In short
The Elders Scrolls V: Skyrim is a rich, powerful story about dragons returning to the lands of Skyrim. You, the ‘Dragonborn’, are one of a select few that can shout the language of the dragons. Only the dragonborn can vanquish a dragon as only dragonborn can devour a dragon’s soul, ridding them in absolution. Nothing is groundbreaking in Skyrim, but the RPG elements that make a good RPG were so brilliantly designed and put together, that this equates to one of the very finest RPG experiences you will find.
Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
For fans of: If you have ever enjoyed a Western RPG game, this is not to be missed
Reviewed on: Playstation 3
Also available on: Xbox 360, PC
If we had to give it a numerical score: 9.0 out of 10
What I loved
- Powerful stroryline
- User interface
- Character classes
- Characters of Skyrim
- Customisation options and variety
- Weapons
- RPG elements
- Skrim’s picturesque lands
- Combat
- Slaying dragons
- Musical Score
Not so much
- Visually buggy here and there
- Animations
Gameplay and Features
As with the previous Elder Scrolls title, Skyrim gives you total freedom of choice on how you tackle the campaign. Skyrim gives you the choice of more than enough classes and from there you can further customise your character in both features and attributes. You can create a magically powerful character, or a powerful warrior, or a combination of the two aspects. The choice and direction you can take with your characters and their attributes or strengths is staggering.
Once you have created your (truly) unique character and set off on your epic adventure, you are introduced to the brilliant user-interface. The design managed to simplify the most complex aspect of an RPG game, and for someone who is often overwhelmed by RPG titles’ interfaces, I had absolutely no problem navigating through the extensive menus. To further simplify your experience you can ‘favourite’ any item for quick access. The map is also simple to navigate and read, and pleasing on the eye. At first the map looks small as you need to find areas before they appear on the map. Once in areas, you can switch to local map for the allocation of everything within the town or area. So as a whole, the interface is easy to come to grips with, that does not mean it’s not deep – ardent RPG fans needn’t worry, there is plenty of substance here.
Bethesda is also known for great combat design, and Skyrim features the most fluid design yet. This aspect evolves and improves as you progress and ‘level up’ the countless attributes. These attributes are basic in design when upgraded at first, and then you can delve deeper into how you can allocate points through the masses of options. The basic attacks, with weapons or magic, look good enough to not bore you through your endless amounts of battles. Then there are the slow motion, dramatic finishes and big magical attacks that will have you in awe. The battle is not turn-based in true Western RPG style and flows, pleasing the action seekers. As you clock in the hours you will learn what strengths, be it magical or brut, will be needed in taking down the various enemies.
Weapons and magic continue with the design theme of starting off with a few basic categories and then evolves to countless possibilities of strengths and combinations. You can add potions to your weapons to give them unique strengths. Weapons include daggers, maces, battle axes and great swords to name but a few – the weapons fall into both single and two-handed weapons. You can also bolster your weapon for various bows with various arrows available.
As I said in the beginning of the review, nothing is groundbreaking in Skyrim, nothing surprises with the gameplay, especially to those that have played a Bethesda title. So besides the combat there is the usual gameplay – from brewing potions to crafting equipment, from enchanting weapons to combining items. The gameplay is deep and progressive, requires hours on hours of the most satisfying of RPG adventures. So while most RPG titles will feature most or a combination of the above mentioned aspects – it’s the outstanding design and even better execution of the gameplay that gives Skyrim no true equal.
Sound and Visuals
While the technical charms of Skyrim are amongst the finest, the visuals were a bit of a mixed bag for me. While the game-engine does a better job than with previous titles, for me Skyrim still suffers from the same let-downs that the previous titles did. I mean the gaming world of Skyrim is beautiful, from the mystical forests and mountains to the breathtaking skies – Skyrim is most certainly bewitching. And in such a massive gaming world, the texturing and detailing of the game’s world is more than apt. The character’s design and animations that let me down though – I can certainly understand that there were so many characters that needed to be designed and put together, but some animations and close-ups were very below par, or just plain off.
There are also a few flaws or glitches in the visual departments – from characters sometimes walking just above the ground as opposed to on it, to inconsistencies and frame-rate issues as you navigate through the game’s world. Again, because this is such a massive gaming world these aspects are easily forgivable and forgotten thanks to the rest of Skyrim’s charms. I began playing the game after the first patch, and got to the second patch before the reported game-breaking visual issues. So apart from some bizarre small glitches and the inconsistencies, I have nothing ‘game-breaking’ to report on the notorious PS3 version.
The scoring was an absolute highlight throughout the extremely long adventure. The scoring is well suited to the games’ theme and really uplifts the experience. The scoring is dramatically eerie, peaking at all the rights moments and building up and progressing with the story beautifully. The voice-actors also did a splendid job with delivering the dialogue that is again perfectly suited to the game’s theme. From the graceful ‘Greybeards’ to the mystical ‘Elves’, all the characters have distinct speech that is common to their kind. The villages are believable communities thanks to the talking amongst each other, almost in a natural manner. The conversations you have with those you interact with flow and aren’t as generic or forced as is common with RPG titles.
To conclude the sound review is the polished sound effects, from the dragon’s powerful roar as then set the countryside ablaze with the fire breathing attacks, to the metallic clanging of the weapons striking one another – the sound effects were carefully crafted.
Final thoughts
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an engrossing RPG title that will draw you with all its charms. It highlights Bethesda’s undeniable talent in crafting some of the best Western RPG games available. Skyrim encompasses all that the studio has been illustrious for from their previous titles, but without many of the frustrations. To top off the brilliantly designed RPG elements and the game itself, Skyrim’s gaming world is as enchanting as it is large.
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