The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

All the games in the Elder Scroll series have been ambitious when it comes to scale and the freedom to explore. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is no exception and goes even further than Oblivion.

The game starts with the player a prisoner, in keeping with previous games. Except that your execution is disrupted by the arrival of a dragon. Escaping to the castle keep, you get away from the dragon through some tunnels with a former guard. This is really a tutorial but the training is subtle enough that it never feels contrived. By the end of the dungeon you should have a reasonable idea of how the game works. All available commands are marked with their keyboard shortcuts so they are easy to learn.

Sadly we couldn't find the manual with our copy on Steam. This is something we've had before with games on Steam. It's not a major problem as Skyrim is pretty intuitive but it would be useful as a quick key reference, not least as a couple of keys have moved around from previous games.

The graphics are very impressive with plenty of flora and fauna. This level of detail is very atmospheric and makes finding traps rather difficult. Towns are full of people going about their daily jobs and the game no longer pauses during dialogue. This can lead to situations where there are several conversations going on at once, but it makes the game feel less contrived.

This is also true of the characterisation. Previous games have forced the player to choose a particular class of adventurer in order to develop its relevant skills more quickly. The problem with this was that the choice was made very early on in the game and it didn't make branching out to other skills very easy.

Skyrim does away with the class system altogether and has a smaller set of skills to choose from. To avoid getting too simplistic, skills now come with ‘perks' that can be chosen when a new level is reached. Although this still means that you won't want to radically change your character after improving several skills, it is more intuitive and it reduces the temptation to try and abuse the skills system (which I admit I did in Morrowind quite a bit).

Another area that Skyrim breaks new ground for the Elder Scrolls series is violence. This is the most visceral of all the games. And it's there from the outset as another prisoner is beheaded in front of you before the dragon appears. It certainly fits the expectation of greater detail and realism, but it's a shame there's no way of turning it down, or disabling the finishing move at the end of some battles. What constitutes as acceptable in games is very subjective but Skyrim deserves its 18 rating.

The environment can be used to your advantage, a well-placed arrow can drop an oil filled lantern on an enemy to damage them. Just don't hit them with a weapon otherwise the burning oil will fall on your head. Falling also hurts, although we were able to carefully climb down some fairly steep cliffs safely.

Many of the monsters are much larger than previous games. Early on we encountered an eight-foot-tall spider, which has done nothing for our ability to sleep at night, and the dragons are even bigger.

The story line is well crafted and there is none of the aimless wandering about hoping to level up that afflicted the early stages of Morrowind.

There's no obligation to follow the main plot to the exclusion of anything else. Getting distracted is very easy with there always being some kind of fortress, house, mine or dungeon within sight. There are genuine benefits to exploration as well as the usual loot and experience with some skills being hidden in dungeons. We're still very early on in the plot line but it's already engaging and well written.