The Graphics Comparison
There's a lot more to Oblivion than pretty graphics, but frankly, those pretty graphics can have a lot to do with how much you end up enjoying the experience. Let's examine how the PC version compares with the Xbox 360 version strictly from a visual standpoint. We'll show you direct comparisons using three separate PC setting configurations. All images were captured at 480p and resized to fit the screen. The PC version has a slightly cleaner capture because we couldn't pull shots directly from the frame buffer in our retail Xbox 360 version. The images show the major differences between the consoles and graphics settings, but they shouldn't be used for texture quality and similar fine-detail comparisons. Look for our upcoming Oblivion Hardware Performance Guide for a full rundown on all the video settings and how they affect frame rate.The Xbox 360 screenshot is displayed by default. Roll your mouse cursor over each image to see the PC-equivalent screenshot.
Xbox 360 versus Low-Spec PC
If you have a PC that squeaks by the minimum specification with a sub-$100, 4-pipe graphics card, you'll need to turn down almost all the graphics settings to get frame rates up to a satisfactory level. Unfortunately, the PC experience becomes unplayable at the bare minimum graphical settings. Avoiding monsters and finding areas to explore can be difficult if objects don't pop into view until they're right in front of you. The Xbox 360 version of the game wins hands down against Oblivion on a low-end PC. Not only are you getting much more detail and richer color, but the game also runs much more smoothly.
Xbox 360 versus Mid-Spec PC
A medium spec PC with a decent processor and a mid-range DirectX 9 video card like a GeForce 6600 GT allows you to enable a few more graphics settings like view distance and some shadows. Take it easy on the view distance settings since they will lower the frame rate. The Xbox 360 version of the game looks slightly better overall, though not by much. It also runs smoother, though you can't see that from a still image. You can tweak a mid-range PC to look just as nice, but don't be surprised if frame rates dip into the teens.
Xbox 360 versus High-Spec PC
Oblivion looks better on a high-end PC than on the Xbox 360. Note the additional foliage visible in the background. We matched up resolutions for screenshot comparison purposes here, but a high-end PC with an AMD Athlon FX-60 CPU and GeForce 7900 GTX graphics card can enable all the settings and take resolutions up to 1600x1200 or more and still maintain smooth frame rates. We noticed that the Xbox 360 version had better antialiasing since our PC version couldn't enable HDR and antialiasing at the same time. Of course on the PC version, you can get rid of jaggies the old-fashioned way by jacking up the resolution.
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