The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

 Xbox 360
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 4435 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,744 out of 4435
  2. Mixed: 344 out of 4435
  3. Negative: 347 out of 4435
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  1. Crimson9
    Dec 24, 2022
    5
    Skyrim is a big mess of a game. On the one hand, Bethesda's game design sucks. The combat is really bad. RPG choice making is borderline nonexistent. Character progression has been excessively streamlined. Level scaling makes it feel like you arent getting stronger. There is an over abundance of loot. There are tons of immersion breaking things happening in the world.

    On the other hand,    Skyrim is a big mess of a game. On the one hand, Bethesda's game design sucks. The combat is really bad. RPG choice making is borderline nonexistent. Character progression has been excessively streamlined. Level scaling makes it feel like you arent getting stronger. There is an over abundance of loot. There are tons of immersion breaking things happening in the world.

    On the other hand, content is king. Skyrim has a ton of content. Not all of it is great, most of it isnt even good. But there's quite a lot, dozens of hours worth, of great content. So I have to give it props for that.

    But to get to that content you have to slog through some horrific gameplay. And its not like the main story saves that. Mods, do, however, save this game and can make it an 8/10 game. But vanilla is a 5 at best.    … Expand
  2. lewisHolloway21
    Aug 11, 2022
    7
    it is a game that I have always enjoyed my score is mixed because simply it is such a big game I never finished it which is always a shame. the graphics in the game are fantastic for the time and I can see why it is so popular. the customisable content in the game was something astonishing of the time and the story part of the game made it new amazing experience honestly when it came toit is a game that I have always enjoyed my score is mixed because simply it is such a big game I never finished it which is always a shame. the graphics in the game are fantastic for the time and I can see why it is so popular. the customisable content in the game was something astonishing of the time and the story part of the game made it new amazing experience honestly when it came to the challenges they were perfect they were challenging but also not so challenging that it takes away from the game absolutely perfect balance for a game.… Expand
  3. CurlyCian
    Feb 28, 2022
    5
    Overrated, weak story, boring lazy side quests, lack of RPG elements to appeal to the masses
  4. Broyax
    Feb 12, 2022
    5
    L’Aîné et ses vieux rouleaux crados est en sensible progrès malgré ses vieux tics et ses vieilles manies : pour ce 5ème épisode, il a su faire preuve d’une fraîcheur certaine en s’arqueboutant d’une part sur une histoire ma foi pas trop mal ficelée de dragons et d’autre part sur un paradigme de cris, d’âmes et de pouvoirs bien développé, faisant de notre personnage très vide un enfant deL’Aîné et ses vieux rouleaux crados est en sensible progrès malgré ses vieux tics et ses vieilles manies : pour ce 5ème épisode, il a su faire preuve d’une fraîcheur certaine en s’arqueboutant d’une part sur une histoire ma foi pas trop mal ficelée de dragons et d’autre part sur un paradigme de cris, d’âmes et de pouvoirs bien développé, faisant de notre personnage très vide un enfant de dragon choisi par le destin !

    Cependant, ce n’est sans doute qu’une impression mais le monde dépeint ici sous nos yeux se révèle au fil des nombreuses heures aussi générique et banal que le précédent Oblivion même si à dire vrai, on reste suffisamment intéressé jusqu’à terminer l’aventure principale contrairement à Oblivion qi finit assez vite aux oubliettes… Skyrim ne se rattrape pas non plus en tout cas par sa touche artistique de mauvais aloi en dépit d’une technique à peu près correcte sur 360 (malgré des ralentissements lorsque plusieurs clampins se mettent sur la gueule !).

    On a ici plus de grandiloquence -en raison du thème abordé qui s’y prête forcément- mais une mise en scène toujours aussi limitée, pour ne pas dire carrément absente : le jeu reste en effet vissé en vue subjective et les animations sont toujours aussi coincées.

    On a toujours le choix d’aller travailler pour quelques confréries ou guildes dont les vilains assassins ou les fourbes voleurs qui proposent chacun leur propre histoire, étonnamment réussie. Et bien sûr cette liberté de voler ou de tuer presque tout le monde, de s’évader de prison, de jouer un gros con de bourrin à la hache ou une ombre maîtresse de la furtivité…

    Ce qui nous amène aux combats toujours aussi peu convaincants mais sans être totalement mauvais non plus : on s’y fait à la longue même si on est pas aidé par l’interface (et l’inventaire) rapidement bordélique à souhait : sur ce point, on est en net retrait de ce que proposait Oblivion sans parler des Fallout !

    En tout cas, la campagne de Skyrim se repose un peu trop souvent sur l’exploration de donjons et de grottes… malgré un effort de diversité, une grotte reste une grotte surtout lorsque Bethesda s’échine à les tarabiscoter et les meubler avec des petites énigmes pour ouvrir la prochaine porte…! ça fatigue et ça lasse.

