Skyrim review

Brilliance always comes at a price. There's no doubting the humongous 'Skyrim' is an attractive prospect for any fantasy gamer. Bethesda's latest instalment stages one of the biggest virtual worlds ever created however a few weeks on and it seems that with great quantity comes great technical difficulties. Does Elder Scrolls V make the cut?

So an overall picture of the game at hand; it could be daunting for a humble writer to attempt to assess such a deep and complex experience within the space of a few paragraphs. In fact, I doubt very much that any external site on the web could successfully collect enough information to do the game justice. If you haven't got the point already, the game is massive. So big in fact, the map is comparable in size to a small borough of London.

The world
Perhaps the most perfected of all of Skyrim's aspects is the environment. A sprawling, hostile
world of strange creatures and breathing habitats. The trees sway with the wind, the rivers
flow with gravity, birds inhabit the clear skies and dragons emerge from hurricanes. It's breathtaking stuff. Even the most critical of us will agree, the place is beautiful and Bethesda should be congratulated. It's rare, if not unheard of for a world to be so damn immersive that a player can enjoy him or herself just by strolling to and from locations. As you wander off, the chances are some random occurrence will stop you in your tracks; a stag will fumble by only to spot you and dart away or the sun will set to reveal a lake riddled with fireflies (or glowbugs as they're known in the world). Even if sentimentality isn't your thing, this world is the stage in which your journey is set so it'll play a part in your experience whether you like it or not. Even the towns and cities have been skilfully designed and are bustling with citizens carrying out seemingly significant activities everyday. I want to be able to tell you there are glaring faults here, I want to be able to tell you this isn't the greatest interactive environment i've seen but I can't. If you have a problem with the domains of Skyrim, it's a subjective problem. You might argue the creatures and architecture are too close to Earthen reality to create the attractive charm needed within a fantasy game but most will disagree. It's a virtual world a gamer can get lost in.

Combat
Somewhat of an Achilles' heel for Bethesda previously, has been the clumsy combat system as featured in both Fallout 3 and Oblivion. It's no surprise that it has come under intense scrutiny this time round. Clearly in this sense there have been drastic improvements. The combat, though not as slick or coordinated as a game like Assasin's creed, is now far more engaging. Almost self-consciously, the 3rd person animations have been honed to perfection. And now character models swing and are swung at with gritty realism, blood effects and a far more emphasised recoil. Improvement is not perfection though and if you really struggled to come to terms with the washy movement controls and health bars of Oblivion, you might have to think twice with this year's instalment. But the non-linear fighting system also works as an advantage; there is a sense of liberation to be gained from the unscripted nature of the combat, unlike with most blockbuster titles, the animations do not run in concordance with your opponent so in a strange way it can be more realistic, every fight is different. There's certainly no doubting that as you level up, it's incredibly satisfying to see the spoils of your labour acted out on the battlefield.

Inhabitants
Even the most lush and colourful environments are desolate playing fields without inhabitants to fill them. Let us, for a moment, pretend that Oblivion was nothing more than a taste of things to come. There were aspects of Skyrim's predecessor, which seemed to capture the imagination of it's players. Namely, the interactive quest experiences in which you would develop relationships with the in-game characters. The 'dark brotherhood' are a name to boot, most successful because of the intense levels of drama within their story lines and relationships, displaying rare levels of depth for a videogame at the time. Now Skyrim is the development of that, with the help of a dozen actors and a hardworking team of scriptwriters there are an uncountable amount of distractions and stories to enjoy. It can be as simple as approaching someone on the street, to sparing a coin for an Inn's bard but the sequences in which new relationships are created are incredibly natural and often quite exciting. The amount of dialogue is staggering and the potential consequences of your conversations can be anything from the creation of a feud to marriage. Quests are everywhere, players are skilfully led from one to another and will probably find a lot of enjoyment in the number of cults and guilds. Less so perhaps, from the main storyline. What should be the most rewarding and indulgent of Skyrim's paths happens to be a short and as a result unfulfilling experience. Perhaps this is owing to the quality of what was included, you're left with a slightly disappointing sense of anti-climax when you realise the mission is over. Strangely, this hardly detracts from the experience at all, as the game is so big that any one of the other large stories compensate for it.

Generally you'll find that humanoids are the most recurrent of NPCs but players will discover soon enough they are among the more boring of Skyrim's creatures. It's difficult at times to ride from one location to another without spotting a dragon of some breed attacking a helpless camp or to flee in panic as a bear emerges from behind a rock. To begin with, you are the prey and it's not until you have gained in power that you can truly engage with the wildlife as a predator.

Dragons are worth mentioning for their significance in all aspects of the game. Everywhere you go there is evidence of their existence, passing guards will moan about their straw huts being decimated or giants will be seen fleeing across fields in an attempt to save their mammoth herds. Not to mention the role you as the 'dragonborn' have in their existence. Spoiler alert, it's your job to kill them. The creatures are ferocious, they've been masterfully programmed, almost like birds they'll glide around swooping in to pick off enemies like worms and then if you're lucky enough to bring one down to earth there's the matter of their firebreath or snapping jaws to deal with. It's clear that dragons were a favourite game aspect for the developers and they stand tall as a highlight within the game.

Sound

It makes my dragonblood boil when good soundtrack or voice acting is forgotten amongst a game's success. Partly what makes Skyrim such a captivating experience is the remarkable use of audio throughout. The peaceful, often catchy melodies that play as you ride through villages and mountaintops are very reminiscent of the first elder scrolls game and the thunderous main theme, which was a great selling point is used sparingly and to great effect. It's moralising as you battle a dragon to hear the soundtrack bellowing out and what it essentially creates is a sense of epicness that frankly, most games lack. It's not only the music but the much improved voice acting, which makes the game so appealing at first. Although most will agree that after a certain amount of time, players will tire of the same accents and actors.

Negatives

I feel a particularly strong urge to pour all my malice into this paragraph, as despite the game having many great assets, here there are also colossal negatives to match. Let us start with the worst of them, being the glitches. Yes, the glitches and bugs are so numerous that every single player without fail will be gritting in frustration as they watch hours of gameplay slip through their fingers. At times, quests, including the main ones are blocked from completion due to curious technissues such as NPCs changing race or profession. You'll find yourself stuck at times, or riding through mountains, running on thin air, replaying entire sessions in order to progress and the list goes on and on. What must be appreciated is that a game this big will never be exempt from bugs and such but if money had been allocated into fixing them in time for release, the levels of angry backlash that are threatening to crash the internet could have been avoided. This problem alone is going to detract from every player's opinion and it is often just short of soul-destroying to see your hard labour and progress hindered by something that is in no way your fault.

You can't help but feel that the auto-save feature could be used to much greater effect. It's typical within a dungeon to fight to the end only for a final boss to send you back to the last save point; the beginning of the dungeon. The save functions are entirely at the disposal of players, so it is partly your own responsibility to make sure this doesn't happen. Still, when you're deeply engaged and concentrating on the game it can be difficult to avert your attention, or remember.

Verdict

Despite it's drawbacks, if you're lucky enough to have a bug-lacking experience, this game will impregnate your real life and slowly devour it from the inside. You can't help but feel given the immeasurable size and beauty of it all, we could look back on Skyrim as an all time great.

A year's worth of food rations - check

Portaloo - check

Hydration drip - check

You're ready for the new world.

9.7/10