Review, Part One: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
By Jahmal Peters
Contributor
What hasn't been said about Bethesda's latest installment in the Elder Scrolls series?
Critical acclaim? Definitely.
Game of the year candidate? Without question.
A vast open ended environment with hundreds of hours of replayability? It's been said.
Quite possibly the best way to sum up Skryim would be to say this review is late is because all the reviewers are still playing it.
But let's take a step back and dispense with the boilerplate. The Elder
Scrolls V: Skyrim is the fifth installment of Bethesda's action-RPG
series The Elder Scrolls and the direct successor to the critically
acclaimed The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006). Like all Elder Scrolls
games, games in the Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim takes place on the
continent of Tamriel. The "Skyrim" of the game's title is the
continent's snowy region.
As with prior Elder Scrolls games, the player assumes the role of a prisoner and in this instance the journey nearly ends almost immediately after it begins. Scheduled for execution for essentially being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the player has just enough time to get caught up on the current events in Skryim- most notably an escalating civil war- before taking part in a dramatic escape set in motion by the games primary antagonist; a massive black dragon named Alduin.
Players come to learn they are the last of the "Dragonborn," mortals born
with the soul of a dragon, who were once tasked with defeating Alduin. Now, the task rests primarily on the player's shoulders to defeat Alduin and the army of dragons that have returned to enslave humanity.
Or, players could shirk their duties as both the chosen one and the vanguard of the escalating civil war and instead go around robbing and pillaging innocent people for minimal wealth.Therein lies the real majesty of Skryim, an open ended world with near endless possibilities.
The sheer number of side quests is staggering to say the least; there's also a near endless line of people with problems only the player can solve. And they range from the mundane fetch quests like collect X amount of items or delivering item Y to merchant Z to in-depth quests like a murder conspiracy that leads to imprisonment and a subsequent escape. There's also a nod to the "The Hangover" in which the player and another character go on a drinking binge and have no recollection of the carnage they caused.
But the most amazing part of the game? Unlike rail games where players' experiences are nearly identical, events in Skryim play out radically different from player to player. Some players may never even encounter the aforementioned sidequests, and if they do, they may do so long after forgetting any mention in this review.
Allowing the player to do as they please has always been the foundation of games in the Elder Scrolls series. But the world of Skyrim isn't the only area where players can shape the experience as they see fit. The game offers in-depth character customization, and although the feature has been scaled back slightly from Oblivion (wherein it was also scaled back slightly from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind), there's still more than
enough complexity to make every player's character feel unique.
And that's even if most players end up as a stealth-based archer.
Next: The second part of this review will address Skyrim's combat, conversation, magic and bounty systems.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Bethesda Softworks
PC, PlayStation 3, XBox 360 (Reviewed on PC)
Rated M for Mature
As with prior Elder Scrolls games, the player assumes the role of a prisoner and in this instance the journey nearly ends almost immediately after it begins. Scheduled for execution for essentially being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the player has just enough time to get caught up on the current events in Skryim- most notably an escalating civil war- before taking part in a dramatic escape set in motion by the games primary antagonist; a massive black dragon named Alduin.
Players come to learn they are the last of the "Dragonborn," mortals born
with the soul of a dragon, who were once tasked with defeating Alduin. Now, the task rests primarily on the player's shoulders to defeat Alduin and the army of dragons that have returned to enslave humanity.
Or, players could shirk their duties as both the chosen one and the vanguard of the escalating civil war and instead go around robbing and pillaging innocent people for minimal wealth.Therein lies the real majesty of Skryim, an open ended world with near endless possibilities.
The sheer number of side quests is staggering to say the least; there's also a near endless line of people with problems only the player can solve. And they range from the mundane fetch quests like collect X amount of items or delivering item Y to merchant Z to in-depth quests like a murder conspiracy that leads to imprisonment and a subsequent escape. There's also a nod to the "The Hangover" in which the player and another character go on a drinking binge and have no recollection of the carnage they caused.
But the most amazing part of the game? Unlike rail games where players' experiences are nearly identical, events in Skryim play out radically different from player to player. Some players may never even encounter the aforementioned sidequests, and if they do, they may do so long after forgetting any mention in this review.
Allowing the player to do as they please has always been the foundation of games in the Elder Scrolls series. But the world of Skyrim isn't the only area where players can shape the experience as they see fit. The game offers in-depth character customization, and although the feature has been scaled back slightly from Oblivion (wherein it was also scaled back slightly from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind), there's still more than
enough complexity to make every player's character feel unique.
And that's even if most players end up as a stealth-based archer.
Next: The second part of this review will address Skyrim's combat, conversation, magic and bounty systems.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Bethesda Softworks
PC, PlayStation 3, XBox 360 (Reviewed on PC)
Rated M for Mature
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