Customer Reviews

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Xbox 360)

5 star:		(304)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

After a much anticipated wait by thousands upon thousands, or 3.5 million plus, 11.11.11 has finally arrived. Some people will have gotten the game on launch day, some unfortunate enough to receive it after. And for the lucky few a day or two before release.

There has been a lot of coverage of Skyrim leading up to its release that people have likely seen, about the animation, the sound, the world, the decapitations and dragon battles. But honestly none of that can truly do justice for how wonderful the game is, you need to play it for yourself to see it.
When running down a snowy mountain and first entering a pine forest, memories of oblivion can start to enter the mind, but they soon get washed away by fresh ones as the many new and improved aspects kick into play. Basically the game is a sure improvement over oblivion and here is why.
Firstly: (MINOR SPOILER) Werewolves are indeed back, and better than ever!

COMBAT:
When you charge towards someone and swing a steel great sword with full power at their head, it feels like you're charging towards someone swinging a steel great sword with full power at their head! The way the camera subtly jolts and the dragonborn's body continues moving in the direction of the force for a second. Though these attacks drain nearly all your stamina at first and take a brief moment to recover from.. well if you can land it the attack is as deadly as it looks, usually killing enemies with a single blow. It adds a new found sense of realism just like when it comes to firing arrows at enemies, you no longer have to fire more than 4, no more hedgehog arrow enemies unless they are really strong. Don't think this means the game is easy though, on the normal of the 5 difficulty settings, you can easily be slain if you make silly decisions and forget to block or heal accordingly. Try swinging a sword non stop at one enemy whilst their friends fire arrows and spells at you; see how long you survive.

The dual wielding adds a brilliant new dimension to the combat, you can select what goes in your left or right hand by pressing the L or R triggers in the weapons menu, meaning you can use a spell in both hands for greater effect, two of the same weapons, or mix them up. Sure; the woodcutter axe is for chopping wood at the lumber mill, and the pick axe is for mining ore (both doable jobs) but you can dual wield the two in each hand and do combos with them by holding down both triggers. This means 2 little daggers can quickly become a lot of fun. You can even dual wield staffs! If you can sneak up on someone without them detecting you, you can slit their throat for an instant kill! this is actually more satisfying then the old 3x critical strike of past games as you feel more rewarded for your sneaking, you can still do critical strikes but the slit throat one is also available. And this allows for continued non-detection.

The kill animations are quite satisfying too and tend to happen at random which means they don't become repetitive (my fear was every enemy on low health equaled a kill animation) but sometimes it's a normal kill, sometimes you can run up to a full HP enemy and stick your great sword through them as their body rises in the air. The neat thing here is enemies can do final kill animations to you and each other adding even more gritty realism to the elder scrolls universe.
Magic attacks in this game are awesome and not to be over looked if you are the hack and slash type of player, when you have 3 deranged people trying to kill you, there's nothing better than assigning your flame spell to both hands and unleashing fiery hell on them. There is a nice variety of spells in the game, from the elementals to conjuring, alteration and traps etc. That's before even touching the dragon shouts.
The dragon shouts are alot of fun to use, they feel powerful while the controller vibrates and are a nice new addition to elder scrolls. They can really give the edge in a battle that is difficult. And they are just as scary when you fight a enemy that can use them such as a Draugh scourge.

GAMEPLAY FEATURES:
Five years later after Oblivion, there are indeed new features, and old ones that have been refined to give a more user friendly and credible feel. I'll list them.
- Dual Wield (As you know, wield both magic and weapons in either hands)
- Cooking (using recipes to make food that get better healing properties)
- Grindstone (Used with gathered materials to better weapon quality)
- Workbench (Used with gathered materials to better armor quality)
- Forge (Used with gathered materials to create new weapons, armor or jewelry)
- Tanning (Put a knife to a animal hide to gather leather strips)
- Mining (Use a pick axe in your inventory to gather ore from rocks)
- Smelting (Use gathered ore to create ingots used in equipment creation)
- Alchemy Lab (Use ingredients acquired to create and try new potions)
- Log Cutting/Lumber yard (Two additional ways to make money)
- Buying Properties/Invest (To live in or help increase merchants default funds)
- Dragon Shouts (Acquire dragon souls, spend them on shouts learned from walls)
- Vampires, Dragons & Werewolves oh my! (Be a vampire or werewolf, or get help from a dragon later on)
- Can now press RB to sprint! a much welcomed addition to get around faster, or run away from things faster. Sprinting along with holding R trigger makes the character do highly powerful attacks, they aren't so easy to land however.

- Perk Tree (New way to evolve in skills as you choose what perks to spend points on gained from leveling up, and some new abilities)

- Companions (Make people like you enough and they'll let you take stuff from their house, eventually you can marry! Some people are hirelings who will join you and guard you for a small fee, or you can get a pet war dog. Remember Morrowind's companions and pack rats? Seems Skyrims has the goodness of Morrowind in many ways. There is an equipment trade option and excellent command option where you an get your hireling to attack anything, or take/harvest anything)

- Weapons/Armor (The game has all the classics re-imagined for Skyrim plus a nice amount of new equipment for people to get their teeth into)

- Radiant A.I - (Meaning you'll never end up doing the same sub quests! each keyed to different locations by different people. I haven't been able to tell what miscellaneous quests are scripted and what ones are made with radiant AI)

World Map - (Zoom up into a real time view of the world, it is the same size as Oblivion but it feels much bigger to me because of the varying environments esque of Morrowind, like beautiful deciduous forests & huge tundra's to name two. Also though the world has a lot of mountainous regions, and by this I don't mean lots of snowy mountains you have to glitch jump up, but a lot of the time you'll have to traverse up or down craggy water falls and different levels of land, it's somehow great because it makes the game feel bigger and means the draw distances really get put to the test. Bear grylls would love this place.)

