ign: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/691/691449p1.html

February 24, 2006 - Stumbling from the elevator of San Francisco's Clift Hotel, I was still rubbing the sleep from my eyes, yet couldn't be more alert. After a short trek down a purple hallway lined with massive circular mirrors, IGNPC's Dan Adams and I were greeted by Bethesda's VP of Public Relations and Marketing, Peter Hines. He led us to a sizable suite where we could sit down at one of around 20 23-inch LCD TVs, all displaying the start screen for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Unlike many gaming events, there wasn't pounding techno music or other pretenses that suggested we weren't all present solely to play videogames. The room was dark and quiet with headphones at every station; the perfect way to experience a four-hour play session of Oblivion.

Dan sat down at one of about 10 PC stations, while I made my way over to the Xbox 360 table. After picking up the controller and hitting the start button to begin my journey, I only moved once over the next four hours to get a coffee (aka nectar of life). In case you didn't already know, Oblivion promises to be a titanic single-player only experience for those willing to put in the time. Just running through the main questline alone will take around 20 to 25 hours. Checking out all the superfluous content such as cavernous dungeons, mountainside cottages and completing the various Guild and NPC quests across Cyrodiil will take well over 200 hours, according to Bethesda.

Since the game is so huge, even a four-hour session only barely scratches the surface. It proved to be enough, however, to fully create a character, escape the first dungeon, explore part of the outside world, do some quests, steal a horse, join a Guild and level up. Once out of the initial dungeon, Dan and I tried to head in different directions and involve ourselves in different communities to present the most comprehensive play summaries possible. After reading through here, be sure to head over to Dan's preview for more detail as well as specifics on how the PC version played. Since this preview is not short, you may just want to load up the new interview and gameplay footage to accompany your reading.

Oblivion begins with a character creation screen. I chose to play as a male Imperial, a race that closely resembles humans. Oblivion gives you a surprising amount of options for adjusting facial appearance, providing sliders for manipulating cheek angle, forehead slope, eye size and separation as well as hair style and color. By the time I was done, my character looked suspiciously like Alan Rickman's Snape from Harry Potter.

The game started me in a dungeon you've all probably seen by now, with its hanging chains and insult-spewing prisoner across the hall. The emperor Uriel Septim wanted to escape the castle through a hidden alcove in my cell. On his way by, he recognized me as someone with a higher purpose and allowed me to follow him into a network of stone tunnels and grimy warrens called the Imperial Sewers. This area serves as a training ground, as I faced off against easy foes like rats, weakling goblins and slow moving zombies. On my way through I picked up a bow and arrow, mortar and pestle, a two-handed warhammer, upgraded leather armor, a few shields and a ton of rat meat.

I was given a brief tutorial of stealth mode, which is activated by clicking down on L3 (left joystick) and puts up an eye icon in the center of the screen. As long as the icon remained translucent, I was hidden. There's a cavern area in the Imperial Sewers where a few goblins mull around campfires. I snuck up behind one while stealthed, readied my bow and arrow and launched a sharp projectile at the back of his head. Upon impact, a message popped up at the top of the screen indicating I'd just done double damage with the sneak attack. The goblin tried to charge me afterwards, but I was able to kill him by quick-switching to my two-handed warhammer and crushing his nose.

The quick-switch weapon and spell feature is extremely useful for eliminating baddies in Oblivion. When I accessed my menu to equip weapons, armor, items and spells, I was able to press Y over a highlighted item to bring up an eight-slot radial menu. The slots correspond to the eight directions on the D-Pad. Pressing a direction on the D-Pad equips that item to the corresponding slot. This way, I was able to input my most frequently used spells and weapon sets for quick access while fighting.

Since weapon swings and spell casts are initiated with different buttons, Right Trigger (RT) and Right Bumper (RB), respectively, this allowed for highly effective combat techniques. For instance, I could hit RT to swing the warhammer, hit RB right after to launch a fireball, switch over to my iron longsword and shield combo for added defense and faster attack speed, switch to a healing spell to regain health, then back to the hammer for a powerful finishing blow. If I'd bothered, I could have also mapped healing potions and spell scrolls for added help in battle.

