The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

91

Best game in the series

Skyrim really claimed all the expectations I had set for it. While Morrowind and Oblivion were both great games, the former suffered from too prolonged storyline and lack of voiceacting and the latter from uninteresting storyline (them cursed oblivion gates...) and bad voiceacting. I hoped and expected for Skyrim to greatly improve on these parts, and it did it.

The stories in the land of Skyrim are immersive and believable, and the fate of the Nords can really get into your head and make you think about the decisions and sides you take. The main storyline, while being far from the greatest storylines of games, still kept me fascinated and wanting to know more and more. Furthermore, the storylines of the various factions are distinctive and interesting, especially the College of Winterhold (a substitute for the Mages Guild in previous TES games) storyline.

The gameplay is smooth and is more polished than ever before. The decision to let the player assign melee or magic to each hand is brilliant, and I was really thrilled by the fact that I felt like invincible battlemage, striking my enemies down with fire and steel...although I died a great many of times, since Skyrim isn't the easiest game around, nor is it the hardest. I good balance, I'd say.

The graphics are really good and the visual design of the game is striking...for many times, I had to stop and admire the view from the hilltops or the majestic mountains from the plains. And the northern lights! For a guy who lives in the northern part of the globe, the game's setting in the northern part of Tamriel was really delightful one.

The game has a few bugs, for example the inventory system can frustrate a lot from time to time. And while you can gain a follower for your various expeditions into the depths of Skyrim, they just might decide that the hillside is too steep for them to descend down and stuck. For many times I had to load a previous save, shout my follower down the mountainside and hope he/she doesn't die in the process.

I have to give special notion for the music in the game, for Jeremy Soule has surpassed himself and composed probably the best game soundtrack ever. Fantastic work.

In conclusion, Skyrim suffers from a few minor bugs, but nothing substantial. And what's important, none of these bugs prevented me from enjoying the game with my whole heart, spending one month and 100 hours in Skyrim and not wanting to trade any moment away. If you like open worlds, medieval settings, dragons, magic and RPG's Skyrim is totally your game.

90

Biggest game I've ever played.

I highly recommend this game. It feels a lot more like Morrowind and less like Oblivion, which is a good thing. The setting is perfect. Bethesda got it right, you really feel like you're part of this game. There are plenty of ways to play (mage, thief, warrior, etc) and the skill system is designed in such a way that you can change play styles even late in the game if you wish to. I've spent close to 70 hours ingame so far and I've only completed about 1/3 of the quests that I've stumbled upon. This is definitely worth the money.

100

One of the best games I've ever played.

When I played oblivion, as much as I loved it there were many elements where I felt it had improved over morrowind as well as elements where it had not. With skyrim I have no such feeling. It's better in every way. Combat is amazing. The levelling system is much better. The environments are some of the most detailed and beautiful in any game ever. Add to that the modding community which is already in force making mods before the construction kit has been released and you're in for one of the greatest and best value games you will ever play. GMG is selling cheaper than almost any other source, even comprable in pricing to some of the 'grey' sources. Buy it, buy it now. Don't hold back hoping for a steam sale.

98

Worth every penny

A vast improvement on the series since Oblivion, new graphics engine that looks just stunning, for the first time I actually feel like i can see for miles, and i dont mean just a blurry texture in the distance. The combat is more of the same as previous TES games, one button is attack, hold it for charge, other is block. Only difference now is the addition of dual wielding, allowing you to hold two swords, or two spells, or a staff and a sword, or whatever else you can imagine. Very fun game im over 60 hours into it and I still feel like Ive got a world ahead of me (Ive barely touched the main quests)

85

Brilliant improvement of Oblivion

TES V: Skyrim is a very huge game with many good aspect from the series. The world is magnificent, with hundreds quests and location to discovery. You can play it for hours, avoiding the main quest, because there are a lot to do, or simply lose time in exploration. The graphic is more detailed and realistic than Oblivion, landscapes are amazing, interior and faces are good but some textures are very weak (but you can use some mods to improve them). The game is “only” 6gb on your HD and can work even in the old computers (system reqs are similar to Fallout 3/NV). Gameplay has some innovation and is simplified but still good, maybe the hardcore RPG gamers dislike them. Inventory and menu can be hard to handle (cause they're designed for consoles) and the mouse lags (you can fix it in the game files). There are some minor crashes and minor bugs (luckily not at the bad level of the older Bethesda games). So Skyrim is an amazing world to explore, maybe new mods and good expansion / DLCs in the future will make it even better, fixing some minor problems.

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