Review: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a sprawling, epic adventure that will be heralded as the game of the year by many and deservedly so.

OK, now to the review.

The Elder Scrolls series (begun in 1994) has always been about role-playing and seeking adventure in a wide open world. Taking place on the continent of Tamriel, each successive game explored regions of the landmass, with swords and dungeons and magic.

What the series has never had is dragons. There were legends of dragons, dragon burial grounds and dragon bones, but no dragons. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim remedies that oversight.

Taking place in the northern lands of Skyrim, players can choose from several races, each with slight advantages going for it to survive.

For instance, High Elves have more magic ability from the start and can regenerate it mre quickly while Argonians (a lizard-like race) are naturally resistant to disease and can breathe underwater. Each provide small tweaks to your starting skills. Customization includes facial features, body type and hair color.

For my first journey, I chose the Khajiit – a feline race that can use claws in close combat and can see better at night.

The game begins with a bang. You’re being led to execution when the ceremony is interrupted by an attack from a dragon, giving you a chance to escape.

Now free in the wide open world, the action begins.

Players can travel anywhere across the landscape – discovering other people, challenges and settlements. Almost immediately, you are cast into a battle against one of the dragons. Upon defeating it, you discover that you are “dragon-born” – a person who can kill dragons and absorb their essence. These dragon souls can be used to unlock “shouts”  - the power to perform attacks by, well, shouting.

The shouts must be found or earned through quests. They can be the ability to be prevent or do any damage (Become Ethereal) or to blast enemies back with a powerful shout (Unrelenting Force). They last for a short time and must be recharged between uses. Shouts can be made more powerful as specific quests are completed.

This power is yours in addition to being able to cast spells. Gathering ingredients during travels can be later combined into myriad poisons and potions. As you play, you gain experience points that can be applied to three major areas – Magicka, Health or Stamina. Each time you level up, one of the three areas earns more capacity.

As Magicka increases, you can perform more or stronger magic. More health makes you resistant to attacks. Increasing Stamina allows you to run farther before tiring and to carry more loot.

In addition, you earn points that can be applied to individual skills within the major classes.

For instance, within the Magicka section, there are six subgroups – Enchanting, Alteration, Restoration, Destruction, Conjuration and Illusion. Further drilling down allows you to hone specific talents within each subgroup, say sharpening your one-handed attack skills.

Garthering items is a key facet of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Just about everybody and everything can yield usable or sellable items. Unfortunately, you can only carry so much at a time. Picking up too much booty makes running and fast travel impossible. Fast travel is the ability to “transport” between spots on the map.

Players can only fast travel to places already discovered, but really, it’s a lot more fun to travel the old fashioned way, discovering new locations and facing new foes.

After a short time, your list of items – weapons, apparel, potions, food and others – can be lengthy and cumbersome, with the whole list available by pausing the game. Fortunately, you can also streamline the process by assigning your most-used weapons, magic and shouts to a favorites list, accessible through a quick select (left pad up on Xbox 360). This makes the action much more fluid, barely interrupting the action.

Becoming more skilled in various talents, be it pickpocketing or smithing or alchemy – is accomplished by finding persons with those skills and paying gold for the knowledge and by using forges and alchemy tables. In this game, you can talk to anyone, with many offering quests or challenges.

The Elder Scrolls world is rich in heritage, with dozens of books to be found that expand the already encyclopedic canon that makes up the world. There is plenty of humor to be found within the game, from the tavern names – Ragged Flagon, Winking Skeever – to the verbal exchanges between residents. Being a Khajiit didn’t make much actual difference in the daily interactions with local denizens, but at one point, I stole something from a shop and as I fled, the shopkeeper said “I’m going to make a rug or you, cat.” Touches like that make the immersion complete within  The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

The sheer volume of things to do in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is staggering. After a week of playing, I had completed 26 missions, with seven major and 15 minor quests still on my docket. And I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface yet, with regions unexplored, quests unfound and races unmet.

Play this game. Join the adventure.

Platform: PlayStation3/Xbox 360

Manufacturer: Bethesda Game Studios

Rating: Mature

Score: 9.75 chilies