The menu - (has been streamlined to make it more accessible and with the favorites hotkey; fluid, this makes using spells and weapons or shouts quicker than ever. In the menu you can also view 3D models of every item!) Also unknown to most without some trial and error. You can hold Left or Right on the D-pad whilst browsing through the items in your Hotkey menu, little numbers (1 & 2) will appear next to the items you choose. Now during gameplay people can switch between 2 things like a weapon and healing, quite time efficient!

As you can see the game has a host of new features, and there are more little surprises I won't mention.

REALISM:
When you pick up something that isn't yours, when you take stuff from your
inventory and chuck it on the ground randomly, when you run into people, NPC's will react to these and many more things you do. Your individual companion will even make comments about a situation or wherever you both go, like "we've reached a cave, but I don't think warm fires and friendly faces wait inside". When you sprint or swing a heavy weapon til low on stamina, your character will gasp as they need breath. Read books and the pages turn with real writing, not text. Spells when fired leave their mark on the land such as ice and fire, blood spatters show on surfaces, enemies, yourself and stay on weapons for a period of time.
The full weather cycle is lovely, best of any game easily, you get rain and thunder, fog, grey cloudy skies (like Britain) then blue skies and sunshine, orange fantasy like late evenings and then the really bad weather. I ran through the northern wastes of skyrim jumping from ice slab to ice slab in the midst of a foggy blizzard that'd make any bad weather we've had in recent times look paltry. Then after tangling with a snow bear and large walrus (horker) I came to a clearing on land and the snow started to get lighter as the fog gradually cleared and the skies opened. Being night I could see stars, the bloodmoon and a reddish aurora that looked amazing. (moments like these can stop you in your tracks, seriously!)

Stand on a outcropping rock near a water fall and listen to the howling wind as you're high up, see the leaves from the pine forest above blow around you, look down to the crashing waters below and watch as they fluidly move around rocks and down stream. Stare at the wolf thats howling at you and circling before firing a single arrow at it's head; the first you tried too fire to quick and it dropped in the stream, the second hits the wolf between the eyes sending it rolling down the hill. Or try standing near the perfectly named "throat of the world" which is the peak of the tallest mountain, it's amazing and will make you feel like you're more closer to the sky than red mountain ever could.

Go into someones house at 7pm and see the adults and their kid eating supper while a parent asks you to not make any trouble. Hold A down and again you can move objects freely thanks to Havok physics (It took me awhile to find out you hold A down!) You can make people fight over equipment, when a animal see's you it will watch you which makes dogs/horses feel like living creatures. NPC's have perfect lip sync when talking and blink etc (the game has no cutscenes so everything is done and seen in real time.) Also upon entering a giant cave under the bottom of some Dwemer ruins (filled with large luminescent jellyfish looking mushrooms) my own character looked up at them in awe (his mouth was open etc.) There are dust particles in beams of light, doors to new areas now open and handles move when npc's or yourself enter them. The animations and movement transitions from 1st person to 3rd or one direction to another are seamless and perfect unlike Oblivions sometimes awkward movements.

Don't let the resurrected werewolves or twilight remove your love for vampires in this game, it's done perfectly and has a good way of showing things such as the stages of vampirism and how the sunlight will effect your character when outside during day, caption sin the top corner will also tell you if you're dying or just losing energy. Your characters fangs show fully and npc's will react to the different stages of lycanthropy or vampirism, even remarking you when you're ill with a common disease.
If you already complete a quest or have an item before being given it, npc's will cleverly react to it and praise you.
As for dragons, when you hear their ominous roar in the distance and see their shadow darken where you stand for a second, it's really quite something. When fighting them they aren't a pushover. Sometimes they circle mountains in a distance, sometimes they'll come from the darkness at night to set a town alight. And when that happens you'll probably feel compelled to save the town. The guards will tell everyone to run inside as it lands on roofs and does all sorts of madness (it landed at one end of a snowy town and fired a fireball that flew down the street, cooking guards and narrowly missing me as I charged towards it, so it's attacks vary too) For instance beware they don't thrash you around in their mouth like a dog, it usually means death. I thought I was a badass, ran up to a newer dragon, hit it with a hammer, it then ate me..

There are many more instances of realism within the game that make me wonder how Bethesda could fit it all in.
And as a final note to the realism, I played tag with a little girl! (I stood on a wooden slat so she couldn't get me, I know, aren't I lovely) I could've played hide and seek but maybe next time.

