A very interesting and worthwhile investment that's strong points are also it's vices.
The bad: A lot of the ground in the Shivering Isles is unwalkable, making it very difficult to manuever. The characters are insanely loopy, but there's not very many of them outside the two town's and that only makes up a small portion of each realm. No new music.
The Elders Scroll 4 was one of the most anticipated games in recent memory, and it's safe to say it more than lived up to the enormous expectations. The world was huge, unique, and incredibly interesting even for just exploring. The Shivering Isles breathes new life into a game I was plenty sick of, adding interesting and completley loopy characters, much more interesting and engaging enemies than the ones in the original game and a pretty large new world to explore. The scenery is completely different, adding giant mushrooms, waterfalls, and generally more interesting landscaping than that of the original game. Unfortunately, the new landscape is a little difficult to manuever about, as it is covered in huge mountainous hills that you are unable to walk up, causing you to make huge detours as you explore the Shivering Isles. Though the rest of the land you can walk on seems much more adapted for humans than the original game, covered with bridges, new paths, and all kinds of crazy landmarks. The most dissapointing thing about the Isles though, is that it has the same sound as the original Oblivion. For those of you who left the music to the quiet whisper the game's defaults set it at, you're missing out. Pumping up the music to full volume adds a whole new level of epicism to the game, and makes it generally more interesitng. The music is beautifully orchestrated, making you feel like you're in a giant world full of mysticism and magic. So one would hope that a new twisted fantasy world would come equipped with the proper background music, and sadly this isn't the case. Fortunately, the music is still good from the original game, though some new music fitted for this new insane world would have been nice, especially to see how the developers at 2K would have complimented such an oddly-off beat world. But overall, the Shivering Isles is a great expansion, breathing new life into the world of Oblivion, and adding a fantastically interesting story and landscape, only bettering the Elder Scrolls formula. gameplay: same engaging battle system from the original, plays great, almost too like an action game, but the simplicity quickly reminds you that you're playing an RPG.
graphics: beautiful, engaging landscape can keep you stuck in it for hours, maybe almost leaving you a little bit loopy as well.
sound: same great orchestrated music as the original, sadly though, it's the same. it would have been nice to have some new tunes to aid you on your adventure.
value: for 30$, or even 18$ at circuit city, you can't go wrong.
tilt: flaws and benefits alike, this is still a must have for fans of Oblivion, especially those who have grown bored of the original game.