Pretty good Oblivion review at Gamebanshee...

[Prime Junta]

This leads me to think that Bethsoft made a strategic decision with Oblivion to grab a much younger playing audience which needs more hand-holding. It stands to reason: they have a captive market of older players from earlier titles, so they can concentrate on increasing revenues among pre-teens and early teens. I’ll be the first to admit this is complete speculation on my part, but there’s nothing speculative about the dumbing down of the ES series at this point. It looks beautiful, it has many of the thrills of yore, but it seems to be aiming—not for the kid in me, but for the nine-year-old kid down the block who has to be told in advance precisely where the cave he’s seeking in Cyrodil is, and what to do and how to do it when you’re told to locate an artifact in it. Pardon my lack of enthusiasm.

More here:

[ http://www.gamebanshee.com/reviews/soft ... ivion1.php ]

Perhaps the initial rush is dying down, and more sober views are coming to prevail. It would be a good thing if publishers realized that bling alone is not enough.