The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion First Impressions

IGN PC is offering up their first impressions of Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, now that the retail version has officially hit store shelves. A small excerpt:

Combat is also a little bit different. Projectiles can be manually avoided, melee strikes can be manually blocked, and you have four different movement options: creeping while stealthed, walking while stealthed, regular creeping and regular walking. You can also block with a weapon instead of a shield, so a two-handed weapon guy has some defensive options. Charles did a magic guy, and I did a fighter guy, and he seemed to have made the better choice, so far. Although he doesn’t have the physical armor and weapon prowess that I do, he has many spells to augment that, as well as spells that will reduce the opponent’s effectiveness. He also has a ton more mana that regenerates a lot faster. And he can summon sidekicks. Elder Scrolls has always been good to magic users, and I hope the gap doesn’t continue to widen as my character progresses.