OTHER POINTERS:
I think better equipment appears as you level up though some is available if you can get it. NPC's however don't exactly level up with you which is another good feature. (Oblivion made everything level up with you which made me feel like my character wasn't getting any stronger) Regarding enemies with their set levels, I've bumped into one or two when I was level 9 and they are very deadly! making me do things I don't normally bother to (like use my scrolls, different potions etc) so it opens up more gameplay perhaps. And even then I had to avoid the ice temptress lady..thing.
This game seems like it's made for you to level up to well over the hundred region like MMORPG's. In oblivion my character got stuck at level 19 after doing everything, but in Skyrim you can reach that level without touching a quarter of the quests and still get slaughtered by some opponents. You unlock one perk per level and there are 280 perks, but Bethesda revealed it's a 1-50 game in terms in leveling, and mathematically can go up to 70, maybe more who knows.

Another thing worth mentioning is the political side of the game which you must delve more into, in real life though not oblivious by any means, I personally can't be bothered with politics. But in this game it all feels very real and has quite some depth to it, before you know it you could be torn both ways with whom to side with. And by this I mean the stormcloak rebellion against the imperial empire.
Skip this next block of writing if you like as it's just abit of back story surrounding the political side of Skyrim.

As you may know, the Imperial race of people and their emperor reside in the central province called Cyrodiil (where oblivion was set) They rule the empire which consists of the other provinces. The ones fighting against the empire's presence in Skyrim are led by Ulfric stormcloak, they are Nords who fight because they don't want Skyrim to be part of a crumbling empire anymore, they want their native people to stand alone; retaining their own traditions and freedom without their kings becoming weak and their towns filling with outsiders or spies. What's more they feel the empire let them down.
After the oblivion crisis there was a great war against a large (and supremacist) nation of high elves (these people wanted to destroy the dominance of man over elves and take over the empire) They are now known as the Aldmeri Dominion. This nation of elves was formed after the Thalmor took government in the high elves homeland Summerset Isle.
The empire surrendered to the aldmeri dominion after years of battle and accepted the elves terms to ban the worship of their god Talos. The nords took great losses for the Imperials in exchange for that outcome (in game read a book called The Great War) For these reasons the stormcloaks fight to the death against the empire.

The empire however have the support of the other half of Skyrim, because these people believe when Ulfric murdered their High King as an example, he's simply a deluded murderer and power hungry for the throne, they also believe they need the help of the empire in order to rebuild Skyrim.
Remember the trailer where the epic voice says "when the sons of skyrim spill their own blood" thats what it means!
- Joining one of these factions isn't doing the dragon filled main quest, but it's yet another great bunch of side quests to get lost in.

BAD POINTS:

For me, the bad points would be;
- The player menu can be fiddly at first due to it being streamlined and new, for instance you only need to use directions but will probably press A to go to the next section of the menu; meaning you may press both by accident going to a part you don't want to, and pressing B to go back; which exits it all together (directions are to go back also) when you get used to this though it's fine. Also the opacity of the menu can be annoying as there's no option to make it more opaque.

- Another thing regarding the menu is with the streamlined nature you cannot read your quest notes and what people have said like in oblivion and Morrowind, it just says the next step and a brief summary of the quest, you can still search it on the map thankfully.

- Regarding the infamous bugs, there are some minor bugs that Bethesda will patch soon and you may not see, but they're not horrendous like Obsidian Entertainments fallout new vegas. One is when a giant MURDERS you, your body can fly off, I found this funny and harmless though, they do hit with frighteningly hard blows after all. Another few are some type errors such as a word in a book, an armors name etc.

- There doesn't seem to be a proper animation for swimming backwards unlike in previous games which is a mystery to me. It looks like swimming forward reversed.
The only other animations I don't like is the roll forward animation and the unsheathing a staff animation. The forward roll looks daft compared to Link in Zelda when he rolls forward (this is a stealth perk anyway.) And when pulling out a staff it isn't from the characters back like in Oblivion, it's from thin air.

- When in large scale battles the framerate can suffer ever so slightly from one spot to another. This is to do with accumulative game save data on the PS3 mainly, and what remnants there are of this on the 360 will soon be gone.

- The calibration of the ripples when running through water look very slightly off to me, as though the are forming from where the characters knee is and not the center.

- The blood on the ice quest that must be completed in Windhelm to purchase the house there, it cannot be started after a certain point in the stormcloaks quests. And the quest itself has many bugs at the present. This will be patched in 1.04 however along with many quest and gameplay issues, so the performance of the game should be much better than it already is. Bugs were a problem at first but now are not a problem to me as I play through it.

SUMMARY:
To put it simply, the game is amazing, the sound effects are second to none and that includes voice talent along with the music which isn't intrusive or repetitive; but perfectly ambient, setting the mood for any situation. There must literally be about 50 different sound effects for the different kind of things you can walk on, be it snow/gravel/cobblestone/marble ruins etc. I've played games where there is just 1.
The visuals are indeed improved (I love the streams and water falls) also some of the creatures show a wonderful job done by the artists (take the Hograven for instance, when you come up against one, you'll see they are the epitome of the witch) the architectures and designs for many structures are also wonderful and feel both nordic and out of this world. And the game has more than enough features and quests to keep you happy for weeks on end!

