The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review

Story: 10
Graphics: 10
Sound: 10 
Gameplay: 9
Overall: 9.75

Skyrim takes place in the land of Skyrim, a very Nordic like land in the middle of a war for control. Just as the war is about to end, the dragons of legend return and you just happen to be the one and only Dragonborn capable of stopping them. It is a great story and a rich setting for fantasy and adventure. There are also a ton of side quests and storylines outside of the main quest that are very well written. You could easily spend hundreds of hours doing everything there is to do in this game. It really is that big.

The graphics in Skyrim are both beautiful and inspiring. The mist covered mountains, streams, and rivers look amazing and what's even better is there is nothing preventing you from exploring every mountain you see in the distance. The developers took a very hand crafted approach to designing the game world and you can really tell from all the little details. Things like dynamic snowfall and salmon swimming up stream really make a difference in the look and feel of the game. Something as simple as a horse looks so perfectly animated that it amazed me.

The sound is pretty amazing. Everything sounds exactly like you think it should. If you happen to get in a fight that may be a little tough for you, the heroic music will kick in and make it that much better. I have to say that the music is a major highlight here. It just fits the game so well. The voice overs were done well, the are definitely a lot better than they were in previous Elder Scrolls games. There are a lot of surprising world voice overs as well, such as running past a guard and having them yell, "What's the hurry?" as you pass. I wouldn't say they are perfect or anything, but they aren't too repetitive and get the job done without being an annoyance.

The leveling system is a perk based system. There is a tree for everything you could possibly use in the game and you receive one point to invest every level. As you raise skills, you gain experience towards your level, and those skills consist of everything from blacksmithing and heavy armor to enchanting and destruction magic. I wasn't a big fan of the leveling system in previous Elder Scrolls games and I feel this is a major improvement.

Combat is about what I expect from the series, not too much has changed there. Not to say that is a bad thing, just that is is very familiar. The addition of dual wield is a welcome one to my sneaky bow wielding thief, if for no other reason than it just feels right. Assassination scenes are slightly disturbing and make it feel more real. Having a sprint this time around makes things a lot more interesting.

My only major complaints with gameplay would have to be the user interface. While it is functional, I feel it could have been designed a little better. It feels like the UI was designed for a console and then just ported over with little thought as to how it could be improved for the PC version. The only other complaint I really have is that the game tends to be a little buggy at times. Especially when it comes to the physics in the game. Often I will hear items bouncing around in another room when nobody is there or I open a door and the items fly off the shelves and scatter across the room. It can get bad enough at times that you start feeling like the entire game is full of ghosts knocking things off of bookshelves and tables.
 

Skyrim is easily one of the best games ever made but I do feel that some of the bugs can sometimes distract from the game. I'm sure most of those bugs will be fixed with official patches and for the ones that get missed there are always unofficial patches for the PC version. The game runs surprisingly well on my not so current PC and looks a lot better than the Xbox 360 version I played at my brothers house. If you haven't played this game I suggest you run out and buy it, whether it be for PC, Xbox 360, or PS 3, you really can't go wrong. This is not a game you want to miss and really does show how far western RPGs have come over the years. If I could buy only one game this year, Skyrim would definitely be at the top of my list.