There’s never been an RPG like this on any PlayStation platform. The PlayStations have always had a strong selection of Japanese RPGs, but the role playing game is a very broad genre, of which Oblivion represents one extreme, and the likes of Final Fantasy the other. Final Fantasy games are all about their creators. Never has a game franchise been so self indulgent – it’s like the prog-rock of games. Not that the imagination and technical skill that goes into every single release isn’t awe inspiring, just that throughout every single one of them Square-Enix is constantly going, “Look what we can do.” Oblivion, by contrast, is all about what you can do. And you can do pretty much anything.

The first couple of hours playing Oblivion are fairly linear, but this opening section is essentially all about setting the scene, creating your character, and learning the basics of the game. Once all that’s out of the way, you’re free to go wherever you like and do whatever you like. It’s actually more like GTA than most other RPGs, although even GTA looks a little linear and restrictive next to Oblivion. The game is so huge, and so wide open, that it can difficult to know how to begin playing it, never mind how to begin reviewing it. But seeing as you’re likely to have already heard a thing or two about the 360 and PC versions of the game, we might as well start with the bits that weren’t in the original releases of either of the other versions. For your £50 you’re getting what 360 owners had to spend a total of about £67 on – that’s the main game and roughly £17 worth of downloaded extras on top. So what are these extras?

First of all, Spell Tomes. 360 owners can find one-use only spell scrolls, or permanently learn spells bought in a handful of specialist shops, but if they want to be able to find books from which spells can be learnt permanently, they have to pay for a download that adds spell tomes to the “loot lists” of the game. They also have to pay real money if they want armour for their horse, or if they want to make use of any of the four specialist dwellings available for you to make your home in. It’s nice that all of the above are included in the PS3 version, but none of them make huge differences to the game. Fortunately, two of the extras are rather more substantial.

The first is Mehrunes’ Razor, which is a single dungeon quest, but it’s about the biggest dungeon in the whole game. It’s tough going, but your reward for reaching the dungeon’s innermost depths is Mehrune’s Razor itself, which is a deadly short sword that once belonged to the Daedric Prince, Mehrunes Dagon (who it just so happens is the big baddie in the game’s main quest). Daedra, in case you’re not familiar with Elder Scrolls terminology, is more or less just another word for demons.

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