The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a 2011 open world action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.  It is the fifth installment in The Elder Scrolls series and revolves around the player character and their effort to defeat Alduin the World-Eater, a dragon who is prophesied to destroy the world.

Positives:

• Good story
• Great characters
• Great voice performances
• Good graphics
• Fun combat system
• Great customization system
• Large open world
• Tons of replayability

Negatives:

• Long loading times
• Occassional freezes and crashes

Campaign:  Skyrim features an extensive single player campaign in which players are allowed to travel anywhere in the game world at any time, and to ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely. Set two hundred years after the events of Oblivion, the story revolves around the Dragonborn (a mortal born with the soul and power of a dragon) and their quest to defeat Alduin the World-Eater, a dragon who is prophesied to destroy the world. The story is pretty interesting although it is hardly original.  There is also this epic feeling to the story but it doesn’t feel personal.  There are a ton of memorable characters, such as a member of the Companions Aela the Huntress, member of the Greybeards Arngeir, ruler of Whiterun Balgruuf the Greater, and the leader of the Stormcloaks Ulfric Stormcloak. (3 out of 5)

Gameplay: The gameplay is really challenging yet fun. Players take control of the Dragonborn, continuing the tradition of being able to switch between first-person and third-person. At the beginning of the game, players can create their own characters, choosing both sex and race, and customizing their appearance.  Gamers gain experience while doing battle with various monsters, completing various missions, discovering new locations, and finding various collectibles which does allow them to level up. Leveling up allows players to build upon the character’s skills (there are eighteen skills divided among combat, magic, and stealth). There are three main attributes of players’ health (health, magicka, and stamina) but can regenerate over time. Depleted health results in death, depleted magicka limits the use of spells, and depleted stamina effectiveness in combat and sprinting.

Combat is heavily influenced by weapons and armor (bought, found, or forged), and magic spells (bought or unlocked and have a number of different effects – recovering health, enchanting weapons, summon shields, even elemental control such as fire or lightning). Players also able to switch between using weapons (dual wielding), weapons and magic, magic, or using magically enchanted weapons.  The player character can absorb the souls of dragons in order to use powerful spells called “dragon shouts”, each shout containing three words spoken in dragon language, the strength vary depending on how many words have been spoken.  Shouts can be learned by visiting “word walls” in dungeons or around the wilderness, and absorbed from slain dragons.

NPCs can be interacted with in a number of ways and some interactions can have lasting effects in the game.  Crimes committed accrue a bounty, and players may wipe their bounty with gold or jail time, but if you want to add action to the gameplay, resist arrest. Of course, some NPCs will send players on different quests and some will befriend or be hired to act as a companion.  There are several factions that players can join and joining one faction effects players’ interactions with others.

Admittedly, during the loading times feel long and the game does tend to freeze and even crash. The game will glitch, often become completely humorous.  There was an incident where I fast traveled with a horse from one location to another.  When the loading screen finished my character and the horse he rode in on was literally hundreds of feet in the air.  Upon taking a few step, the character and horse plummeted to the ground like a rock.  Needless to say, the horse did die.  (4 out of 5)

Graphics:  Visually the game does look really good. The graphics look extensive and with all of the details with the background, different aspects of the scenery, texture and lighting makes for a very beautiful environment worth exploring. Characters and creature designs have a very high level of detail to them. There are some bugs and glitches in the video game here and there.  (4 out of 5)

Score: Beautifully crafted score. The main theme to Skyrim is just beautiful and it feels so empowering as if players are going on this grand adventure. The voice performances are great. Good use of sound effects especially when it comes to the various creatures in the game. The world sounds vibrant and the sound effects are on point. (4 out of 5)

Replayability: If there’s one thing that this game has is an abundance of content. Not only is the land of Skyrim large and will take literally hours upon hours upon hours to explore it all but there is so many unlockables, hidden items, and treasures within the game as well as stories that give you an in-depth detail of the history of Skyrim. To help with the replayability of the campaign that are various factions which players can join that will affect the the gameplay. Also, completely badass being able to become a vampire or a werewolf.  One of the best aspects is since players can sidestep the main mission to explore the world, engage with the locals, getting to certain side missions, various subplots, gives the game immersive and entertaining qualities that will keep players coming and coming and coming again. (5 out of 5)

The Verdict:  In the end, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a terrific game. Despite the glitches, despite the loading times, despite the occasional freezes and crashes it does have a good story, lots of great characters, great voice performances, good visuals, a very fun combat system, a great customization system and a large open world that is just massive and well detail. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim definitely deserve of 5 out of 5.