    Notons pour finir sur une bonne note, la musique majestueuse et très inspirée de Jeremy Soule qui donne du souffle au combat et des ambiances variées à l’exploration sans jamais prendre la tête. La VF quant à elle est de belle qualité, dommage que trop de voix se répètent…

    Skyrim n’est donc pas encore l’Elder Scrolls de la maturité mais en prend lentement le chemin sans doute… mais comparé aux Fallout du même studio, il fait encore bien pâle figure.    … Expand
  5. KTheSlayer
    Jun 18, 2021
    7
    Awesome world, lore and atmosphere, but the gameplay gets boring at some point
  6. gareththestuff
    Apr 26, 2021
    7
    Better than Obilivan, worse than Morrowind. Its okay, but not one of "the best games of all time."
  7. Ridleymain
    Dec 20, 2020
    6
    I think this game is overrated to be honest. It's fine, but after a while combat gets boring and its just who has better numbers and how many pieces of cheese do you have. Some quests are pretty interesting, while others are boring, and sometimes even frustrating. Overall, the game is fine, but I don't think it's as good as it's reputation makes it seem.
  8. FapAliceGoodwin
    Oct 10, 2020
    6
    Skyrim is lauded far and wide as somehow being the ultimate RPG, but it always felt like a fair to middling game to me. On the positive side, the faces in this game are much improved over Oblivion's potato people. And whilst it was a shame to lose yet more stats and abilities, the progression system worked well.

    I didn't much care for the setting. Cyrodiil had swamps and mountains and    Skyrim is lauded far and wide as somehow being the ultimate RPG, but it always felt like a fair to middling game to me. On the positive side, the faces in this game are much improved over Oblivion's potato people. And whilst it was a shame to lose yet more stats and abilities, the progression system worked well.

    I didn't much care for the setting. Cyrodiil had swamps and mountains and ports like Anvil. Skyrim's environments are pretty dull. It was disappointing lore-wise too. Instead of the fantasy ice land of endless mountain ranges we got a retconned pseudo-Scandinavia full of pseudo Scandinavians, full of things popular culture thinks are 'Viking' but in reality aren't.

    Annoyingly, Bethesda saw fit to model Whiterun on Peter Jackson's version of Edoras in his Lord of the Rings movies, even though Tolkien's Rohirrim are in no way, shape or form linked to or inspired by Vikings, pseudo-Vikings or Scandinavians.

    I put around 350 hours into Oblivion and its expansions. I put Skyrim down after around 15 and I've never felt the need to pick it up since.    … Expand
  9. rtp4994
    Jul 24, 2020
    6
    I literally spat on my computer screen when I saw “BigPond GameArena” refer to it as the best rpg of all time. Really. Really. Well I guess I’ll actually say what the games about. It’s okay I guess. It a very expansive game and is easy to get lost in. Most of the games aspects fall into mediocre to above average. The combat is ok, the world design is good, the writing is mediocre, just toI literally spat on my computer screen when I saw “BigPond GameArena” refer to it as the best rpg of all time. Really. Really. Well I guess I’ll actually say what the games about. It’s okay I guess. It a very expansive game and is easy to get lost in. Most of the games aspects fall into mediocre to above average. The combat is ok, the world design is good, the writing is mediocre, just to name a few. There are good, and bad parts. It’s a buggy mess. I remember waiting literal hours just for the game to start up. That’s ridiculous. Even when I got into the game, as with all of Bethesda’s releases, it was a horridly buggy mess. Even the core game, that of which should have been exceptional, was mediocre.
    It disgust me, to refer to Skyrim, as the greatest rpg of all time. 6/10 because despite all of the critical acclaim, Skyrim, on xbox 360, is an average, rushed game, with many flaws, proving the
    incompetence of the game journalists at the time. I’m not joking I spat on my computer screen when I saw it.    … Expand
  10. BrettSiebenhaar
    Aug 10, 2018
    7
    Skyrim was and still is a good, fun game. The graphics were fantastic, and the recently released version on the Switch looks good to. I still find myself sneaking back to playing Oblivion. There was something about that game that kept me going back. Once I beat Skyrim, meh, I was done with the game.
  11. Wizelf402
    Mar 19, 2017
    7
    This game may be good, but we can't ignore certain things like the tons of glitches. I had a fairly good time playing it, but there are glaring issues. I give it a seven out of ten.
  12. CoolDadTx
    Dec 21, 2016
    7
    Buggy beyond belief. Froze system countless times, generally while loading area. Glitched graphics and sound as well. At least the pc got patches.

    Boring story with large area to explore but no reason to do so. While I agree with the leveling concept, it makes any sort of combat, quests or exploration purposeless. Why search for new areas or complete quests when I get no reward?    Buggy beyond belief. Froze system countless times, generally while loading area. Glitched graphics and sound as well. At least the pc got patches.

    Boring story with large area to explore but no reason to do so. While I agree with the leveling concept, it makes any sort of combat, quests or exploration purposeless. Why search for new areas or complete quests when I get no reward?

