Oblivion: Knights of the Nine - Xbox 360 game review

The Knights of the Nine expansion for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the Xbox 360 is one of many down pieces of downloadable content for this particular game.  I have downloaded a handful of the free add-ons in the past, like the castle, but this was my first purchased one.  By downloading this, you gain some additional content and characters and locations in the game for a quest that is suited toward paladin/knight characters.

Graphics: It uses the existing Oblivion engine, which is still one of the best out there.  That said, there were few new effects made use of in this, and it brought nothing new to the table.

Sounds and music: The voice work is fine and the music is what you find in other parts of the game for the most part.  Nothing special, nothing particularly new.

Game play: Same as the rest of the game.  Nothing new here.  Keep in mind, it is an expansion.

Intangibles: This is where the game gets to weigh in on its own merits.  The storyline is decent, and it offers several hours of new game play, though much of it is spent wandering looking for obscure locations.  The series of events that lead you to the conclusion of this side quest are logical and work within the Oblivion structure.  The gear and spells learned along the way better suit a knight or warrior class than any of the others though, which might not make this a good expansion if you are playing a light armored rogue or spellcaster in your main quest.  A really neat feature of the gear is that it can level with your character, so do this quest at a low level and you have a few pieces of gear that can be used throughout the game.  It looks cool when you have the whole set together, but I did only wind up using about 1/2 of the gear by the end of the game when I was in my late 20's for levels.  For those who like Oblivion and want to extend the content, and like the idea of the homes and castles (this gives you another 'home' to call your own, basically, and your own following of knights as well), the content is decent as well.

It can be hard to score something like this.  Downloadable content like this uses existing engine mechanics, so if you like the base graphics, sound and controls - you'll get more of the same here.  In the end, it may be just a shade more expensive than it is worth, considering how quickly I got through the storyline this content provided, but since it suited my style of character (warrior/spellcaster) some of the gear was pretty handy.  Probably 3 out of 5 stars - nearly a 4, because I love the Oblivion game, but just not enough meat with this add-on to make it rate any better.