Weapon swings come in two varieties, weak and strong. Tap RT for a quick, weak attack. Hold RT for a stronger but more drawn out attack. Holding RT also charged my character forward a few steps, so it's ideal for kicking off a fight. While swinging my weapon I had to take into account my fatigue level, which ticked away with every swing, and regenerated when standing still or walking slowly. The difference between cutting through the air with a one-handed longsword versus the warhammer was extremely noticeable, with the warhammer taking a painful amount of time to wind up. When not swinging your weapon, I had to actually tap Left Trigger (LT) to put up my shield or weapon to block. It didn't happen automatically.

Moving on from the downed goblin, I set my sights on a magic caster standing by a larger fire in the cavern. Before doing anything, I opened my inventory and poisoned my sword with a potion I was carrying. I snuck an arrow into the back of the caster's head only to realize that a goblin archer had been standing next to him the whole time. The ensuing battle was frantic, especially since the caster seemed to be having a great time launching lightning bolts at me.

Switching to my shield and longsword, I pursued the archer first. I took a few arrows, but managed to cut him down after he fled from my charge. Circling around to the caster, I closed the distance between us while launching fireballs to lessen his health. Coincidentally, enemy health can be seen during combat as an arc curved around the targeting reticule at the center of the screen. As my fireballs landed, his arc shortened enough until I was able to render his ugly face dead with a few swings.

Plundering the corpses for loot turned up a number of valuables including the caster's staff, called a goblin shaman staff. It was a magic item, denoted by a blue circle next to its inventory icon, and still had some charge left. In fact, it had a charge of 78 out of 150, with eight uses left. I'd also picked up something called a soul gem which could be used to recharge magic items. Using the gem brought up a menu of all my magic items. Having only one, the staff was the sole item listed. The gem didn't recharge the staff all the way, but did allow me to get a few more uses out of it. Eventually, more powerful stones can be found that recharge your items all the way, even a few that recharge every magic item in your inventory. Repair hammers, which I found a few of, work in much the same way, allowing you to mend weapons and armor that have been beaten up in combat.

When equipped, the staff appeared as a long wooden stick with a goblin's bloody head on the end of it. While checking out my character model holding the staff on the menu screen, I happened to notice that a few of the archer's arrows were still sticking out of me. These went away after a time, but it was interesting to note that when I got hit by arrows, some of them were actually added to my inventory. Not all of them, however, since, according to Bethesda, some are assumed to be broken. Still, for a character with a heavy emphasis on archery, that's a useful yet counterintuitive feature if you ever run out of arrows in a tough spot.

Though the battle was over, one more problem cropped up as I went to move further into the sewers: I was encumbered. Basically, this means I'm carrying too much equipment to move. The only solution is to toss the most useless, heaviest items in my inventory. Trust me, throughout the course of Oblivion you're going to be picking up a lot of junk. For instance, I tossed away a human ribcage, a skull, a shield and some armor that were duplicates of what I was already using so I could move again. I also had a multitude of potions and alchemy reagents like flowers and plants, which, if I wanted to, could mix together to form more powerful items.

Soon after I met up with Uriel again, who had taken another path through the catacombs. He kept getting attacked by would-be assassins, and he instructed me to follow him and his guard as they attempted to flee the city. I eventually wound up in a stone walled room with Uriel as his guards battled enemies outside. He gave me his Amulet of Kings and instructed me to pass it along to Jauffre, who could be found at Weynon Priory outside the city of Chorrol. Apparently it was Jauffre who would know more about the location of the emperor's son; the one destined to sit on the throne. It was at this point I was able to pick a birth sign. Though there were many options, I chose the Warrior, which gave me 10 bonus points to my strength and endurance statistics.

Eventually the guards came back in, and I was then asked to pick my class. There were even more choices here, ranging from Warrior and Bard to Witch Hunter and Battlemage. I was also able to completely custom build my own class. When I chose that option, the game asked three questions. First, I had to choose between concentrating on combat, magic or stealth. Second, I could pick two primary attributes, either speed, personality, luck, willpower, agility, endurance, intelligence or strength, which would give me another bonus. Next, I had to pick seven major skills, be it destruction magic, heavy armor, blades or numerous others which would give me even more bonuses. Lastly, I got to enter a custom name for my class, for which I put Groindestroyer. It wasn't a very good name. In the end, I just went with the Barbarian class for simplicity's sake. A Barbarian, as you might expect, is focused on combat. My favored attributes were strength and speed, and my major skills were armorer, athletics, blade, block, blunt, hand to hand and light armor. All in all, it just means I can totally destroy stuff.

