The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few months then you will be more than aware that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is very close to release.  It has been a little over 5 years since the release of it's predecessor The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, so with that in mind Bethesda studios has recently released a 5th Year Anniversary edition of Oblivion, but is it worth the money?

Oblivion is a brilliant game set in the huge & expansive land of Cyrodiil (A province of Tamriel).  Even though looking at the screenshots and videos of Skyrim make Oblivion look dated graphics wise, it is still one of the best looking games around considering the size of the game itself and how much the game has to load.  I still highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't played it but if you are a fan of the game like myself, chances are you have already played it/owned it.  So what makes the anniversary edition so special compared to the other versions already out there?  The honest answer being a DVD with behind the scenes footage & bonus material.

The anniversary edition comes with the main game on one disc and the Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine downloadable content on another disc.  The game also comes with a full map of Cyrodiil and the Shivering Isles.  This content minus the DVD is exactly the same content that comes with the Game of the Year Edition that was released in September 2007.  So as the Making of Oblivion DVD is the only new thing in this package (except the new grey cover), what is on the DVD.

Well you have the obligatory trailers, one for Oblivion and one for Skyrim.  You also have a few galleries showing some concept art and design drawings of the world, the Armour, the creatures and so on.  The galleries themselves don't consist of that many pictures which I felt was a bit of a disappointment as I expected a lot more.  So onto the actual making of Oblivion film which also, for me, is a bit of a let down.  The film is 40 minutes long and follows the Bethesda Softworks efforts in getting the game made/ready to demo and unveil at the 2005 E3 convention.  Although you get to see how certain elements of the game are made, the production process and some of the people who make the game it doesn't feel like the complete making of documentary that you'd expect to be included in an anniversary special edition.

Overall I felt that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition was a rush job, released at the right time before Skyrim to fully attain the most amount of last ditch revenue before Oblivion is fully cast into the land of memories.  If you have never played Oblivion before and want to know why there is so much hype around the release of Skyrim then I recommend buying this release of the game.  If on the other hand you are a fan of series and are tempted by this I would honestly recommend you give it a miss and hold out until Skyrim's release.

Picture via Bethesda Softworks