Oblivion is a strong candidate for the best game of the decade for me. I first played it in a friend’s dorm room in 2007 and did not move for two hours. When I installed it on my own PC that summer, I played for ten hours the first day and did not even leave the Imperial City. It is so engaging that once I was playing at 1:00 am and the next thing I realized the sun was coming out in my window five hours later. All of this was without any DLC’s or the expansion pack.

There are many criticisms of this game, and to the most part I agree with them, yet I’ve come to realize that each complaint is nitpicking (and most are addressed by mods). The overall experience brought me much joy, and I strongly recommend this game.

Its interface, improved over Morrowind and more made-for-PC than Skyrim, setting, with different architecture and biomes across Cyrodiil, and story, where you fight through hell itself, are the best of the first five Elder Scrolls games in my mind.

As Ellis would say, "Dude, this is just like Team Fortress 2!" You have four classes to choose from: a Medic, including healing teammates with a beam of energy, an Engineer, complete with sentry-erecting capabilities, a Heavy, who takes time to spin up a minigun, and a Spy, who cloaks into battle so he can line up backstabs. Except in this game they all have jetpacks.

This game sets new standards in class-based gameplay and teamwork.