It's not common that I use the phrase "best game ever" without being ironic. However, Bethesda has gone above and beyond with the Elder Scrolls series yet again to create one of the deepest and most engaging RPGs I've ever played.

Oblivion is similar to other Elder Scrolls games in terms of play mechanics and character development. You begin the game as a prisoner in the Imperial prisons. The game gives you a quick tutorial on how to use the camera and the movement buttons, then Patrick Stewart (playing the Emperor) comes down and recognizes you as a man he had a dream about. He then insists that you follow him through a hidden door into the sewers below the palace. Once in the sewers the Emperor is promptly murdered, and with his dying breath informs you that you need to find someone for him and hands you the Amulet of Kings. That's the hook for the main quest. Unfortunately you can't put on the Amulet yourself and bypass the main quest, I've tried.

Once in the sewers you are given the basic tools needed to perform almost ever in-game task. A sword, club, bow, alchemy apparatus, shield, leather armor, and metal armor are easily found within the first 30 minutes or so. you also begin the game with one heal spell and one fire spell. The game analyzes your play style as you move through the sewers, and right before you leave the sewers it recommends a class for you based on what you've done. For instance, if you have done nothing but smack things with your sword and cast fire magic, it recommends the built-in class that combines fighting and magic abilities. If you sneak around and hit people from afar with your bow, it recommends a thief.

You can also make your own class. A "class" consists of a combination of primary and secondary skills, as well as primary attributes. Leveling your primary skills is how you level your character, and when you level your character you can purchase additional attribute points. Whichever attribute you've used the most during that level will be cheaper to upgrade, which is a nice touch. Too many RPGs allow you to increase your magic level by swinging your sword enough times. In Oblivion, if you don't use it, you can't upgrade it.

Once you've selected a race (which give bonuses to certain attributes), primary attributes (which start out higher than the others) and primary skills (which start out higher and level faster) you're thrown out into the real world, facing a very impressive shrine on the other side of a large lake. Most guides and reviews I've read have immediately mentioned that you move along the shore toward a bridge on the other side of the castle, but all the times I played the game I just dove into the lake and swam across. Not only does it get you right to the first dungeon, but swimming levels your Agility score like crazy!

Ok, so the character progression is awesome, and the intro is well written, but I also need to tell you about the rest of the game. The world of Cyrodiil is absolutely enormous. It will take you hours and hours to walk from one end to the other, and there's plenty to see. You can even ignore the main quest if you like. There are dozens of side quests in every town, and there's many "quest dungeons" and item quests scattered throughout the game. All the dungeons are built from the same "tile set." That is, there's about 40 unique "dungeon rooms" that are strung together with hallways and doorways. You'll soon come across "the room with the bridge over the chasm" and "the room with the fire pit in the middle" and know exactly how to move through it.

You can also join various guilds in the game. The guilds exist to assist the three main character types in increasing their level, as well as getting gold. There's a fighter's guild, which will hand out tasks such as "go fight these guys," the mage's guild, which hands out tasks like "retrieve these magical thingies," and the thieve's guild, which hands out quests like "steal this valuable doodad." The thieve's guild also allows you to sell stolen items to fences at a large reduction from their actual price. However, since most merchants will magically know what's stolen and what's merely "found," joining the thieve's guild is the only way to unload your ill-gotten gains. There is also one additional guild, an assassin's guild, that's incredibly difficult to get into. You must murder someone in cold blood (or, alternatively, accidentally kill someone or make a quest choice that causes someone marked as "innocent" in the game to attempt to kill you) and if word gets out, a member of the assassins' guild will come to you during the night and slip you a magical dagger that you use to perform your first official assassination.

All the guilds give you bonuses in some way. The fighter's guild gives you a free place to sleep in every major city as well as gives you tasks you can perform for a quick buck. The thieve's guild, as mentioned previously, allows you access to fences whom you can use to unload stolen goods. The mage's guild allows you access to their spell and item labs, where you can craft your own spells or magical items.