    Game was artificially extended just to waste time. Could have told the same stories in half the time. DLCs are the only saving grace of this game. Worst scrolls to date.    … Expand
  13. Breakitblake
    Jun 22, 2015
    7
    Sombody ask the skyrim makers to add free multiplayer and coop. It make it 1000 times more better.....................................................
  14. brightestabyss
    Jun 15, 2015
    7
    Potentially a great game but to me. It collapses under its own weight due to the number of bugs and problems lying in it. Most of the features are basic and functional but there wasn't really 1 individual exceptional feature in the game. More like, A whole load of features put together into a giant project.

    The graphics are beautiful and maybe to medieval RPG fans this would be    Potentially a great game but to me. It collapses under its own weight due to the number of bugs and problems lying in it. Most of the features are basic and functional but there wasn't really 1 individual exceptional feature in the game. More like, A whole load of features put together into a giant project.

    The graphics are beautiful and maybe to medieval RPG fans this would be exceptionally good but as someone who doesn't like too many Medieval Games. I cant exactly recommend it and I didn't enjoy it either.

    I played the game because people were basically yelling at me to play this game and said if I didn't like those kinds of games I'd still enjoy it. I clearly didnt    … Expand
  15. LazyGamer
    Jun 6, 2015
    7
    Basically Fallout 3 in a fantasy Elder Scrolls world. Boring story, Uninteresting characters (NPCs) and poor combat. Still a massive open world with lots stuff to do. The thing that saves the is modding without mods this is totally an uninteresting game to play. Nowhere near Morrowwind
  16. prestonchris016
    Apr 20, 2015
    5
    Skyrim is not the greatest thing ever is a average game because of the load times and glitches but if you can get past the load times and bugs its a polished game I recommend the pc version or oblivion GOTY if you don't have a pc that can run skyrim
  17. ManemanFTW
    Apr 18, 2015
    5
    i dont know why people like this game. I mean, it is beautifull and "deep" but the actual gameplay is so slow. The swords feel like they are made of a 1 ton metal or something. The pasing of the game is slow too. You will find yourself more time in loading screens that actually playing. All the caves are the same and all the swords feel the same. Oh and there is no actual challenge, youi dont know why people like this game. I mean, it is beautifull and "deep" but the actual gameplay is so slow. The swords feel like they are made of a 1 ton metal or something. The pasing of the game is slow too. You will find yourself more time in loading screens that actually playing. All the caves are the same and all the swords feel the same. Oh and there is no actual challenge, you can literary complete the game with one hand. the spells are for the most part the same. There is no actual plot to the game. and the "decitions" u make doesnt matter at all.… Expand
  18. the_blueprint
    Dec 18, 2014
    5
    The big problem with Skyrim is that while it does contain a lot of hours of gameplay, that gameplay isn't very interesting. No story or characters to care about and all the quests are just fetch quests. Quests just for the purpose of quests isn't my idea of fun. The combat is extremely repetitive for a game that you're supposed to play for hours and hours and hours. There is some fun to beThe big problem with Skyrim is that while it does contain a lot of hours of gameplay, that gameplay isn't very interesting. No story or characters to care about and all the quests are just fetch quests. Quests just for the purpose of quests isn't my idea of fun. The combat is extremely repetitive for a game that you're supposed to play for hours and hours and hours. There is some fun to be had exploring the world and upgrading your character BUT then the longer you play the more bugs start to surface. The one bug that is the worst is the more you play, the more you alter the world, the bigger the save game gets, and the more the game freezes. So even though the world is very big and you have a lot to explore, you can't do it! By the time you explore everything you're savegame is so big that the game keeps freezing and crashing. I played the legendary edition so by now all the updates should have fixed this.… Expand
  19. flametail23
    Oct 30, 2014
    7
    I find this game overrated. How can a game get so many 10 out of 10s when there are so many glitches? I have been stuck in walls and other annoying stuff like that.
    7/10
  20. WinkOrDie
    Jun 26, 2014
    6
    Good game, just good. Nothing more, nothing less.

    It does not do anything specifically amazing... or great... just good. Especially compared to the prior games in the series. Oblivion and Morrowind had impeccable writing, design, presentation, and sound. Skyrim relies on its predecessors to make it look good and thats how critics reviewed it. If it did not have Elder Scrolls in its    Good game, just good. Nothing more, nothing less.

    It does not do anything specifically amazing... or great... just good. Especially compared to the prior games in the series.

    Oblivion and Morrowind had impeccable writing, design, presentation, and sound. Skyrim relies on its predecessors to make it look good and thats how critics reviewed it. If it did not have Elder Scrolls in its title, it would not have been received so well.

    The storylines in each of the guilds is very predictable. It was basically, "Which one of the guild members is corrupted and will eventually turn on the guild?"

    The sound is not anything to brag about, just recycled songs from previously and what is original is forgettable.