The game is friendly to both newcomers to the series, and those who have played the previous ones (A certain khajiit is back, somewhere...who knows where.. elsweyr? Yeah bad joke)

The storyline I've now completed, I will say it could have and should have been longer. If you bought this game to simply beat the main quest and nothing more, it'd be about as long as a call of duty campaign on veteran. But of course the vastness of this game comes from everything as a whole, such as the many side quests that are thought up cleverly enough to be main storylines for lesser RPG's and not fillers. Also the main quest despite being not too long, is quite epic! Alduin is badass. I enjoyed it.
It's lifespan will easily hit 200+ hours (I'm 134 hours in now..time flies by with this game)
And regarding DLC or updates, Bethesda are a awesome developer because they are giving new features for free with patches that other developers would charge you for. (New kill animations for all weapons and new ranged kill cams for the 1.5 update)

From the insane and epic start to the perhaps never ending finish (because of the many hours this game will offer) No game is perfect but this one is close, and I'm sure everyone will enjoy it!
My Rating: 5*
[Sorry for making this a long read but thought being a large game it deserved it, and wanted to make a proper unbiased review so had to add a lot of details.]
Thank you for reading!

Final word of advice:
- Don't piss a giant off.
- Or chickens, leave chickens.

Yes ok - your husband could be a Skyrim widow as well - but the point is they don't know what they are missing. I bought the game on launch day (like an excited child) and have clocked up around 35 hours so far. There are already 115 reviews on here and there's almost no point in me adding my meagre offering to the pile - if only for the satisfaction of being able to say "SKYRIM IS AMAZING" in big capital letters.

It is just about everything you want from your 360. Thrills, spills, exploration and adventure. The number of NPCs and monsters is vast. The number of collectables and upgrades is enormous. The playing area doesn't seem that big at first (echoes of New Vegas size) but once you start plodding about you realise that you are going to be looking at the map for a very long time before you visit anywhere near all of the places there are to be found in this exciting, dangerous FRP world.

There are always some very small criticisms to be levelled at Bethesdas RPG games - notably around animations etc of the playing character (in 3rd person view) and the odd glitch between NPCs and scenery - but really these are trivial. The rest of the game is just jaw droppingly enjoyable - between the weather laden open air (can you feel that chill? Yeah?!) and the inspired creepy dungeons with their breathtaking design and variety. Fabulous. Add in more baddies than you can shake an enchanted mace at and - MAGIC. TO. DIE. FOR. - and the game becomes not just an adventure - it really becomes an immersive experience. You care about all that stuff you just found. You cherish that new sword, you want to learn to enchant it - so you do - and it feels good. Your horse defends you in battle - so you charge in to it's aid with all the gusto of a berserk viking on amphetamines - becasue that horse is not just a horse. It is your faithful and trusty steed. You have too much stuff - so you give some better items to your companion (if you choose one) and they use it - and they also help you in battle. There is a real sense of purpose and interaction with all the NPCs from the get-go.

Red Dead Redemption set the benchmark for me for atmosphere and ambience. New Vegas was different and had a different atmosphere overall but came close. Skyrim is different again - but it leaves you so delighted in a different way. Watching a dragon fly in to barbeque a bunch of soldiers in the distance, at night, against a starry sky, with the aurora hanging in the background - is just one of the many rich visual highlights I have enjoyed thus far. Just incredible.

If you have a 360, and you don't have Skyrim yet - then buy it. And tell your wife/husband/partner/dog/kids/boss that the normal schedule of things is going to have to change a bit for, oh, six months or so??

This is a late review, I know. But to give it a genuine, honest review I wanted to wait until I had finsihed it.
It took me longer than normal, as I refuse to fast travel to locations, but I have just become the mother of my beautiful
baby girl who takes up a lot of my time, but finally, here I am.

Like with Oblivion, the beginning of this game is action packed and keeps you glued to the screen, it really helps throw you into
chaotic province of Tamriel that is Skyrim.

Also like with Oblivion, once you get passed the opening mission you are set loose into a vast landscape, I was genuinely overwhelmed
at the sheer scale of the map, and as always Bethesdas obsessive attention to detail is nothing short of artistic excellence.

Where you go from there is your choice to make, you can follow the main quest line, or (like me) go exploring the towns and villages
looking for side quests, and trust me, there are enough to keep you busy for a very, very long time. You also get the guilds in Skyrim,
The dark brotherhood was my favorite guild in Oblivion, and I wasn't dissapointed with their plot line in Skyrim.

With all the side quests, misc objectives, fascinating people/creatures with some truly well written dialogue, jobs to do, houses to buy,
people to marry, landscape that has snow topped mountains, green fields. iceberg islands, towns, villages, enough dungeons to keep
an army of Dominatrix's happy, and the main storyline - you are 100% getting your moneys worth.

The more you play, the more Skyrim starts to feel like home, you will start recognising landmarks, and start seeing familiar faces about
the towns, it really sucks you in to it's world and makes you feel like you are there.

I know some people have been moaning about texture popping, I played this on Xbox in 1080p with the HDMI cable and had no issues with this?
There are a few small glitches that I found, but nothing that ruined my game. I seen one reviewer mention mammoths flying into the air
then falling to earth and dying - I also saw this happen, and while it is obviously a bug, in a land of cat-people, reptiles, mages
skeletons, dragons, ghosts, elves and giants - what's so stange about suicidal, highjumping mammoths? lol.

