The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles

Oblivion blew open the gates last year as the fourth game in the long running series of Elder Scrolls. It won numerous awards and caused more relationship break-ups than seen on the Jerry Springer show in a year. Now, almost exactly a year later, the first official expansion is released - Shivering Isles. Not only does it deliver a significant main quest (as long as full games usually are if not longer), but it also succeeds in building on everything that was good within the original and then some.

After installing the game, no matter how far along in the game you are, you begin to hear murmurs of a magical portal emerging in Niben Bay. This portal is different from the ones you’re used to because it takes you to the Shivering Isles instead of Oblivion. You are soon introduced to and soon “hired” by Sheogorath, the ruler of the two worlds within the shivering Isles known as Mania and Dementia. Mania is a bit brighter and lush world filled with interesting colors and plants while Dementia is more murky and cryptic. But the real enjoyment is with the missions...

And while some of Oblivions missions were a little dull Shivering Isles is chalk-full of spectacularly fun things to do. Although most take place in dungeons deep within the earth, the types of missions vary from scavenger hunts to assassinations to setting booby-traps. And to complement the new variety of tasks are a whole slew of fresh items, armor and weapons; every one which you will need to defeat the new monsters and behemoths within the demented worlds including a whole band of knights. The new creatures are pretty challenging, kicking my butt multiple times and will give you a good run for your money.

And overall, Shivering Isles is a great run for your money. But with every new addition there is a chance for some things not to go right. Luckily, Shivering Isles only has a few. As with Oblivion, the game can chug at some spots bringing my X1800 to its knees. Also, for no reason at all my computer froze randomly a couple times but it didn’t set me back that far. But I feel compelled to mention that although I myself never ran into this, there is apparently a bug that crashes the entire game and renders your saves unusable after you log 150hrs into it. Just a sign of warning, and hopefully Bethesda is hard at work to fix this issue. But these are all minor quibbles, and hardly detract from the grandiose world that has been created here.

Shivering Isles is an absolute must have for Oblivion owners, and if you don’t own Oblivion, please do a favor for yourself and to the rest of the world and buy both. The new environment additions are beautifully twisted, the characters are much more memorable this round being hilariously insane sometimes, and the last and best add-on in Shivering Isles are the missions. They are just plain fun. So go ahead and break up with your girlfriend now and proceed to install Shivering Isles… we will see you in a month.

Gameplay: 9.0
The same great gameplay you loved about Oblivion: Living worlds, new weapons, items, armor and missions

Graphics: 9.0
Just as good as Oblivion with some new insect additions and colorful environments

Sound: 8.0
Great music, but the same as Oblivion. Hopefully next expansion will bring back some more Jeremy Soule

Difficulty: Medium
The perfect mix of challenge and fun.

Concept: 9.0
Shivering Isles is the perfect mix. It is unique enough to keep interest but not too much as to alienate loyal fans.

Overall: 8.9
Shivering Isles is a wonderfully detailed expansion that really does “e-x-p-a-n-d.”