Oblivion
Category: PlayStation 3, Posted: 03/27/2007 at 03:45AM CDT by Brendon Lindsey, Editor-in-Chief- Oblivion
- PlayStation 3
- Bethesda Soft.
- Bethesda Soft.
- March 20th, 2007
By now, you probably know all about Oblivion. Bethsoft's hit RPG isn't exactly a cult sensation, and it was in the running for most Game of the Year contests. Days ago it celebrated its first birthday, which happened to coincide with its release on the PS3. Rather than go into all of the details and nuances of the game itself, I'm mostly going to focus on what's better/worse in the PS3 version; if you want to know all about the actual game, go ahead and check out our original Oblivion review.
Many PS3 owners I've spoken to have asked me if Oblivion on the PS3 is worth it. On one hand, it's a game which is now over a year old, and which many gamers already own on either the PC or 360. On the other hand, it's one of the few titles out for the PS3 which may justify the purchase of the console for some gamers. On the PS3, Oblivion has plenty of strong points, and is a great buy if you've never played it. If you do own a previous version of Oblivion, whether or not you pick this up depends on how desperate you are to justify your PS3, and how picky you are when it comes to having "the best" of something. Is it better than the previous iterations, though?
Basically, it all boils down to what you're looking for. The first major problem with the PS3 version of Oblivion is that right now, no one's completely sure when we'll see the Shivering Isles expansion. This gives the 360 and PC versions an inherent lead over the PS3, as the expansion looks to provide a lot of entertaining gameplay which will make an already stellar game better.
You may not be concerned about the expansion, though. Maybe the incredible amount of depth and replayability in Oblivion is all you really care for. In that case, the PS3 is superior to the 360/PC in certain areas, but limited in others. The major difference between the versions is obviously the modding capability of the PC title. On the PC, you can download user mods for Oblivion, which provide even more depth to the gameplay; ranging from performance tweaks to new weapons and quests, you can find a wide variety of mods. On the PS3 and 360, this isn't possible.
When it comes down to comparing the 360 and PS3 version, if you ignore the fact that the 360 version is getting the expansion now, the PS3 version beats it in almost every category. On the PS3 the graphics are more polished, the framerate is steadier, load times are shorter, and the draw distance is greater. While playing on the 360, during hectic fights and other movement-intensive portions the game stutters and slows down a bit; on the PS3, this is much rarer. Sure, there are times when the game has a slight hiccup, but it's much less noticeable now, and a lot of your journeys will be free of any slow-down.
The world of Oblivion has also never looked better, as the draw distances are much improved over the 360 version (and the PC, unless you have an extremely high-end computer). Combined with the quicker loading times, this makes the game seem more immersive, and much more fluid.
While the PS3 version of Oblivion is superior to the 360 one, the PC still reigns supreme due to the customization possible. If you want the best-looking version of Oblivion and don't have an amazing PC, then the PS3 is easily the route to go. However, if you already own the 360 version and were thinking of trading it in for this, there's really no need to. The PS3 version may look and run slightly better, and it may include Knights of the Nine from the get-go, but the status of the expansion is something you have to consider, and the fact that there's really nothing new should convince you to stick with what you have. As long as you have Oblivion on any of the available platforms, you're already good to go with hundreds of hours of possible gaming excellence. Then again, if you really wanted to justify your purchase of the PS3, you may want to pick this up.
| GamePlay: It's Oblivion with a polished coating, so the gameplay is identical. | |
| Graphics: Unless you own an incredible PC, this is easily the best looking version of the game out there. | |
| Sound: Good sound effects and music, but once you get sucked into Cyrodiil you probably won't notice it. | |
| Replay Value: I don't think it's even possible to run out of things to do in Oblivion. If you have any ideas how long that would take, let me know. | |
| 9.2 | Final Word: The game is the same game we've had since last year. On the PS3 it looks and performs better, but coming out a year later with uncertain expansion status doesn't help. |
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I've received a few emails asking why this score is lower than the score for our original review of Oblivion. To make things clear, I didn't dock points due to the nature of the expansion--I just wanted people to consider that if RIGHT NOW they were picking between the 360/PS3/PC version. The reason this score is lower than the original review is due to the fact that the game is the same was it was a year ago, and I don't feel it's as close to perfect was it was last year, as well as the fact that our original review was for the PC version. The lack of modding ability for the console versions makes the score lower, since that's a large part in extending gameplay.
What a horrible review. First I don't think that ANY of the expansions are available for the PS3 version. Second you try to make the 360 version sound like you have to struggle to play through it with all the "slow downs" which is just not true. Then you try to say that the graphics are BETTER on the PS3!! No the draw distance is larger on the PS3 however the textures do not look quite as good as the 360 and the game does seem to not have to "load area" as much but it is not a killer.
You should have approached this review as the fact that Bethdesta had a year... a whole YEAR to improve on things like streaming of textures and memory management etc. The PS3 version should not have gotten such a good review simply because for a YEAR later it does not have a years worth of work put into it other than Knights of the Nine which is the reason Knights was included because there was nothing to entice customers to purchase this version over the others.
Bottom line is that if you have a 360 and PS3 and you do not own Oblivion you should purchase the 360 version. On the 360 you have the immediate ability to purchase ALL of the expansions (including Shivering Isles) as well as the gamerpoints to collect. If you do not have your 360 connected to the internet then get the PS3 version for more for your $.