Journey with me for a spell as we investigate the world of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and give you some early first impressions of the initial opening hours before our complete review of the game next week.

When the game first starts off, you get an extremely close shot of the king (voiced by Captain Picard - Mr. Patrick Stewart) as he talks about how this is the end of his days. After this moment we cut to a flying camera that circles around this giant city where our story begins. This cinematic - all in-game by what I can tell - is the first truly spectacular moment of awe in the game. If those moments come this fast, I can't wait to see what happens next.

You next find yourself in a prison cell, where you finally begin to craft your character to your specifications. You start by picking your gender (male or female) and then one of the ten races of the game (if you've played an Elder Scrolls before the races should all be familiar). You've got your three different elf classes, the Orcs, the Khajiit (feline creatures), the Argonians (lizard race of people), and then your typical human characters. Though they are able to do the same things, some are just better prepared and more adept at certain things. If you think you want to be a magic user, for example, you'll lean more towards the Bretons, Dark Elves, and High Elves. If you want to be a warrior you'll be looking more at the Redguards and Nords. But as I said, you can make any character what you want, it's just that some are naturally better at the beginning and don't require any training to make up for any faults in their design.

I chose a Wood Elf as my character (thoughts of Legolas running around in my head) and then began to craft the look of my character. Much like EA's Gameface technology, you can really craft the look of your character's faces here. You only really have one face here instead of a selection of skins like past games, and from here you can choose to change the proportions of their brow, eyes, nose, cheeks, etc. You can also pick hairstyles and change the color of them as well. If you are like me, and suck as an artist, then you can let the game randomly choose faces until you find one you like. Give that character a name and we're off!

As soon as you begin you'll be struck by the beauty of the game. Though you are at first stuck in a dank, dirty dungeon jail cell, it is one of the prettiest cells I've ever graced. A character in a nearby cell will tell you that guards are coming to kill you, but instead the king and his Blades (bodyguards/knights) are coming through your cell to take the king away who is being attacked this very night by evil minions bent on assassinating him. The king knows you from his dreams, thinks you'll play a vital component in all this, and so he lets you live as they pass through your cell. Of course, I follow the king, see his men fend off some attackers, and now it is my time to get fighting.

I know, you're probably asking yourself, "But what class did you pick?" I'm not going to spoil that just yet, because that is literally one of the coolest features this early in the game.

As you take away the spoils from the fight, you'll get to finally outfit yourself with different clothing, weapons, armor, etc. - if that is how you want to proceed, though you can do some kung-fu action the whole time if you wish. Though the initial moments of navigating the screens and reading all the information (item weight, price, durability, etc) was daunting, by the time I got to the city I understood it well enough to easily move about and equip and get rid of things. From the menu screen (pressing B-button) you get to see a map, active quests, equip weapons and armor, set your spells, and other such RPG staples.

Thinking I'm going to play like Legolas with a bit of magic thrown in for good measure, I equip the katana I found for the time being, knowing I'm going to switch out to a bow later when I find one. I also equip my fireball spell (which you use by clicking the right bumper) and head on through. I'm quickly attacked by rats (jumping rats unlike past versions that only ran at you), but I promptly shoot my fireballs and kill them all. As I do these actions, I see my magic meter fall after the use of a spell and see my fatigue go down as well, though I do notice they seem to refill quicker than in the last Elder Scrolls game I played.

I continue through the dungeon and run across more rats, but this time I use my sword swinging abilities to chop them down. By hammering on the right trigger you can easily just hack away, but by holding the trigger down for a power attack and moving in certain directions, you get better and cooler looking swings (they do more damage too...can't argue with that). I like the sword mechanics (much better than last game) and decide I'm going to use a sword instead and only use magic to heal myself.

I continue on and find my bow. I equip the bow (since that was my first plan) and get to shooting at a rat. Since the rat is so quick, I have a hard time keeping up with my bow, so I eventually give up the bow after this one fight (though I might get back to it) and head on with sword in hand again. A neat touch though is that when you do use your arrows to kill things, if you search the body afterwards you can recover some of your arrows that you can then reuse again.

As I continue through this opening/tutorial I'm introduced to other mechanics like sneaking around enemies or up to them for deadly strikes, avoiding traps (giant club maces came at me) and even using the environment to deal damage to enemies (I let loose a stack of logs that went rolling down a hill and crushed a goblin).

