So, Oblivion's melee combat actually seems to resemble that of an action game with first-person combat, like The Chronicles of Riddick or Condemned, in that you'll be able to scoot forwards and backwards and immediately block incoming attacks.

That's right, blocking is now manually controlled, rather than randomly triggered by your character's skill level.

Apparently, Oblivion no longer uses an abstracted "to-hit" model based on your character's skills, so you won't have the frustrating problem of stabbing your sword right through an enemy's face, yet having that swing register as a "miss."​

So Oblivion looks like it's on track to deliver even more of the role-playing action that the series is known for. That will undoubtedly please fans, but this is also a game that should appeal to role-playing fans in general.​