Yeah, I'm dragon born. Jealous?
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been out for almost two weeks and has received glowing reviews across the board. This is one game review I've personally been really excited to write. I'm a huge fan of this series and like many others, I have been looking forward to playing this game for a long time. It's so hard to keep a review of this game to a respectable sized blog though. There is just so much to this game. So before I begin rambling on let me briefly tell you about the story behind Skyrim.
The story of Skyrim puts you in the shoes of an unknown prisoner who is on their way to being executed. Just before this happens a dragon appears and puts a hold on your beheading. As you escape the dragon's wrath you are tasked with helping the people kill this dragon. You soon learn that you are what is known as a dragon born. This means you have the soul of a dragon inside you, and thus can absorb the souls of dragons you kill and learn new power shouts. Obviously this strikes the interest of people all across the land of Skyrim. Well, that and the fact that dragons have returned to the land. The main quest takes you on a journey to discover why the dragons have returned and to shed light on your character. Just like in Oblivion you can create your own character based on race, gender, and tons of physical characteristics.
There is so much attention to detail whether it be the weapons, armor, spell effects, or just the world itself. Speaking of the world...it's huge. Seeing how Skyrim is the northern area of the continent, most of it is cold and mountainous. There are lush forests, rushing rivers, plains, towns, caves, crypts, and much more. The weather changes from cloudy, clear, snow, rain, and of course night and day. Exploring the world is one of the rewards of playing this game. Just being able to loose yourself in searching to see what lies beyond the hillside is half the fun. There are tons of main and side quests to complete and each quest feels important and has actual depth to it. They don't feel like they were just tacked on. The combat feels pretty fluid and the many different weapons feel like they have weight to them. You can also now duel wield both weapons and magic. There's something awesome about being able to blast fire from one hand and wield an axe in the other hand.
That leads me into my next part for this game. If you are more of a magic person you don't have to use weapons. There are tons of spells that you can learn in the game too. These range from fire blasts, frost, lighting, healing, conjuring, and many more. As your character levels up you will be able to increase any of the abilities your character has. No longer are you forced to choose only one area or skill to level up your character with. Want to level your two handed weapon ability? Go ahead. Want to make your fire blast spell a little stronger? You can do that too. It allows you the opportunity to create the kind of character you want without being stuck into a single class or role. The leveling up system has a new design too. Whenever you level up and can spend a talent point you open up what looks like constellations. Each constellation represents your many different skills. Like real constellations, each star inside are different abilities within that skill that you can choose to level up (see image below).
As I mentioned earlier, there are dragons in Skyrim and you have to fight them. Some of the dragons you fight are part of a quest line. However, most of the dragons will attack anywhere and anytime. They are not scripted at all. This means that you may encounter a dragon in an area that none of your friends have. The dragons are what you'd expect. They are big, mean, and want to tear you apart. Every time you hear that roar in the distance you get a chill down your back. Then when you see the flying behemoth swooping down you know it's time to steady your weapons and possibly change your underwear. Each time you kill a dragon you will absorb its soul. You use the souls to gain new shouts (magical attacks) that you learn by reading words from ancient walls scattered throughout the world. Each shout consists of three words so every time you learn a new word it makes the particular shout more powerful.
The only flaws (if I had to find any) that I could see would be that there is some texture pop in at times. Also there are a few bug and glitches, but nothing that has completely ruined the game play. This is to be expected for a game of this size and Bethesda is working on updates to fix them. I could go on and on about how great this game is. Skyrim is a game that can't be truly completed. Sure you can finish the main story quests, but there are hundreds of side quests and countless places to explore in depth. It's the game that keeps on giving. It's also worth noting that downloadable content (dlc) is already in the works too. I have put in over 30 hours in the game and have barely scratched the surface. Skyrim is not a game. It's an experience. It's a game that comes around once in a long while. I think it is one of the best games ever created. Even if you're not into this genre or just can't seem to pull yourself away from that online shooter, give it a try. You'll be glad you did. Now if you excuse me, I hear a dragon and need to get my shout on!
Final Verdict: 10/10
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