The story advances some more until finally the king is killed (this isn't really a spoiler since anyone who has kept track of the game knows this much already) and before he dies he sends you on a quest to find his missing heir. So begins your quest and ends this tutorial.

Once the Blade who is still alive appears to find out what happened, he then gives you some information on what you need to do to get out of here and get going with your mission. It is here where the guard mentions, "You are quite the experienced Pilgrim are you not?" and then I'm allowed to choose my class. Unlike the last Elder Scrolls game, where you were asked a series of morality questions to determine what the game thinks the best class would be suited for you, this time how you PLAY determines what the game thinks you should be. If you used no magic and just used a sword, you will probably be some kind of fighter. If all you used was magic you'll be listed as one of the magic users. Though it tells you what it thinks you SHOULD be, there is no obligation for you to go with that class if you don't want. Read over your choices, make an informed decision, and get a move on. I went ahead and went with Pilgrim since that is what he suggested, but I might end up restarting the game to see otherwise...don't know yet.

After you leave the dungeon and finally get outside...jeez is this game pretty. I literally just stood there, swinging the camera around, taking in every little detail I could. Not being merely content to just stand there, however, I went towards the water, hopped in, and swam to some cool looking ruins...where two bad guys fought me. Argh! Unlike Morrowind, the combat in this game is actually refreshing, as I used my equipped shield to parry their blows and then followed that up with my own. I killed them both, searched over their bodies, then headed to the city.

I didn't want to start the main quest right away, so I decided to look around to find some new armor or weapons in the market district. I sold some stuff to free up my inventory, but what I really discovered was my first side quest. It turns out a merchant wants another one to join this society of guilds and quit selling at lower prices so they can get some business as well. I look for the guy, not paying attention to the fact that in your menus, if you set that as your main quest, it will point you to where you need to go with a red arrow, but I got lucky and stumbled across the guy eating in a bar. I wait for him to leave, follow him, and then see him meeting up with this other fellow. To show the importance of the meeting, a kind of cutscene ensues where you can't move at all but just listen. I then follow this new stranger to a house, but he has barred the door and I can't get in till he leaves.

I use the game's wait feature to wait a few hours till he is gone, pick my way in (it has a minigame like Splinter Cell, but I found it initially confusing my first time and decided just to let the game auto do locks for me), and then investigate his humble home. After I pick my way into the basement, I find evidence that he has been robbing graves to get these goods he is selling. I find a book with the names of people he has dug up (his basement is filled with bones and skulls) and take the evidence to the shop owner to make sure he knows nothing of this?he doesn't. The shop owner tells me the seller had an important place to be today, so I head to the graveyard, go into an open mausoleum, and there is the seller with a hired goon waiting to take me out. I die twice (thank you auto save!) since the quarters are cramped and it is two of them against me and my sucky "picked off the ground and dead bodies" armor, but then I decide to use my fireball spell and then eventually kill them. I take their stuff (they are dead...they won't need it) and go to the shop owner with final proof. He gives me a ring for my troubles (cause they would've probably killed him next) and then I head to the lady who gave me the quest to begin with. She thanks me and pays me with gold.

Though I think I'm going to have to start over and pick some new class and race, I already feel at home with Oblivion after just a few hours of gameplay. The fighting is fun and fluid, the sense of immersion in this giant world is amazing, and it really makes you feel like you're living the life of your character. Though the controls and menus are a bit too much to take in all at once at the beginning, you gradually get used to them and understand how they work.

My only complaints so far are all the load times (some are real quick but some are a tad slow) and the level of darkness. Maybe it is just my bad TV with the green tint off, but the dungeon was really dark and I often had a hard time seeing things in the shadows. Is it realistic? Yes. Does it mean an easy time of you getting around? No. I'm thinking of going back to be a Khajiit so I can have night vision. Also, when you click the right thumbstick to take you out to a third person perspective instead of the usual first person view, the controls feel a bit floaty, because if you watch your character it seems like their movements slide a bit too much.

Though I'm only a few hours into the game, it already feels like a good purchase to me. Of course, these are only some first impressions, so things could change after a few more hours of gameplay, but as of now I'm happy with what I've seen. Be sure to join us next week as we delve even further into the game and bring you our final review of the Xbox 360 version of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.