I would reccomend this game to anybody, RPG fan or not. This was not a game, it was an experience!!! For a few hours a day I lived Skyrim,
and like any real life place I have visited and loved, I will always have fond memories of it when thinking back.

Awesome, awesome game, if I could give it more than 5 stars I would.

-Sophie-

So I put the disc in and go through 30minutes of making my warrior, who turns out every-time like a camp Gerard Butler. So eventually Gerard and me skip off into the Skyrim world looking for wild adventure,really can this catch my interest....Whats this Gerard a butterfly,catch the butterfly,Oooooh a Bear run Gerard run.Yes fair Maiden I will find your lost love.Frodo you have my sword.Make a Dagger,enchant a dagger,sell a dagger.Run through the grass giggling like a school girl.Is that a Mammoth,yup its a Mammoth.What do you mean your a Vampire.We have to go through the mines of Moria.Dragon,Dragon..your going to need a bigger Sword.Horse is wounded,must save Mr Horsey....whats the time 0300am are you insane it was 2pm a minute ago.......I cant switch it off,you dont understand Darling I am the Dragon Born......any chance you can give me a shave and change my pants!!!!

Well you are now looking at a level 50 Skyrimmer,Gerard has done me proud....Darling Darling I am level 50,truly,I am born of Dragon.
"That must have been one big Dragon,now come to bed you fat....."

Well, it's got some laughable bugs in it (NPCs don't react if you put buckets or pots on their heads), the AI isn't groundbreaking, the character dialogue can be a bit hammy and limited, and the enemy animation can sometimes be unconvincing. Now, with any other game these issues would be reasons to avoid purchase, but with Skyrim? They're just facts. Facts of a new life you've since assumed that, at most, will make you shrug forgetfully as you gaze open-mouthed before yet another astonishingly beautiful vista; yet another inspirational discovery; yet another exciting mission; yet another adrenalined-fueled victory.

Already for me, this game is legendary - to date, it's been out three days but It feels like i've played it for weeks. I've experienced so much - and I'm only level 24 out of . . . what? I don't know. I won't despoil it for you here, but suffice to say that some side quests have more depth to them than a fair few main story arc missions in its predecessor, Oblivion. I haven't been as excited by the sense of discovery in any game I've played before (including HL2/Portal/etc). I spent quite a few hours after starting the game reading in-game books to get an idea of the backstory of the world (It's been a few years since I played the last one). The books are actually good reads, and I found one that had told of a mysterious and intriguing legend associated with a wizard, which made me want to read more about it in a possible subsequent volume. Imagine my surprise and excitement upon closing the book, to see the 'Mission Started' writing across the screen, and a map location being added! This then, is a new kind of fantasy RPG - in the land of Skyrim you don't just ruminate on secrets and legends left in the game world, you are expected to hunt them down and discover their truths for yourself, and play the role of intrepid explorer; someone who cannot be said to exist anymore in reality. It is a very rare thing to be able to capture that, and it speaks volumes for the game's immersion that this is possible, for me at least.

How you explore the world then, is up to you. Since this game is actually five-games-and-a-world-in-one (be-a-fighter, be-a-Mage, be-a-Ranger, be-a-Thief, be-an-Assassin game), and Eidos Montreal's Thief 4 is not out yet, I chose to be a Wood Elf Thief (Wood Elves are granted racial bonuses that work for thievery). I previously mentioned that the AI isn't groundbreaking, but in reality, it's slightly better than Deus Ex Human Revolution, which isn't bad, but nothing original. For a Thief substitute, it does very well, as you are less visible in shadows and line-of-sight, while you get sneaking bonuses applied for the amount of detectable sound your armour makes while moving, plus you can spend perk points within that skill (given each time you level-up, overall) on becoming even more undetectable. Separate skill trees are available for pickpocketing and lockpicking, completing the game genre/class setup. Each skill levels up with repeated use (successful or otherwise - ie, get caught and the skill increases, break a lockpick and the skill increases) and I believe that eventually, after about level 30/35, I will no longer need to use weapons - my character will have all but assumed the role of Master Thief, Garret-Style. All this without even having joined a Thieves Guild, which I haven't even heard of yet. Obviously, you don't have to do this. You can be anything you want. There are 18 skill trees each with 10-15 points to spend your perks for each level-up, where each skill has a level cap of around 100 - so there's no way you can get every one in a single playthrough.

And what a playthrough! I've mixed potions and poisons (the paralysis poison is something best used on arrows, shot at guards walking towards the edge of high battlements - hugely entertaining), cooked tomato soup (not out of a tin!), had a contract taken out on me (damned vigilant shopkeepers!), been voluntarily cursed by a prisoner (!?), chopped thousands of septims' worth of wood, been chased off the edge of a cliff by a cave bear (gasping in awe at the view on the way down), cowered inside a stable (while a frost dragon perched on the roof), killed a giant spider (it had been given a name by some silly guards), trapped souls, killed vampires, eaten human flesh (trust me, you'll try it too!) and explored a submerged shipwreck. And I've only been playing for a few days and made it through three missions of the main quest and about one-third of the map. It is an unrivalled epic, which will be remembered, like its predecessor, for years after you have set it down. It assumes the mantle of my favourite genre (stealth) and lets me modify it in an organic way to suit my style. It does all these things whilst looking absolutely beautiful. I mean Assassin's Creed-killing beautiful. I honestly did not expect the 360 to be capable of such a feat, thinking that all trailer screens were from some high-end PC, but lordy, isn't this the reason 50 inch televisions were created?

