The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review

First off I wanna state that this is the first ever Elder Scrolls game that I’ve played. Why? Because I have been wrapped up in the world of FPS, RTS, and other Bethesda games for the past many years. So get off my back monkeys! You’re all probably wondering why, and why jump into Skyrim without playing any of the other Elder Scroll games? Well reason being was because of Fallout 3 and New Vegas, after spending a lot of time playing those two Bethesda games I had a greater appreciation for a first person/third person RPG’s. Unfortunately with such a huge library of games to play, to sit back and really enjoy the Elders Scroll series would be hard.
Starting off in Skyrim you’re character basically wakes up after being knocked out, captured, and thrown in back of a wagon with three other prisoners. At first when you get your first glance at Skyrim’s characters on while in transport, I wasn’t really impressed with anything, that is until we got off the cart and character creation began. There are ten different races to choose from and each race you can either choose male or female. Spending about 10 to 15 minutes reading through each race I decided on playing as a female Redguard who has the ability to resist poison and increase stamina regeneration. After all who better to invoke the power of Red Sonya than a female Redguard? Character creation pretty much ate up another 15 to 20 minutes, thinking that I would begin my adventure into Skyrim, I was wrong, it wasn’t till after a quick beheading and dragon attack it began. The start of most Bethesda games with character creation usually takes some time for me for some reason.

Gameplay in Skyrim is challenging. Just messing around within the first few minutes I found out that combat can be brutal. Being capable of dual wielding, sword and shield, two handed swords, two handed axes, bow and arrows, or single and dual wield magicka gives players huge options for combat. Mage with a shield, warrior that can self heal, or a warrior archer combo are all feasible in the game, I myself however went with a warrior and mage combination. I think that’s one of the great things in Skyrim, is that whatever you choose to play, or however you choose to play, Skyrim is flexible enough to accompany almost anyone’s play style. Combat is fun and all but without armor your hero is basically dragon food. A vast majority of the time you’ll scavenge for items for magic, metals and ores for smithing, and other goods to craft armors and weapons with better stats to use and enchant. Just be sure to have a pack mule ready while you’re going out on your adventures because being over burdened and not being able to fast travel to town really sucks. Also the introduction to dragon shouts is interesting. Shouts give players different powers ranging from knocking back people, super dash, elemental attacks, or even calling dragons to aid you in battle. Mixing and matching different powers with either magic or attacks can make players almost immortal, but don’t go around trying to play god just yet because you can still die if you’re careless. The story of Skyrim is fairly short, but the great thing is you can either play strictly to the story line, or skip it and just do whatever you like.
Two points that really stood out for me in Skyrim was the look and music of the game. The game is beautifully rendered and very well designed. The world of Skyrim is vast, many times throughout all the times I’ve played I’d just wander around and just go exploring. Never did it seem like it was going to end either, which is amazing since there’s so much to explore. The amount of content packed into Skyrim is huge. There’s about a total of 300 dungeons to explore, and each dungeon is different and unique from one another. Also A.I. speech is all verbally spoken by voice actors which is a huge +10 in my book. The music score in Skyrim is something to admire as well. The music in the game is powerful when it needs to be and can be subtle when the feeling needs to be just right. If Bethesda wanted to make more money off of Skyrim, all they would really need to do is to sell the soundtrack.

Skyrim in it’s entirety is probably one of the top games that I’ve played this year, but there are some downfalls. Tons of glitchy A.I. in the game kind of sets the game back. Having different animals or enemies you’re hunting run into a river under the rocks some how and be killed or swept away by the current is definitely not fun, funny yes, but fun no. Some other little bugs that got to me in Skyrim was having people/targets you killed fall through the floor, or enemies attacking you getting stuck behind a rock or a tree, and lastly just glitches where you try to craft something but the crafting menu wont open at all. Although there has been a patch out to fix a majority of the problems, new glitches like dragons flying backwards popped up. With such a large opened sandbox world I’m sure glitches will be a plenty, but if you look past the small glitches and focus on the rest of the game and what it has to offer, you’ll find that Skyrim is chocked full of awesomeness.

Skyrim is one game that everyone should get. If you’re on a budget but want to give yourself or the kids a game that they can spend countless hours on then this game is the way to go. If you’ve played Fallout 3, or Fallout New Vegas, then this game is right up your alley. Skyrim definitely has a Fallout feel to the menu system and traversing the landscapes. I had a great time playing this game, and most likely I’m going to be playing this game for a very long time since there’s so much to do, and so many other races to play. I advise everyone to pick this game up for the holiday season, if not for some one then for yourself.