    I have ragged on the game quite a bit it still offers a lot of interesting things and some of the quests are quite unique. The daedric quests in particular are really interesting and offer great rewards. The game also has a few interesting characters such as Cicero, a jester in the Dark Brotherhood.

    Is it worth buying? Yes, because it offers some good moments and a lot of hours of gameplay however some of those hours feel wasted due to fetch quests. It was not worth $60 however, you could pick up the Legendary Edition now with all the DLC for $30.    … Expand
  21. TwillyFSniper
    May 2, 2014
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I honestly don't know why this game is praised this highly. Not at all. In fact, this game really makes me wonder what people look for in a game today.

    Good graphics? I agree.

    The game-play, though, is already stale enough. It's way too difficult (I swear there has to be some sort of glitch... That stupid Frost Troll insta-kills me every time.)
    The story? Bland, meh, average, overused.
    Characters? Nothing interesting here.

    I don't see the point of buying this unless you're freaking Chuck Norris on steroids epic at games. This game is popular because of what? Perhaps the stupidest power in the game? Arrow to the knee? Another reasonless meme.

    But I'll give it this: it's the best of a terrible series of games. Well done Bethesda. I buy my first Elder Scrolls game. I instantly lose the respect I had for you after playing Fallout.

    In conclusion, not worth your money. Probably lower 50's/100.    … Expand
  22. jdizzy
    Apr 16, 2014
    6
    The game's a bit over-hyped. "Oooh, I can kill dragons simply with my voice" is basically half of what these reviews are saying. The combat is awful, you just stand there, not trying to dodge or anything. You just stand there, swinging or casting away while the enemies feebly try to fight back. The quests are one-in-the-same, kill that, fetch that, and go here are what makes most of theseThe game's a bit over-hyped. "Oooh, I can kill dragons simply with my voice" is basically half of what these reviews are saying. The combat is awful, you just stand there, not trying to dodge or anything. You just stand there, swinging or casting away while the enemies feebly try to fight back. The quests are one-in-the-same, kill that, fetch that, and go here are what makes most of these quests. Daedric items suck if you're high-level and Combat with dragons is unbalanced at high-levels. They just fly, doing tons of damage while you shoot at them with a meekly bow. The graphics look awful and the guilds are not that original. It barely alludes choice, just by making you choose what to say. No matter what, the same outcome happens either way. Even with all the patches, it's a chuttering mess.… Expand
  23. mcrancidrugburn
    Apr 13, 2014
    5
    I like how the world of Skyrim looks as your character is exploring the huge icy wastelands. I played as a Bosmer with illusion and necromancer skills. Then I leveled up my pickpocket skills that it allowed me to steal armor from the guards and unsuspecting enemies. I also liked the music as my character explored but I never liked the fight music. It never felt inspiring like the actionI like how the world of Skyrim looks as your character is exploring the huge icy wastelands. I played as a Bosmer with illusion and necromancer skills. Then I leveled up my pickpocket skills that it allowed me to steal armor from the guards and unsuspecting enemies. I also liked the music as my character explored but I never liked the fight music. It never felt inspiring like the action music in Mass Effect. The main story was not interesting at all compared to Oblivion. I never felt like what side I choose in the beginning of the game mattered. The guild missions were too short and boring. The voice acting was terrible. The dual spell casting was good it seemed like that was borrowed from the Bioshock games. I liked Skyrim but I liked the Fallout games and Oblivion:The Elder Scrolls better they have more deeper stories and a better worlds to explore.… Expand
  24. lryderz1998
    Apr 12, 2014
    7
    Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the game that much i still play it today, combat is amazing, armor and weapons are amazing, so is shouts. i give this game 10/10 because it was an amazing experience.
  25. Poppeloppiluss
    Mar 6, 2014
    6
    The game has it's positive sides and have really nice graphics and all, absolutely, but we can't go around and judge a game for only it's graphics. Today it feels like most game developers focus on graphics and doesn't think to much about the content itself. This game made me very disappointed because, sure, as I said the graphics are nice but the game has extremely many bugs and glitchesThe game has it's positive sides and have really nice graphics and all, absolutely, but we can't go around and judge a game for only it's graphics. Today it feels like most game developers focus on graphics and doesn't think to much about the content itself. This game made me very disappointed because, sure, as I said the graphics are nice but the game has extremely many bugs and glitches in it and the builds of the classes doesn't have a good balance. The game simply doesn't feel "done". I've played extremely many RPG games and when i heard my friends speaking so well about Skyrim then I felt that I had to play it. But this game wouldn't even hit my top 10 list of RPGs. If it wouldn't have been for the visual graphics and the detailed environment then i bet this game wouldn't have been so popular. There is so many other RPGs out there which is so much better in every way and i can seriously not understand how people can still choose to play this crap. It's sad to see how many "graphic whores" there is out there.… Expand
  26. Ways
    Jan 17, 2014
    7
    A big, expansive open world RPG with lots to do and nice graphics, let down by the forgettable plot and dated combat system.

