes a lot for a console to impress me, but things must be pretty bad for the 360 when the game I’m most looking forward to playing on it is Street Fighter II, a game that is about 14 years old. That’s why it’s so encouraging when a game like Oblivion comes along – it’s got the fancy new graphics, but it’s also doing things that simply couldn’t have been done a few years ago.

There are certainly other console titles coming out that look interesting and original. Mass Effect, an epic new RPG from Bioware, looks pretty cool. I imagine Halo 3 and the next GTA will be lots of fun. But none of these titles will ever convince me to leave my PC – after all, they’ll either come out on the computer, or I’ll still be too busy playing Oblivion. Games like these are still in the same basic mould as so many titles before them.

That’s why Nintendo’s Revolution has got me so interested. If you haven’t read about the crazy controller that will come with it, stop reading this and hunt for some info, now. If you do know what I’m talking about, you’ll agree that Nintendo are moving off in a completely new direction. The controller can detect motion, tilt, etc, and also be used as a pointer, opening up all kinds of possibilities for games. Imagine a sword-fighting game, where you will actually be able to use the controller as a sword hilt, swinging it around and watching your onscreen version do the exact same movements. Hell, if they make a Star Wars lightsaber game like this, I’m going out and buying a Revolution.

It’s obviously getting harder to make original titles that stray from the standard archetypes, but amidst the sea of clones and sequels it’s always nice to see a standout game that dares to be a bit different, or try and push back boundaries. That’s why Oblivion looks so good, and why the Revolution has captured the imagination of so many people in the industry.

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