With my character totally customized and my first quest handed to me, I hacked through the remaining rats and zombies in the murky sewers. As I approached the exit grate to the outside world, the game prompted me with a list of all the decisions I'd made so far. I agreed with them, so I continued on. However, you're able to change any of your decisions regarding character customization up to this point if you wish.

Finally free of the darkness, I found myself on a grassy slope looking out over a rippling body of water flanked by misty mountains. For escaping the sewers, I earned my first Oblivion Achievement, of which there are many. The draw distance was truly impressive. However, the extremely low resolution textures that blanketed the far-off mountains caused me to wince. It can be understood that for the sake of framerate, high resolution textures can't be loaded everywhere. Still, the far off tracts of land and hill didn't look very good. That being said, the textures surrounding my character, the various sizes of trees closer to the water and the small bushes and vegetation around me were great. The sky, too, was packed with detail. I'd apparently emerged right before dusk, as stars were starting to come out all over the orange-blue sky and a huge, red moon loomed on the horizon behind banks of wispy cloud.

It was at this point I started playing around with Oblivion's third-person perspective. Clicking down on the right stick (R3) pulls the camera back behind your character letting you see all the armor and weapons you've equipped. Unfortunately, the controls felt slippery while in this mode and overly sensitive, causing my character to often head in directions I hadn't intended. Hopefully this is an issue that gets worked out before the title releases.

Just over the river were a few bandits who attacked me on sight. After forcefully plowing my sword into them, I managed to net a two-handed claymore from their camp. It was at this point I remembered my time with the game was limited, so I brought up my map, found Weynon Priory and fast-traveled there. The fast-traveling system is an extremely welcome convenience after the ridiculous amount of plodding around characters had to do in Morrowind. Some locations in Oblivion, mostly major towns, are immediately accessible by fast-travel. Other, more remote locations, like cottages or farms, required that I actually walk up to them in the game world before a fast-traveling option would be available.

Within seconds, I was standing before the Priory, a stately stone building, and found Jauffre not far inside. After handing over the Amulet, he told me I needed to go out to Kvetch in search of Martin, the emperor's son. A mere matter of seconds later, I'd fast-traveled over to Kvetch. Of course, finding Martin wasn't as easy as it seemed. My arrival in town followed the appearance of an Oblivion Gate, and Martin was trapped near it. Making my way through the makeshift camp the town's survivors had built, I made my way up a hill towards the actual walled city of Kvetch.

As I climbed, the sky grew dark, thunder rumbled above and eventually a light rain began to fall. I reached the summit to find a massive fiery gate planted in front of Kvetch's main entrance. A nearby guard informed me how the gate had suddenly appeared and Daedra, demons from the Oblivion dimension, had poured out and ravaged the town. Looking at the ruined stone walls and fires behind the gate, it was clear the Daedra weren't the kindest of creatures. The gate itself was a graphical treat, with torrents of fire swirling between two massive stone columns. Emanating from the angry portal were waves of heat distortion as well as more Daedra. Crap! The guards and I managed to take down the few that spilled out, and afterwards I offered my help in defending Kvetch. Doing this involved heading into the Oblivion portal and finding a way to shut it.

However, I decided to locate Martin first. Finding myself in a ruined courtyard before a sprawling Gothic cathedral, I was jumped by four more Daedra that were damn difficult to defeat. I managed to do it, though, thanks to my claymore and healing spell combo. The church itself, called the Chapel of Akatosh, featured some great graphical effects, particularly the faint glow behind the massive stained glass windows and the architecture of the vaulted ceilings and stone buttresses. I found Martin inside as well.

My task was to bring him back to Jauffre in order to begin work on thwarting Dagon, the Prince of Destruction. However, Martin didn't want to leave the people he'd rescued and brought to the cathedral. At least, not until the Oblivion Gate was closed. Unfortunately, heading into the portal was forbidden by Bethesda, so my experience with Oblivion's main questline ended here.

That doesn't mean the overall experience ended. After Kvetch, I fast traveled west to a town called Anvil. Just outside the town was a stable, and in the stable were a few white horses. Though there are several types available in Oblivion, horses are generally very expensive. This particular white horse cost 4,000 gold, which I definitely didn't have. Instead of paying, I just stole it.