    I did all main Qs plus all but a couple of sides and clocked about 60 hours which is a big plus. Some 'AAA' games only manage 5 or 6 hours of single player. Like all Elder Scrolls games, get used to caves. You'll be seeing a lot of them. Plot is tired 'you are    A big, expansive open world RPG with lots to do and nice graphics, let down by the forgettable plot and dated combat system.

    I did all main Qs plus all but a couple of sides and clocked about 60 hours which is a big plus. Some 'AAA' games only manage 5 or 6 hours of single player.

    Like all Elder Scrolls games, get used to caves. You'll be seeing a lot of them. Plot is tired 'you are the chosen one ' as always with TES. Dull colours, forgettable NPCs. A result of having such a large game world? Obsidian did OK with New Vegas.

    That aside (and I can forgive all that), my major gripe is the dated combat TES has had since way back. No active dodge, no target lock. Blocking seems pointless, dodging means you move slowly backwards or to the side and hope you don't get hit. Or just charge in with power attacks and potions; you'll be fine. Magic has been simplified to the point of having little use beyond healing spells.

    And of course, dragons; less would mean more. Towards the end of the game I just ran away because I was so bored of them.

    Another Elder scrolls game that sticks to the generic fantasy formula but has a lot of value for money. If Bethesda had taken a chance on some changes to that formula, this game could have really deserved all that hype.    … Expand
  27. PartyTurtle
    Jan 13, 2014
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. skyrim is an amazing game with all the dragons and freewill in the world. its a big game so there are bound to be a few bugs like people on your team attacking u for no sudden reason and sometimes mouths moving when no one is talking. but overall its a rpg game which I love and has hundreds of hours sticking to the main missions, but overall amazing game.… Expand
  28. icky101
    Dec 23, 2013
    7
    A little bit of a disappointment. Oblivion was my favorite game so I expected a lot from Skyrim. It feels a lot dumbed down for casual Call of Duty type gamers. Don't get me wrong it's a good game, but the quests aren't unique, the plot is simple and short, and there is little to no true rpg aspects about this game. Your actions have the most minimal consequences possible unlike the gamesA little bit of a disappointment. Oblivion was my favorite game so I expected a lot from Skyrim. It feels a lot dumbed down for casual Call of Duty type gamers. Don't get me wrong it's a good game, but the quests aren't unique, the plot is simple and short, and there is little to no true rpg aspects about this game. Your actions have the most minimal consequences possible unlike the games predecessors. All that being said, the game runs smoothly, has nice gameplay, and has fixed a few of the kinks in Oblivion.… Expand
  29. ChunkYCh33s3
    Oct 28, 2013
    6
    I found trying to love skyrim very difficult. Not only is this game overrated but it is nowhere near the game i thought it would be. I find walking for a long time to get to certain quests boring. The combat is average. Graphics are very good as a whole. This is not a bad game. I just didnt find it my cup of tea. Exploring the caves was a chore. Puzzles, more bad guys. However, theI found trying to love skyrim very difficult. Not only is this game overrated but it is nowhere near the game i thought it would be. I find walking for a long time to get to certain quests boring. The combat is average. Graphics are very good as a whole. This is not a bad game. I just didnt find it my cup of tea. Exploring the caves was a chore. Puzzles, more bad guys. However, the missions on land were better. There are some good things. Its not a BAD game. Its just not interesting or fun to play. Most things feel stiff… Expand
  30. DrBoochie
    Sep 23, 2013
    6
    Before I get bombarded by fanboys, I need to make it clear that, unlike many of these reviews, I have had 2 years to formulate this review, of which I have spent a lot of time debating with myself how good this game is. I hope you will take that into consideration before reading this review.

    Overall I think Skyrim is a good game and an enjoyable experience for a period of time. However,    Before I get bombarded by fanboys, I need to make it clear that, unlike many of these reviews, I have had 2 years to formulate this review, of which I have spent a lot of time debating with myself how good this game is. I hope you will take that into consideration before reading this review.

    Overall I think Skyrim is a good game and an enjoyable experience for a period of time. However, I think the game has a lot of shortcomings. I'll try to highlight both the pros and cons.

    First things first, this isn't a Role Playing Game in the true sense of the phrase. A lack of solid class system means people can be the spellsword/tank/thief jack of all trades (and master of all, to boot). While this isn't a necessarily bad thing for a game, allowing flexibility in character development, it seems to take the 'role playing' out of the equation and leaving in the action, perhaps "dumbing down" this aspect predominant in the series.

    Keeping in the vein of mechanics, the quest system is boring and holds your hand. A pointer takes you directly where to go, kissing goodbye the investigative nature of Morrowind. It's a shame, since Morrowind (and even Oblivion, to an extent) was so strong due to this. Again, dumbing down is present. In terms of narrative, the quests in the basegame, bar a few exceptions, are mindless, unimaginative and tedious. The Daedric Quests are the only ones with any real depth to them, and the main storyline is more or less trash.