Without hesitation then, I will say that this is the best game I have ever played. Go buy it and see what I mean.

A singularly excellent example of the genre. The longevity of this game is breath taking. This is not one these games that is over in 5 minutes and leaves one feeling "is that it?" A totally immersive world with great attention to detail. This is without the very very best RPG I have played on any format. The combat system is second to none and the work bench is an excellent means of building up that feeling of being "in the game".

Probably the best thought out, best executed game of any genre I have played this year.

A pity I had to play someone elses copy because Amazon prime failed to deliver as promised! Two days later and still waiting. The promise of next day delivery was not met, needless to say I will not be extending beyond the free trial period and I will not be recommending this service to any one else. My advice be patient and save yourself the price of a game!

This game should come packaged with a divorce settelement. Skyrim will ruin your life in the best possible way. At first very imposing world, dozens of things to do, may seem daunting, but persevere and you will be rewarded with one of the greatest experiences in gaming.

As an avid gamer since the year 1989, up until recent years where adult life has consumed most of my time in monotonies such as work and a home, Skyrim came unexpectedly.

Skyrim is in my opinion the best game I have ever played.

To begin with, the massive world you'll notice is as visceral as ever in its quasi-fantasy style. Cyrodil was mostly grass and vegetation, Skyrim has beautiful villages and sunny landscapes which contrast with harsh, hostile snow-covered mountains, violent ravines and breath-taking waterfalls. This time the land is bigger than ever, and frighteningly detailed. There were many people working on the maps in every city and it really shows. Quite honestly, you haven't seen anything like this before, not in Morrowind or Oblivion.

Straight up, the fourth sequel in the Elder Scrolls series throws an enormous amount at the player and gives them so much to do, in such a way that you are rewarded for doing anything and everything. Your character progresses and advances the more you play. Dynamics are the most important part of the game. Whatever you experience, those skills will increase as you get naturally stronger, with the ability to add a "perk" to a skill tree once you have so many skill points. The perks can change the game and the player will enjoy picking the best ones. Levelling up can become an addiction, severing many hours with the "just one more" factor.

There are dozens of ways to approach quests, and if you don't want to follow the main story that's OK too. Your character can level up in other ways by doing what the hell you want, whether that being a merchant who sells his own gear, or a violent thug who robs and pillages. You can sneak, assault with double handed or one handed weapons, use destruction spells, snipe with arrows, conjure up beasts to do fighting for you, poison your foes pockets... and so much more. There are also skills in smithing weapons, alchemy, alteration, and even enchanting. Put simply, you will need to kill hundreds of hours before you become anywhere near bored.

Skyrim has massively improved areas which weren't perfect about Oblivion. The AI moves like an action/adventure game as opposed to an RPG. Before, enemies used to stand on the spot as you hit them. Now, they side-strafe and dash forward to attack, blocking with shields. Some even run away if they know they're going to die. They use spells intelligently and heal up as often as the player does. The random encounters are also sometimes hilarious even if you fall foul to them. Random fights, muggings and robberies can happen at any time. Walk along a mountain path and wonder as a dragon lands at your feet and toasts you. Behold as giants and mammoths come together to ward off bandits. It really does keep the game refreshing and new. I've also heard of weddings in this game which get gate-crashed.

Skyrim really flooded my senses with wonder and intrigue which I really enjoyed and still continue to think about even after I completed the main quest. The game rewards the player for completing each guild and side quests. There is so much to do, with so much content it makes going back to the standard 10-hour game disappointing and flat. Warning, this game can be very addictive. The only downside I would say is the loading times which can't be helped, although they do help to relax you with a fabulous score.

10/10

This is it. Bethesda had finally done their homework by listening to their fans, researching into what worked and not thus far in this most complicated genre of all, what made Morrowind so much deeper and more memorable than Oblivion -- and they released what is probably their best and most consistent game yet. All things considered, it is also among the best role-playing games ever made. But Bethesda needed all their blood, sweat and tears, all the hard experience from Arena to Fallout 3 to pull this feat.

Skyrim is best described as a distinctive, homogenic experience in a persistent world. I think it is best played in huge chunks, in a wide-eyed, semi-meditative state, which is a prerogative of open-world RPG's, this pinnacle genre in video gaming. I'll try to break down the best components of this experience:

- As much as the vast open-world formula permits it, Bethesda creates free-roaming NPC's with true characters -- even if only some of them really stick out and even fewer are memorable. As expected, characters who are relevant to the main plot are fleshed out the most: Ulfric Stormcloak, his second-in-command Galmar, Esbern, and our clandestine associate Delphine, perhaps most of all. What is great though is that some of the less important characters end up being quite memorable too: Ancano, the mysterious Thalmor emissary in the College. Madanach, the disgruntled leader of the Forsworn. Kodlak Whitemane, the Companions' elderly foreman who even writes a lengthy diary that we can discover. And when I finally lost my loyal sidekick Lydia in some dungeon after days of doing quests together, I felt a genuine sense of emotional loss (even if she wasn't one of the more memorable NPC's), a very rare feeling in computer games.