After riding it around for a while, I can definitely say horses give you a significant speed boost and are much more fun to use than your feet. They are susceptible to fall damage and enemy weapons, however. Should they die, you have to buy a new one. Also, if you actually own one, they will go along with you when you fast travel. If they're stolen, they'll simply walk back to the stable when you get off.

I dismounted and was greeted with a dialogue screen suggesting I take a nap. After a solid eight hours of sleep, I discovered I'd leveled up. Leveling in Oblivion isn't something based on experience points, but rather on skill improvement through use. The more you jump and run, the more your acrobatic and athletic skills increase. The more you swing swords, the better your blades, the more you sneak, the more stealthy you become. Once a certain amount of skills are increased by a specific number of points, you level up. Leveling enables you to increase some of your attributes, making you more powerful, able to carry more, able to cast more spells, or myriad other improvements depending on where you allocate your points. I was able to choose three attributes: speed (+4), endurance (+2) and strength (+2). The numbers in parentheses represent bonuses based on my previous character customization decisions.

I then headed into Anvil, a city of decent size with stone buildings that seemed to mix stark Grecian columnar designs with more ornate bits of architecture. I found the Fighters Guild not too far inside the walls, and signed up immediately. Some guy named Azzan declared me an Associate, and I took on my first quest assignment. It seemed simple enough: find Arvena Thelas in Anvil and take care of her rat problem. Pretty standard rat kill quest, I thought.

Back on Anvil's cobblestone streets, I checked the compass in the bottom center of my screen to figure out what direction Arvena's house was. In Oblivion, the location of whatever quest you've selected as active in the journal is marked on your map. It's also marked on your compass, and even color coded. A red arrow on your compass means the objective is indoors. In order to reach them, you'll need to first enter a building. If it's green, however, you'll know the target is outside. This should prove immensely helpful in larger cities and crowded forests.

Arvena's house wasn't far from the Guild. I found her upstairs, crying about her rats. Specifically, she was crying about how her beloved rats were being mauled by some creature in the basement. In the basement, I found Arvena's rats were being carved up by a gigantic mountain lion, who I promptly dispatched with my still-useful claymore. Arvena then tasked me with eliminating the source of the lions. I had to track down a hunter named Pinarus Inventius, who led me a little way outside the city. There, we battled against a pack of mountain lions, and were decidedly victorious. But the questline wasn't over.

Upon returning to Arvena's house to tell her the threat was eliminated, I found yet another mountain lion in her basement. After slaughtering it, Arvena told me she'd seen a neighbor, Quill-Weave, snooping around her house at night. I headed back to the streets and found the intrepid lurker. I tailed her until dark, and in the process witnessed Quill-Weave engage in several random NPC conversations, evidence of Oblivion's Radiant AI system at work. In the course of a couple hours of Oblivion game time (a few minutes in the real world), she managed to hit on a town guard and I overheard another conversation trashing Arvena for having rats in her basement. Eventually Quill-Weave snuck behind Arvena's house, placing a piece of meat near an entrance to the basement.

When I approached her, Quill-Weave explained she had no intention of luring mountain lions in, but rather thought the meat would lure the rats out. However, she offered me a bonus to my acrobatics skill if I kept it quiet. When I returned to tell Arvena I'd solved the problem, I neglected to mention Quill-Weave and got a cash reward anyway. Upon returning to the Fighters Guild, I was promoted to Apprentice, and also told by Bethesda I needed to leave.

To try and sum up this mess of a hands-on, the Xbox 360 version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is looking very good. Its framerate did tend to slow down a little when characters crowded onscreen, but that didn't make it any less playable. The game enters a loading screen when moving through doors, and in open areas will take brief pauses to load new textures when traveling across the countryside. Across all instances of loading, they were consistently swift. The only disappointing features I saw were the wonky third-person controls and ultra low-resolution textures that blanketed distant objects. Other than that, shadows, character detail, weapon models, water effects and animations all looked excellent. The PC version looked slightly sharper and ran at a better clip than the Xbox 360, but Dan and I agreed both looked strikingly similar. Clearly, there's a ridiculous amount of options available to players, way too many to fully describe in this preview. While I was only able to get four hours of play, I definitely got hooked. Writing this preview made the urge to play even worse.

Contrary to rumors flying around, Bethesda has not made an announcement about the official release date. However, they are promising the date soon, as Peter Hines states in our new Oblivion interview you'll find in the media section below. Be sure to check out the new gameplay footage and screens as well. Of course, we'll have the release date as soon as it's available.