The number 1 game

1.The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks)

Developer/publisher Bethesda Softworks has had a lot of success with the three previous Elder Scrolls games and the third game in the series, Morrowind, really is one of earliest examples of a true open world style game. Beth Soft has learned from making the first three games for Oblivion and as a result the fourth Elder Scrolls series is by far the best in the line and in my view is the clear winner for the best PC game released in 2006. The fantasy world depicted in Oblivion is vast and it also happens to be one of the best looking games released this year. You immediately have the option to make your playable character in Oblivion pretty much however you want. While you can focus on the main storyline, Oblivion gives you the option to just go nuts after the first hour or so and explore and take on the entire game world of Tamriel if you want.

It helps that combat, both in melee and in magic modes, is fast and furious rather than the slow and tedious way most RPGs handle these aspects. Production values are high (getting Patrick Stewart among others to be voice actors for the game was quite a coup) and if you happen to play through the entire content of the shipped version of Oblivion you have the choice of downloading the paid extra content from BethSoft or download any of the free third party mods that people have made for Oblivion. I’m not normally an RPG fan but its hard to turn yourself away for just one more hour playing this game and that’s why I’m selecting it as my pick for best PC game of 2006.