    The strengths of Skyrim lie in the well-overdue overhaul of Bethesda's game engine. The gamebryo engine, which seriously restricted Oblivion and Fallout 3, has been exchanged for the Creation Engine, which does Skyrim justice more can be done in terms of animation and design making Skyrim more immersive. However, the promises to improve combat in Skyrim seems superficial the only real additions to melee combat were dual-wielding and some (seriously artifacted) finishing moves, but otherwise the combat is as immersion-breaking as in Oblivion. However, the magic system is considerably improved in terms of mechanics, while the range of spells is disappointing. Archery (or marksmanship or whatever) is the true beneficiary of Skyrim, as the bows feel more weighty and is much more rewarding, so credit is due there. The stealth mechanics haven't improved noticeably since Oblivion, but it is serviceable and enjoyable enough. Overall, I'd give the general mechanics around 7/10, with some disappointments and steps back from Oblivion in places, with the interface feeling pretty clunky both on Xbox 360 and on PC.

    The graphics are where this title really saddens me. Even when the game came out, I thought it looked HIDEOUS. While there was some really nice shading and decent landscaping, the artstyle is drab. The huge colour palette of Oblivion is replaced for grey, white, black and more grey in the lands of Skyrim. While I appreciate that it fits the cold, northern setting of Skyrim, it feels as though the (clear) graphical improvements that Bethesda have made is wasted somewhat. Furthermore, the NPCs look downright creepy, with dead eyes that made me think of Polar Express some real uncanny valley stuff right there (look it up).

    My final point regards how many hours I put into the game before putting it down. I finished all of the main questlines and ALL of the considerable side quests in about 30 hours of play, over 2 characters. While there was initial wanderlust as I explored, the enjoyment trickled away over time until most of the game became a drag due to the aforementioned problems. If the game offered you more, then good for you! Nevertheless, 30 hours is a considerably quantity (while not compared to hundreds of hours spent in Oblivion and Fallout 3), but the quality wasn't entirely sound. While moments were truly epic (the first dragon appearance, for example), these were diamonds in the rough, with memorable parts too few and far between. This is disappointing in contrast to the myriad of other Bethesda titles, and while I have returned to Skyrim periodically since my initial playthrough(s), the visits were short and uninspired.

    Overall, I give this game a 6/10. It's better than average in most places, however there was potential for so much more. The combat was mostly unimproved, the quests were awful (both in mechanics and narrative) and the aesthetic was drab and poorly used. However, Skyrim has its merits in terms of its engine, and for this reason I do respect it somewhat.    … Expand
  31. TundraFreeze
    Aug 19, 2013
    6
    I thought this game would be much more exciting than that it actually is, especially since all professional reviewers claimed it as a must-have. The gameplay is slow and dare-I-say tedious. The storyline is thin and absent from much of the game, in fact you can't really tell the difference between a main quest and a side-quest. So the main storyline is not that engaging, it does not standI thought this game would be much more exciting than that it actually is, especially since all professional reviewers claimed it as a must-have. The gameplay is slow and dare-I-say tedious. The storyline is thin and absent from much of the game, in fact you can't really tell the difference between a main quest and a side-quest. So the main storyline is not that engaging, it does not stand out from the other quests you do. Likewise the characters in the game are flat and robotic. It is true that this game is visually impressive and that you have a huge open-world to move around, but everything else was just too boring for me. I wish reviewers, professional ones in particular, could recognize that people like different things in their games and I wish their reviews would reflect this fact, instead of pushing their bias unto others, claiming their judgement as Absolute. Bottomline: if you like pretty graphics, interactions with your environment such as learning a trade and getting married, and a huge open-world to move around in you'll probably enjoy Skyrim a lot. If you want a deep storyline, characters with some degree of personality, and variation in your gameplay look elsewhere.… Expand
  32. EJA
    Jul 29, 2013
    7
    I wanna give this a 9 or a 10 but the loading times get RIDICULOUS after playing for a while. I mean they just get longer and longer. And this game has tons of places where it needs to load so there might be 100 plus hours of gameplay but you will spend 100 plus hours in loading screens.

    What a shame because the scope of the game is huge. It is a tad shallow in terms of character    I wanna give this a 9 or a 10 but the loading times get RIDICULOUS after playing for a while. I mean they just get longer and longer. And this game has tons of places where it needs to load so there might be 100 plus hours of gameplay but you will spend 100 plus hours in loading screens.

    What a shame because the scope of the game is huge. It is a tad shallow in terms of character development but exploration is the name of the game here. The visuals vary, the dungeons are individually unique, and the terrain is grandiose.