As you progress through the main quest your reputation will increase, and you'll find yourself being recognized by townspeople who will exclaim things like "isn't that the Hero of Kvatch!?" when you walk by. Other citizens will be honored to be in your presence, and you will even get your very own stalker! Your reputation is one of many things that affects people's opinions of you, and their opinions determine how much information they're willing to reveal in battle, as well as how much they will charge you for their services. The main quest itself is quite grand. I won't spoil the details, but you very truly do save the entire world, working closely with the leaders of every major city. You broker deals of assistance, personally lead charges against the enemy, and engage in pitched battles at the city gates. It's really epic feeling, and at one point in the game a statue is erected in your honor. The ending is a little hokey I thought, but it doesn't marr the game. Plus, once you've finished the main quest the world is saved and you're free to continue on living in Cyrodiil for as long as you like. That's right, after the game is "over" you can purchase a house and settle down, taking a steady job at the fighter's guild or making yourself the greatest thief in the land. The downloadable content missions can also be accessed before or after the conclusion of the main quest.

Moving on, the combat in Oblivion is quite a bit better than in previous iterations of the franchise. In Morrowind, in order to cast a spell you had to put your sword and shield away, raise your hands in front of you, and go through the casting maneuver. Meanwhile, a monster ate your face off. In Oblivion casting spells is done right in the middle of combat, with only a short pause for you to thrust your hand forward at the enemy. It's much more streamlined and allows for you to really work magic into your combat strategy. Your skills also play a large part in combat. If you specialize in blade weapons, light armor, and agility you can perform jumping knockdowns in combat, all while taking less damage. However, if you specialize in bladed weapons and use a blunt weapon, be prepared to swing slowly, do less damage, and perform fewer attacks.

Magic is similarly affected by your specializations. There are many schools of magic, and each one has its own collection of spells that you can cast if you are the appropriate level. Leveling your magic level is as simple as casting a spell that has an effect on something. For some spells (like heal) this means you can effectively level that class of spells by holding down the "use magic" button as you walk around town, healing yourself 10 points every 3 seconds forever. For other spell classes like "destruction" you actually have to use it in combat. Of course, with access to the mage's guild you can also create a 1 point "fire" spell with a target of "self" and cast it on yourself continuously, healing when necessary.

It's in these types of mechanics that the concept of the game can be beaten. If you've ever talked to me about something like this you know I consider "beating the game" and "completing the game" two different things. You can complete a game by getting to the end. You can beat a game by tricking it into granting you powers it wasn't designed to grant you. Similar to the way you can level your magic up to max level immediately after getting access to the mage's guild's spell lab, you can also give yourself nearly infinite money by taking advantage of the alchemy skill.

Alchemy is one of the most interesting skills in the game. You find things in your travels, like grass, flowers, fruit, vegetables, bread, skin, hearts, bones, dust, slime, and many, many more. With the alchemy skill you can combine these things to create a potion that you can use on yourself, or a poison that you can use on your enemies. The higher your skill (and the higher the value of your alchemy equipment) the better potions you can make, and the more combinations you can "discern" when examining the ingredients. For instance, a level 1 alchemist can see an apple and a pile of vampire dust and not be able to do anything with them. A level 75 alchemist would be able to tell that the two can be combined to make a potion of invisibility. The problem, as I mentioned before, is that this skill can be abused. Even at level 1 you notice that every "normal food" in the game can be combined into a potion of fortitude. Also, normal food can be purchased from merchants, and all merchants purchase potions, normally at much higher prices than the food. So for every merchant you see, buy all their food, transform it into potions of fortitude, and sell it back to them. Rinse, and repeat. With access to the mage's guild you can also craft a spell that will cause a merchant's opinion of you to immediately go to maximum for the entire duration of the transaction. Free money!

If you think hard enough you can set up your character to be unstoppable. With infinite money from alchemy and access to item shops and the mage's guild, you can have a character who is invisible, reflects all magic cast on him, always scores sneak attack damage, and can teleport around the world at will. I think this is the only fault in Oblivion. It gives you openings to make an unstoppable character, and once you do it's no longer fun. Avoid the temptation to give yourself infinite money, infinite strength, and unstoppable armor. Play the game normally, engage in quests that intrigue you, and only pick up treasure that you can conceivably carry. If you become obsessed with it like I did you'll find yourself casting multi-levels "extra strength" spells on yourself so you can carry thousands of dollars worth of iron armor halfway across the world to a merchant with enough cash to afford it all.

Bottom line is: Oblivion is one of the deepest, most engaging, and best written games I've ever played. If you haven't already played it, I highly recommend picking up the Game of the Year edition, which comes with the two best add-ons. It's the best bang for your buck that you'll find. You can play the game for 300 hours and still not have seen everything. You won't HAVE to play it multiple times to see it all though. Unlike other games, you can be a respected shopkeeper as well as a deadly assassin. Just don't get caught, and you'll be fine.