One of the best role-playing games ever made.
You start off as a prisoner in the Imperial City jail. Right off the start you get to customize the look of your character, the race of your character, and even the gender. The customization for facial features is phenomenal. Trying to make two characters look alike would be truly impossible. After your done with your character the game picks right up. The Emperor of Cyridil comes to you, and recognizes you right off the bat. He's seen you in a dream and he explains that he needs you. Right away the game gives you a huge responsibility. As you make your way out of jail, you get your first glance at the amazing environment.
Oblivion has an enormous open world. There are over five different cities you can explore, and they are all filled with different races and shops. The variety of people to interact with in this game is incredible, and they all have amazingly unique voices. There are priests, soldiers, townsfolk, shop owners, and much much more. In each city there are a variety of four different guilds. The Dark Brotherhood is the assassination guild, the Fighters Guild is the guild that solves problems with force, the Mages Guild is the Magic based faction, and then there is the Thieves Guild, were you go around stealing historical objects. Each guild throws a lot of missions at you, and each has an amazing ending. In the end though, you end up being the leader of each guild.
After your done exploring the cities you can travel outside and see everything from snowy mountains, to bandit camps. Exploring all the locations in this game would be near impossible to do, not to mention that it would take hours to do. There are dungeons, caves, towns, and much more to explore. At almost every area there is a side mission to do, and with over one hundred different locations, that leaves over one hundred different side missions. At least enough to keep you playing until the next installment comes out.
Positives:
+ Hundreds of side-missions will keep you playing long after you complete the story.
+ Tons of weapons and weapon types to choose from.
+ The customization of your character is mind-blowing.
Negatives:
- Lots of brief loading screens.
- Every now and then AI's facial expressions freeze up.