Review: Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles game

In terms of sheer value for money, the Elder Scrolls series is pretty hard to beat.

Last year’s Oblivion provided more than 100 hours worth of gameplay for just £30 and can now be picked up in the budget section of most games stores for less than £20.

Given that even the most devoted of players will have found it hard to complete everything the original game has to offer, there’s an argument that Oblivion doesn’t particularly need expanding beyond its already generous proportions. Nevertheless, Bethesda has provided us with Shivering Isles, Oblivion’s first ‘proper’ expansion pack (not counting the Knights of the Nine collection of mini add-ons).

Sensibly, Shivering Isles doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, with the main difference being its setting. The all-new realm of Sheogorath is about a third of the size of the original Oblivion map and sufficiently different to the land of Tamriel to make the experience feel fresh yet familiar.

Compared to the original game world’s realistic setting, the Shivering Isles themselves will come as quite a shock when you first visit them. The new game world is split into two distinct lands – Mania and Dementia – both of which look much like they sound. Environments, creatures and characters you meet are much more colourful than those in the original game, including the quirky Prince of Madness, at whose bidding you soon find yourself.

With this Alice in Wonderland-style set-up, the template for what follows is pretty similar to that of the original game’s main quest. You’ll find yourself dispatched to retrieve artefacts, bump off characters, solve puzzles and, ultimately save the realm from total destruction. And, once again, there’s plenty here to keep you occupied – around 30 hours of main story quests, plus countless side quests and general exploring to do – and for less than £20. Bargain.