    It's in the same vein as Oblivion and Morrowind so if you like those you will love this. Morrowind is still the best but this is way better than Oblivion.    … Expand
  33. imawsome722
    Jul 2, 2013
    5
    skyrim can be fun for a bit but then you start to notice all the bad's for the game
    pros:large word, great music, lots of quests and activities, 4 guilds dark brotherhood college of winterhold companions and thieves guild, FREAKING DRAGONS, epic master level destruction spells,
    cons: repetitive quests (go here kill this get this talk to him every time), main story is less than 4 hours,    skyrim can be fun for a bit but then you start to notice all the bad's for the game
    pros:large word, great music, lots of quests and activities, 4 guilds dark brotherhood college of winterhold companions and thieves guild, FREAKING DRAGONS, epic master level destruction spells,
    cons: repetitive quests (go here kill this get this talk to him every time), main story is less than 4 hours, world has barely any colour, you never feel important your the dragonborn head of all guilds and killed 50 dragons no one cares, usually the only enemies youll fight are bandits wolves and draugr,removed spell making, stealth is nearly impossible because enemies crowd up next to each other, the thieves guild is about fighting, story is mediocre its just dragons are invading you're the dragon born you have to stop them, npc's have no emotion, theres only like 13 voice actors, very buggy once a door was bugged so whenever i went through that door the game would crash and that was the only way out so i had to restart the game, combat is just hit each other with a weapon until one of you is dead, enemies never block, magic is weak and you run out of magicka fast,    … Expand
  34. jrobpaq
    May 26, 2013
    5
    For the first 10 hours, Skyrim is a pretty decent game. There's plenty to do, weapons to find, civilians to save, rabbits to kill, but after that, the game just ends. After I got through the stupidly short main quest, which barely scraped by as 4 hours, I figured I start with some of the guilds. The guild quests lines consisted of 3 fetch quests, 1 big fetch quest, and then I was head ofFor the first 10 hours, Skyrim is a pretty decent game. There's plenty to do, weapons to find, civilians to save, rabbits to kill, but after that, the game just ends. After I got through the stupidly short main quest, which barely scraped by as 4 hours, I figured I start with some of the guilds. The guild quests lines consisted of 3 fetch quests, 1 big fetch quest, and then I was head of the guild, all in under an hour. This is the same for all the guilds, including Mage's, Theive's, Dark Brotherhood's, and Companion's. The side-quests are equally disapointing. They all consist of the same formula: recieve quest, go to cave/fort, kill Draugr, return for gold. This is the rubrick for EVERY SINGLE QUEST.

    All I'm going to say about combat is that it is a joke. Two enimies run up to each other and swing their swords until the other one dies, not bothering to roll, dodge, or move out of the way. They do occasionally block however, but not that it matters if you do, because you could just stand in the corner sucking your thumb until your health regenerates.

    Almost everything from Oblivion and Morrowind has been dumbed down. Intricate alchemy system with calcinators and alembics? Gone. Fun spell making? Gone. Interesting quests? Gone.

    The A.I. in Skyrim is laughable at best. I had just got done single-handedly taking out the entire Stormcloak army defending Windhelm, (my fellow Imperials just stood around shouting, bumping into each other) and had just slain Ulfrich. I then proceded to walk outside and was immediately called a "milk-drinker" by one of my comrades. This is just one of the many instances where the A.I. completely ignores your achievements. I have slain hundreds of "powerful" dragons, become the head of every guild, lopped off Ulrich's head and single handedly took out his entire army, and sold my soul to 16 different daedra, and still people treat me like a piece of sub-human trash.

    Overall, Skyrim is fun for a while, until you realize that it a dumbed down version of Oblivion with laughable A.I. and dragon fights, complete with a boring world and copy-pasted side quests.    … Expand
  35. Bloodlustrous
    May 11, 2013
    7
    Skyrim is a mixed bag for me. It has amazing environmental detail but average NPC graphics. It has a huge, open world but uninspired generic dungeons. It has endless quests, some of which are engaging, most of which are boring fetch quests.
    It really depends on what you want in your RPG. If you want a game that you can spend 100s of hours battling, exploring and refining your character,    Skyrim is a mixed bag for me. It has amazing environmental detail but average NPC graphics. It has a huge, open world but uninspired generic dungeons. It has endless quests, some of which are engaging, most of which are boring fetch quests.
    It really depends on what you want in your RPG. If you want a game that you can spend 100s of hours battling, exploring and refining your character, Skyrim is a superb game for you. If you are looking for a more focused, engaging RPG with a world that makes you feel significant, try something else.