- Politics are realistic, complex, convoluted, frustrating, as they should be. The internal and external struggles of the various factions are not sugarcoated for the player, it's all laid out as it is, and we need to figure our own way around the relations. The Empire, the Thalmor, the Stormcloaks, the Forsworn, the Blades, the Greybeards -- all their destinies are intertwined in a realistic way, all have their respective agendas that the player needs to figure out with minimal to no handholding. The fact that Skyrim's political landscape is not simplified for easier digestion is one of my favorite aspects of the game. It's a subtle, mature feature not advertised with hype, yet it helps the immersion tremendously.

- Many of the conversations are deep and involving -- for a Bethesda game. They are excellently written and often quite long, which is taken for granted from some other developers like Obsidian, but it's a very pleasant surprise coming from Bethesda. The crucial negotiation scene in High Hrothgar reminded me of the Castle Never trial scene in NWN2, as it achieved the same kind of tension, gravity and drama, which is absolutely awesome for a mostly non-scripted open-world role-playing game. Skyrim is probably the very first open-world RPG that lives up to the challenge posed by Obsidian's offerings in terms of dramatization and tension.

- Many of the quests are creative, exhilarating and unorthodox. The main plotline is haunted by a sense of wonder and is graced by many (scripted) scenes that are bound to be remembered as some of the most memorable scenes in gaming: the first dragon hunt at the Whiterun guard tower; the reading of the Elder Scroll on the mountaintop; the dragon trapping in Dragonreach; the greet and cheer of a dozen flying dragons after the final battle. And Blackreach, a vast, eerie, otherworldly cavern with abandoned structures is one of the top 5 in-game locations i've encountered in a game EVER. Outside of actual real-life adventure travel, it is probably only open-world RPG's that are capable of achieving this sense of wonder, since it presupposes the element of boundless exploration in an intriguing region. It also presupposes a capability of sensing wonders in the players themselves, something that many jaded gamers of today seem incapable of -- in real life or virtual.

- There are about 330 books in Skyrim, and while I haven't read all of them, I took the time to read quite a few. This is part of why the game is a triumph: not one of the books is shallow, boring or badly written. Sure, most of them are brief 3-4 page essays, but this has to be one of the first games that take its own book reading feature very seriously. You can spend several hours just browsing through the ingame books and not be bored. What's even better is the way the books' material ties in directly with the actual gameplay. In most RPG's, ingame books are disconnected from the actual gameplay. Here, they complement it. You can read a lot about Alduin or the Wolf Queen, for instance, and later you get to meet both of them.

- Some towns are architecturally awesome and feel alive with daily bustle. Markarth and Whiterun, especially. I liked the vibe of Solitude and Riften as well. Again, this would not be such a feat in a "hands-off", closed-world RPG, but the fact that even towns are awesome and realistic in Skyrim makes the end product all the more irresistible.

So the game is not only huge and open-ended, but it includes characters, quests, books and towns with the high quality of smaller scale closed-world games: it's the culmination of the best of both worlds, not unified successfully until now. This is what makes Skyrim a milestone and a masterpiece.

I finally got fed up with all of it around the 100 hours mark. That's quite a feat as the vast majority of contemporary RPG's stop being interesting (and usually run out of material) before 40-50 hours of gameplay. At this point, I couldn't stand to endure another bandit-infested fort, another Nord village, another steampunk Dwemer ruin, another mission update and so forth. It was too much, as Skyrim's world is very homogenic. You'll find the exact same non-scripted stuff at the southern tip as on the icy Northern reaches. Thus Skyrim's geographical and thematic realism is a mixed blessing; it can get grating, repetitive, predictable. But it's a long enjoyable ride until that point.

The skill system is radically simplified and streamlined, clearly the influence of mainstream console gaming (which itself is a blight on role-playing games). Much had been said about the classless system and the lack of skills like acrobatics. While all this can be interpreted as a dumbing down of game mechanics, I found that it doesn't hinder immersion, in fact maybe it promotes it: much like in a real-life adventure trip, in Skyrim all you need to really worry about is the actual surrounding environment instead of stats and dice rolls.

The Skyrim province and culture is quite blatantly inspired by Medieval Scandinavia, right down to the names and the looks of the people. I wish Bethesda took a more original approach than just "vikings on steroids".

I've used the already-famous SkyUI mod almost from day one, because I found the original UI insufferably dumbed-down and console-y. Its inventory management was so simplistic and awkward, it felt like it belongs to a lesser game.

Oh, the bugs. The 1.4 patch still failed to squash a number of serious show-stoppers. But us open-world RPG fans learned years ago that a major game is considered an "immature" release until it lives to see its first or even second birthday. By then the inevitable barrage of official and unofficial patches will have probably helped it to thoroughly playable status. (VTM: Bloodlines and Gothic 3 are prime examples of why it is useful to wait at least 2 years after initial release.) Judging by that, I'm sure I'll return to Skyrim around 2014 for another playthrough.

