The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles (Xbox 360) Review
Posted by Steve McHugh on 05.29.2007
Don’t forget the Calming Pants.
By now you’re probably all in one of two camps. The first one love Oblivion and think it’s fantastic. They played for hundreds of hours and probably completed the game more than once loving every second of their time there. The second camp hated Oblivion. They thought it was boring or repetitive and didn’t like the game at all. This expansion pack is not for those people.
If you didn’t like Oblivion then Shivering Isles will do absolutely nothing to change your mind. The menus are the same, the fighting and dungeon crawling is the same so if you’re expecting anything to change the core gameplay forget it. If however, like me, you loved Oblivion then this will certainly be something you’ll want to know about.
Upon downloading the, almost 1Gig file for this game you’ll get an announcement that there’s been a sighting of a strange portal near Bay of Niben and once you head over there you’ll find a guard standing outside a big blue portal. Talk to him and then someone will come through the portal and attack him. After that you can travel through the portal to the strange new world.
Once there you meet Haskill, who is the faithful servant to the ruler of the world, Sheogorath, The Prince of Madness. After a brief conversation where you’re told you need to see Sheogorath as soon as possible Haskill vanishes, leaving you to your own devices.
The game still looks great even after being out for over a year.
For a while it takes a very familiar route as you try to complete the first few quests so you can eventually make your way to the capital city and meet it’s ruler. But once you finish those first quests the game throws a curveball. You see, The Shivering Isles exists in 2 plains: Mania and Dementia, who both have their own rulers and inhabitants. On the one hand Mania is bright and filled with manic nut jobs and Dementia is dark and its people are paranoid and depressed.
And that’s where some of the problems begin. Instead of feeling threatened and nervous about being around a bunch of nutters you won’t find it all that concerning at all. Mostly this is down to the fact that they’re just not strange or scary enough. They’re a little weird and some say some very strange things but it just doesn’t feel like these are as crazy as you’re originally led to believe. Sheogorath is the main culprit of this. He’s meant to be a scary, all-powerful bad ass and he just isn’t. What he is though is very funny and some of the stuff he comes out with will make you laugh but he never comes across as being threatening, which you would have thought would have been the point.
That’s not to say it’s a bad story because the main quest is superb. It’s easily one of the best main quest lines in all of Oblivion and is right up there with the Dark Brotherhood quests. It has real consequences and gives you actual choices which result in the death of characters you’ve met. And each of the quests are different, with very few being go fetch quests and even those that are always have a twist to it.
No matter where you go there are always things you need to kill with a big sword.
It’s a shame that the side quests aren’t even close to being as good as the majesty of the main quest. Most are just go fetch quests but you’ve got to fetch a magic fork or weird artefacts instead of the normal stuff from Oblivion. Some that stand out, however, are you stopping a battle and the quest where you’re hired to murder someone. That someone being the person who hired you. It’s a shame that more of the quests aren’t as unique as this, and that once again goes back to just how uncrazy this world really is. There are no really disturbing messed up quests that require you to do something really odd, it feels like a missed opportunity.
On the plus side some of the new enemy characters are excellent and really are a nice change from constantly fighting Goblins. The Knights of Order in particular are a great addition and everything looks great. In fact graphically, Shivering Isles is probably the most interesting looking part of Oblivion. It reminded me of Morrowind with its swamps and bizarre looking flora and that’s certainly no bad thing.
This is the Gatekeeper, unfortunately there isn't a Keymaster.
Length wise you’ve got 20 – 40 hours of extra gameplay here, depending on how much time you spend running around exploring. And when you finish the main quest…well it’s worth it believe me. There’s also a bunch of new achievements you’ll unlock when completing the main story.
The 411
This won’t convert anyone but if you enjoyed Oblivion then buying this is an easy choice. The world is interesting and fun but never as mad and crazy as it could have been which is a missed chance at doing something very special indeed. But whilst you’re there you will enjoy yourself and this is easily worth the money for the excellent main quest alone. Oh and don’t forget the Calming Pants. Very important.
Graphics
9.5
Just as good as Oblivion but with a little more interest in the world around it. It looks like Morrowind and I always liked Morrowind.
Gameplay
9.0
Exactly the same as before with no changes in the core gameplay. The main quest is excellent with some great quests, shame the side quests don’t match up at all.
Sound
9.2
Fantastic voice acting and great sound effects as per usual.
Lasting Appeal
8.8
40 hours of gameplay. A great main quest with some genuinely interesting things to see but dull side quests, and you’ll run through them as quickly as possible to get them over with.
Fun Factor
8.5
Lots of fun to play but it really does feel like a missed opportunity and that takes away from how good this could have been.
