Gaming Saturday: Skyrim – A (spoiler-free) Review
Coming fresh off of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, I was initially underwhelmed by Skyrim. The combat felt clunky compared to Ezio’s fluid style, and the sandbox world of Skyrim couldn’t match the detailed beauty of Revelation’s environments or characters. Had I quit playing after my initial two-hour impression, however, I wouldn’t have realized why Elder Scrolls V’s lowest rating among top reviewers is a 9/10. Now some 40+ hours into the experience (just under 1/10th of the way through this 300-hour tour de Norse), I can join the chorus of geeky voices declaring Skyrim the best RPG I’ve ever played. The initial dip into the massive universe Bethesda has created can prove overwhelming, and tends to make players feel tiny and weak. But as the initial awe wears off, these same players find themselves plunged into the most complete and addicting experience of their gaming lives. My only warning: Do not give this as a Christmas gift if you ever want to see your giftee again—you just saw that it’s 300 hours long, right?
Underhanded Compliments
Since I’ve already touched on one of Skyrim’s flaws it’s probably best to point out one or two more quirks before gushing for the next 400 words. Most of the foibles are related to the enormous scope of the game, so are hardly true blemishes; they actually serve as excellent jump-offs to taut the immersive RPG gameplay.
When playing Skyrim, it’s important to remember that the first two hours are merely 1/150th of the overall experience. So while you’re normally plowing your way through hordes of baddies with decent proficiency after a couple hours, be prepared to be a level 4 weakling getting punched to death at the nearest inn—especially if you’re big on side quests and chatting up the local folks. The slow start is no indication of Skyrim’s top speed though—your patience will be rewarded with a fulfilling Perks system and engaging battles soon enough.
Comparing the visuals of Revelations to Skyrim is gaming’s version of setting apples next to oranges. Both are intricately detailed on completely different graphical planes. Nothing can parallel the massive world Bethesda Studios has created—not even Mass Effect 2, which had the entire galaxy as its canvas. After completing a few side quests and some of the main, I decided to explore as much of the map as I could since players can fast-travel to landmarks that they’ve already visited. I figured that a few hours of wandering could polka dot the map with so many markers that I could warp around Skyrim with ease. Wrong. After earning the Explorer Achievement (awarded after discovering 100 locations), my world map still looked about as sparse as North Dakota: Skyrim is about detail on a massive scale.
I described the combat as clunky, but that was when I was limited to hacking at Bandits in Doom-view with a tin sword. A few perks later and I was stealth killing, fire-balling, and shouting to my heart’s content. Since combat is only a small portion of this multi-faceted experience, the battle encounters are satisfying, and feel like a dynamic, Medieval Edition of Fallout.
And finally, Sneaking is the coolest perk ever. Since I enjoy stealthing around in most other games, I defaulted to the light-armor assassin and maxed out the Sneak Perks early on. I loved that just by sneaking everywhere I was upping my skills in the stealth department—before long I could stand in front of a guard’s face in broad daylight and be invisible. After imagining that nothing could be more enjoyable than that, I started a new character focusing on magicka, and found that marching into a room, shooting bolts of lightning and balls of fire out of both hands, and then raising up an army of the undead to overwhelm my burning opponents was—while sadistic—equally gratifying. Lesser games, like Deus Ex, tend to reward one type of play over another, but Skyrim has finely-tuned it’s massive universe. This carefully crafted gameplay is what has the critics raving, and what keeps me coming back for more.
Tim is a marketer for coxcabledeals.com. When he isn’t working he enjoys playing a variety of games from Angry Birds to League of Legends. If you enjoyed this review you can follow him on Twitter @TimLCooley
Ruben Gatt
Ruben has been into gaming since he was 9 years old. He first started off as an avid pc gamer and later expanded his horizons to xbox gaming. Follow his blog and his youtube channel.