"We're checking [Skyrim] out aggressively. We like it. We're big admirers of [Bethesda] and the product. We think we can do some wonderful things," says Bioware co-founder Ray Muzyka. That has to be the ultimate praise, even if it comes from an increasingly uninspired developer that has spent the last few years spiraling down from failure (Mass Effect 2) to failure (Dragon Age 2) to sellout (The Old Republic). Here's hoping that Skyrim will change the development path of RPG's for the rest of the decade, bringing back both Obsidian and Bioware to the right track.

Let's face it: Skyrim is an important moment in game history. Its success and greatness prove to the entire industry that hardcore, epic games are not only actually marketable, they are plain cooler than anything the more casual Wii/PS3 market can come up with. This is going to be a great decade for hardcore role-playing game fans.

First of all, let me be absolutely honest with you: I haven't even finished the Main Quest of Oblivion yet and after all the work they did with the Shivering Isles I still feel obligated to finish it ALL!

And then Skyrim turned up and I was skeptical.
It's not like I haven't got reason to be; the games in the computer / console industry have, recently, left me somewhat wanting. The likes of Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty Modern Warefare 3 were just more of the same - same game, different visuals. Sure, you can spam on about how they've tweaked this and adjusted that but in the big picture they really haven't done anything that one might refer to as a 'game changer'.

Skyrim, however, is a whole different ball-game.
Once more, the player is transported to the world of Tamriel; a world of wizards and warriors, elves and orcs, lizard-folk and cat people, strange creatures and magical places. This voyage takes place in the country of Skyrim, homeland to the Nords, a Human race born in the frosty mountains and erring toward the Norse of our own history. It is set many years after the previous game and a lot has changed, thereby if you are new to the Elder Scrolls games then you don't have to worry about having no idea about the background: the majority of it is either plainly reintroduced or written down in a dusty old tome somewhere.

This game is a single player game with no multiplayer features at all and yet remains truly fun: it has hours upon hours of exploration value, tons of caverns and barrows to delve in to - each one looking different to one another, but with a sense of uniformality in some cases, and new cities which are as individual as the people that populate them. The environments are more polished, with rain, storms, blazing sunshine and fearsome blizzards (one or two of them can even be initiated by powers acquired through the game).
And that is just for starters...
The system has been made to be considerably more dynamic which, and as a die-hard RPGer made me even more skeptical once I'd heard about it, not only alters the game engine itself but the way that you play the game.
Gone are the days where you had to be so very careful about how you trained your character in order to reach your true potential - gone are the days of the micro-management that didn't really accomplish much; now you play the game as you see fit and the more you use any given skill the better you become with it, thus you can use any skill but in order to achieve greater results you need to use that skill more frequently.
But then you still 'Level Up'. And when you level up you are no longer placing points in to statistics such as Strength, Intelligence and Agility; instead, each level you choose to place a lump of points in to either Health, Magicka or Stamina and then, with each level, you gain a Perk which allows you to enhance one of your skills as you see fit.
You still have an inventory full of loot but it is much easier to manage, as is your magical abilities. You can store these Perks and spend them as and when you wish, but it is pertitent to know that you only receive a finite amount of Perks - one cannot be excellent at everything, or so the motif goes.

The music of the game is a reworking of the anthems and ballads of the previous game Morrowind with an aire of Skyrim / Norse chanting thrown in for good measure. The audio effects are similar to those of the previous game but with evident polish, and they've found a new voice cast, including some bigger names for key characters throughout the game (not that this is such a big thing any more - Bioware's Mass Effect 2 dragged out virtually every sci-fi big-wig for the last 5 years in order to populate their world(s)).
The rendering is fantastic and the animation is superb. The world physics is believeable and the introduction of abilities such as dual weilding (weapons) / casting (magic) is quite simply excellent (even if they have decided that you CAN'T block with two swords, which I just don't get).

So why have I given it only 4 stars!?!
Surely, if it's this good how can I rob it of the 5th: well, that's because there are so many bugs, glitches and broken bits in the game that I can't honestly give it that 5th star in good conscience.
I have seen dragons flying backwards and 'blip' around the sky. I have tried to unlock plot-significant doors with unique keys but they still won't open. I have placed books on a bookshelf which have then promptly gone missing and now can't retrieve said books (those that don't disappear, anyway). And that's to name but one or two of the major ones you'll see festering on many forum boards.

Now, I'm sure that Bethesda will release a patch or two and provide us with some game-fixing D.L.C. (Down-Loadable Content) but for a company that is as big as Bethesda is now, surely someone should have noticed this in the DAYS and WEEKS of progressive playtesting? It's not as if they were short-staffed for the production of the game (the plans have been about since Oblivion reached the stores) and they're using the same basic engine as games such as Fallout and New Vegas so how come they STILL haven't ironed out the problems?

Would I buy it? Is it value for money? Even now that I've said all of that?
Simply, yes.
It is, without a doubt, one of the finer examples of a games company improving upon a game without changing what's really important to a genre. It has no immediate equal to date and, with any luck, may inspire some other companies to up their game a little bit!

9.5 out of 10