5.0
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review
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5.0 Good: Most of it
Bad: Some quest breaking glitches require restarting
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Finally Skyrim is here and it’s about bloody time we had a new installment in the Elder Scrolls series. Luckily, it was worth the wait. Read on to found out why, peasants.
First off, this game is huge. It’s also monstrous, gigantic and whatever other words conjure up thoughts of the phrase ‘epic in proportion’. The sheer size of this game helps to make you feel like you really have escaped into another reality, with dungeons and forts everywhere and more places to explore, loot and desecrate then you’ll probably ever get around to visiting. They have put so much work into making this an exploration into the world of Elder Scrolls rather than just another glimpse at its magnitude that after a little while of playing you will find yourself saying “I am in the lands of Skyrim and I can do whatever the hell I want”.
The quests — which are absolutely everywhere in this game — are fairly well written with plenty of twists and turns to keep you from feeling that someone is repeatedly telling you to “go there and get that” all the time. The main storyline holds your interest well and, whilst its no Raymond E Feist novel, it does make you feel that choosing between good and evil really is a matter of opinion rather then clearly defined black and white sides. As you would expect you can choose when you want to do the main storyline and even after the story events have been finished you can simply continue adventuring and kick some more mythical arse.
Gameplay is similar to Oblivion in the sense that you choose what to wield. Whether it be carving through your enemies in a murderous rage with a two handed battle axe, overcoming your enemies with artful precision and deadly technique dual wielding daggers or engulfing hordes of your enemies in flames by using the multitude of spells you have at your disposal. Yes, you can now dual wield many different weapons and spells with many changing effects when either single or dual casting. Combat has been cleaned up a bit since Oblivion but it’s still not what you would call perfect, with it resulting in a lack of need for strategy, but it’s enjoyable none the less. Dragons have finally made an appearence in Elder Scrolls, they are very reminiscent of the dragon stylings from the movie ‘Reign of Fire’ which makes them feel more animal then mythical. When battling this hate from the old times it’s visually capturing and totally enjoyable, with the only let down being that the battle doesnt feel as epic as I would have liked. It’s more like taking down a mid level boss than conquering insurmountable odds.
Visually the Xbox 360 version is adequate with its attention to detail being a strong point. One of my favourite points was walking along a stream and seeing salmon jumping up waterfalls. So far any bugs or glitches have been minor and more humourous than annoying for myself, although some have had more serious annoyances, particuarly with the PS3 version where some people have been finding their game stuttering once their save file reaches 6MB in size. Bethesda is aware of most issues and are currently developing a patch for (hopefully) most problems encountered.
The Sound effects are decent with the music score what you would expect from the style of game. I was hoping for a little more detail in the sound effects when battling various creatures and humans but this a very minor issue.
Bethesda has done a lot to really make each players experience as unique as they want it to be. With character customisation through the use of perks and play styles, character choice seems to be preference based now with most races being able to multitask and specialise. Cosmetic customisation is fairly in depth without being too tedious, plus the inclusion of many two sided quests helps to prolong the lifespan of the game. For all you Twilight fans out there, you’ll be happy to know you can even choose between team Edward and Jacob all over again. (Editor’s Note: Twilight can go fuck itself. VAMPIRES DON’T SPARKLE!!)
I’m saying right now that Skyrim is my choice for game of the year. I recommend this game to everyone and only ask that you take your time to truly appreciate the amount of work the game developers have put into it. Highly recommended.
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