Game Review: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

A few months after the launch of the Xbox 360, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion really kicked off the next generation of consoles. The game experience was nothing like what could be had on previous generation of consoles. Personally I loved Oblivion. It provided me with some of my most memorable gaming memories in the form of The Dark Brotherhood quest line. I however never finished Oblivion. There was a good deal wrong with that game in difficulty and especially the Oblivion gate quests. After taking a break and doing Fallout 3, how does Bethesda fare with Skyrim? Spoilers: Pretty damn well.

For the uninitiated, Skyrim is an open world RPG. You are set out into a breath taking and expansive world that is so beautiful and detailed it's almost too good to be true. So what can you do while you're in Skyrim? Pretty much anything you'd like. I'm sure some of you have seen YouTube videos of players filling their houses with cheese wheels or decapitated females. The world is your oyster but if you don't take advantage of the hundreds of hours worth of story quests Bethesda has crafted then you are a fool. 

Unlike Oblivion, Skyrim's main quest is satisfying and completeable. And while it would be a fantastic experience on its own, is not the highlight of the game. I am over 150 hours into the game, I've completed the main quest line and many other minor ones and still have a quest log full of things to do. 

To be cliche, each quest is a magical experience. There are some exceptions of course but the dramatic twists and bold story choices are some of the best in any game I've ever played. 

While the game is chock-full of interesting characters there are only a handful of voice actors. In a game designed to be played for dozens of hours having the same voices show up over and over again is not preferable. One voice actor in particular voiced six named story characters as well as additional voices. There are other actors pulling double and triple duty as well. While it does diminish some impact of these characters it was hardly detrimental to the overall experience.

Your choices in the way you approach combat are also wide open to you. I chose to go with one handed weapons with one hand of magic with a high proficiency in sneaking and archery. You can choose to dump all your points and magic and maybe not even carry a sword or you can bulk up and use heavy armor and two handed weapons.

Even with light armor, combat is usually just running up to an enemy and whacking them as fast as you can until they die. There are other options like archery or ranged magic but in some of the tight corridors of the caves you are sent into melee is an undeniable option.

Like I said before, this game is truly breathtaking. After over 150 hours I am still taken back by the elegant streams and gorgeous vistas. The character models on humans and some other species isn't the best out there but they really nailed everything else. The night and day cycle isn't as pretty as Red Dead Redemption but there is this great depth of field effect that gives everything a great cinematic quality.

Like all Bethesda open world games there a some quirks and some bugs. In all my time playing I only ran into one that affected my progress. The early bug affecting graphics on the Xbox 360 and the backwards dragons were annoying but I really can't think of much else that got in the way of the gameplay.

I have to give a few words to the UI of the menus and map for the game. They are simple and refined and really well done. I wish there were some way to sort items in your inventory however. There are so many RPGs with poor menus that is a joy and a relief to have such good ones in Skyrim.

Skyrim really delivers on all fronts. For fans of great story in game there are literally dozens of great ones to uncover. Combat isn't the best out there but continues to be satisfying many hours in. And did I mention this game is gorgeous? If you were expecting Skyrim to be fantastic you underestimated it. There are very few games that can live up to Skyrim's experience from beginning to indefinite end.