The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim

By Tristan Tancredi

Lose yourself amidst the fantasy world of Skyrim, a fantasy world rich with detail, bustling with interactive characters and, above all else, immensely engaging.

Be prepared to fall behind current affair issues in the real world once you slip this disk into your entertainment system. Once you enter the world of Skyrim, you will become engrossed in a fictional universe.

Let me begin by saying this game has so many storylines, missions, characters and paths to follow that I'll attempt to give a broad breakdown on what's on offer. If I was to describe the extent of the storyline, this review would become as long as a thesis on Catholicism.

Developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Software, this game is the fifth in The Elder Scrolls series. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion hit our systems in 2006 and Skyrim is placed some 200 years later (A lot of improvements have been made in that time).

The game begins with your character being led to his execution (along with a group of rogue Stormcloaks) at the hands of the Imperial forces. A dragon arrives, inadvertantly saves his life, and thus begins a wonderous journey. Hey! I said it would be broad.

OK, here is a little more. The main storyline places the gamer as the "Dragonborn", a character who can entrap the souls of dragons and use these souls to perform magical shouts (eg, firebreath: breath fire at enemies, slow time, part nasty weather, you get the picture).

The Dragonborn is destined to save the world of Skyrim by defeating Alduin, a dragon leader hell bent on destroying the world.

Along the journey the Dragonborn meets a host of interesting, comical, evil and charming folk. He has the opportunity to join different factions (Dark Brotherhood, College of Winterhold, Imperials or Stormclocks, the Thieves Guild, the Companions and so on).

Each of these factions include extensive journeys through the wild landscape that is Skyrim. Travelling from the ice cold mountain-tops of "The Throat of the World", to the underground Dwemer ruins inhabited with the evil Falmers.

The brilliantly designed, extensive array of characters on display in Skyrim is one of the games greatest attributes. A long list of "bad guys" come in all shapes and all sizes. Falmers, Zombies, Skeletons, the Thalmor, Giants, Trolls, Ice Wraiths, Giant Spiders, Wolves, Bears, Saber Cats, Centurian Spheres, Spriggans, the list goes on and on.

It's not all doom and gloom, the Dragonborn encounters a host of merry folk looking for a chat, a sing-song or a even a groom.

The in-depth open world atmosphere is breathtaking. The developers at Bethesda should take a long, slow bow for a job well done. The map is huge, yet ridiculously detailed. The outdoor elements are brilliantly represented by crisp looking environments, whether it be snow or forest.

The countless towns located throughout the world of Skyrim are all interactable with every door and every house accessable (So long as you can work a lockpick).

Riften, Markarth, Whiterun, Solitude, Windhelm, Morthal, Dawnstar, Falkreath and Winterhold are the major cities scattered throughout Skyrim. Each containing their own side quests, their own characters and their own missions.

Each city is designed down to the smallest detail inside the lowest dungeon, surmounting in a visually spectacular game.

The AI is first rate. To get a prime example of the realism within this game, just watch the many characters within the cities. They will go about their day to day business and not walk around aimlessly. It is often your job to walk around looking for somebody in particular (which can get annoying).

The music throughout the game is good, very good in fact. Utilising the musical skills of composer Jeremy Soule, Skyrim has an apt soundtrack. It really should come as no surprise considering a choir of 30 people was used for the opening tune "Dragonborn". I might add, this tune seems to be gathering quite a cult following.

Now, lets get onto the combat.

There are a number of ways to defeat your enemies. Magic, Melee Combat and Archery are the main three that we came across.

Magic is the most useful and works well, yet takes a bit of levelling up before you can pull out the ripper magic tricks like fireballs and the dreadfully useful healing magic.

The hand to hand melee combat struggles quite a bit to keep up to pace with the action. Often the aiming can be askew due to camera angles, and the reaction times of the character can be awfully slow. This normally results in frustrating fight scenes.

Archery is easy and fun, yet does little damage to the more powerful enemies unless of course, you level up.

Levelling up is caused by advancing your skills. There are a variety of skills that a gamer can master throughout the game. Archery, One Handed Combat, Two Handed Combat, Pickpocketing, etc. These are all upgraded via practice, using the skills in battle or learning from others.

It's not all smooth sailing in the world of Skyrim, in fact there is one pretty huge (but unavoidable) annoyance. Due to the grand scale of the map, every new area requires time to load, hence a 30 second loading screen. This wouldn't be an issue if it occured sporadically, but this isn't the case. You will often find yourself encountering multiple loading screens regularly.

Regardless, Skyrim is simply a beautiful game, an interactive open world that will hold you in its charm for countless hours. We have been playing this game for a long, long time and are still encountering places never ventured before.

Oh, and did we mention you can turn yourself into a Werewolf? Wow.

Game: The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim
System: Sony Playstation 3 ; XBox 360 ; PC
Developer/Co-Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Rating: 90%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)