    One final comment..
    This game is definitely better when played on a high resolution screen. The graphics improve by a hundred, I swear.    … Expand
  36. B_STATS
    May 4, 2013
    7
    Full of expansive and amazing lore and history. A massive and living World. Highly ambitious and addictive.
    But choc full of bugs even to this day which kills everything good about it. Nothing more to say.
  37. magee
    Apr 7, 2013
    7
    i got this game at release date. i played it for like 10 days straight with a playtime of 70h I was so excited about this game and in the end i had a lot of fun this 10 days, while i finished all the side quest brotherhood. thief and so on i never finished the main story line because it was just very boring to me. dark brotherhood kinda dissapointed me the quest line was very short andi got this game at release date. i played it for like 10 days straight with a playtime of 70h I was so excited about this game and in the end i had a lot of fun this 10 days, while i finished all the side quest brotherhood. thief and so on i never finished the main story line because it was just very boring to me. dark brotherhood kinda dissapointed me the quest line was very short and not unique well tbh all the companion quests were pretty bad in comparison to the older titles. i played tes games since morrowind. if you like exploring in games this game is amazing but i feel like there arent really big rewards for it. a lot of mechanics got dumbed down sadly. crafting is good but you can craft such powerful armors that you oneshot every monster in the entire game and if you get that armor you will be bored pretty soon cause there will be no rewards for your actions. to sum up my 2 main cons are, first of all the combat system is very very bad it just gets old very quick you basically just click the hit button....thats it...they should really change something about it cause its like 50% of the game. the second thing is the main story and quests.. the main story is poor its not exciting at all and i wish they will made your character talk. while there are some quality quests the majority is pretty bad go there and kill that quests. its still a good game i played straight 10 games like a crazy man and then never touched it again.… Expand
  38. UncleJose
    Mar 26, 2013
    6
    The first few hours into Skyrim are the best few hours, after that you realize how bland the world is and how all the quests are the same. The story is feels non-existent and not explained, the guild quests all end in the same way, a lot of the skills are unnecessary. However my biggest problem with the game is that your character has no impact in the world even though your character isThe first few hours into Skyrim are the best few hours, after that you realize how bland the world is and how all the quests are the same. The story is feels non-existent and not explained, the guild quests all end in the same way, a lot of the skills are unnecessary. However my biggest problem with the game is that your character has no impact in the world even though your character is essentially a God. However it is easy to get immersed into the Relm of Skyrim with its 10/10 soundtrack, but you can easly get pulled out when you see some npc's and how there is 10 voice actors. If you don't mind having worse graphics and combat but a more detailed world, better towns/npc/skills/quests/challenge then I would recoment you play TES 3 Morrowind instead. I am intrested in what Bethesda does next and to see if is more casualised.… Expand
  39. Jay_Sherman
    Feb 24, 2013
    5
    It's been over a year since Skyrim came out. I eagerly threw down money towards a pre-order of the game in mid-2011 and waited in line for over an hour to pick it up on release day at the EB Games I often took my business to. When I first played it, I was excited! Even on a console, where the inability to swap graphics cards limits the quality of the visuals, I was stunned by the game'sIt's been over a year since Skyrim came out. I eagerly threw down money towards a pre-order of the game in mid-2011 and waited in line for over an hour to pick it up on release day at the EB Games I often took my business to. When I first played it, I was excited! Even on a console, where the inability to swap graphics cards limits the quality of the visuals, I was stunned by the game's aesthetic beauty! I found the character creation system much improved when compared to Oblivion and the NPC character models had improved greatly! Now I could dual-wield, arming myself with a weapon in each hand, or a weapon in one, leaving the other free to cast spells, or I could cast two different spells at once! There was a whole new world for me to explore and it looked like a massive improvement over previous Elder Scrolls games and even when compared to more recent titles like Fallout 3 and Obsidian's Fallout: New Vegas! And there were dragons! Gorgeous, terrifying dragons!!

    I played for many hours, enjoying quests, dungeon crawls, or just the simple joy of exploration. Crafting was better than it had ever been and I enjoyed enchanting and naming items of clothing and weapons. I bought Hearthfire and Dawnguard almost immediately when they came out.

    ... and then somewhere down the line, something happened. I lost interest.

    This has happened to me before with previous Bethesda games. Well, not just any Bethesda games, but Elder Scrolls games in particular. I had no trouble finishing Fallout 3 with all the DLC. Ditto for the Bethesda published, Obsidian developed Fallout: New Vegas (which I think is better than FO3 in many ways). I had been burned before with TES and I should have known better, but I'd gotten caught up in the hype. "This Elder Scrolls game is going to be different!"

    The fundamental problem at the core of Elder Scrolls games, and to a larger extent their other massive open-world RPGs, is that Bethesda don't give a flying f*** about story and plot. They simply don't feel it's important. They see it as merely a hook to get players into games which they feel are all about exploration and freeform gameplay, which is fine for some people, but for me it creates a barrier. I find myself unmotivated to advance towards the end of the game, whether I'm allowed to continue after the main story is done or whether I need to do everything I want to do before finishing the main story because once it's done, the credits roll and I have to load from an earlier save. Generic, dull stock fantasy "save the world from ancient evil" stories don't really do it for me unless they are written by clever, masterful writers who are knowledgeable about the genre and are aware of cliches and tropes and how to use them in refreshing ways. Bethesda's writers either don't have a gift for this, are told to keep it simple, or simply don't care because good storytelling isn't a part of Bethsoft's mandate.

    This story problem was something of an issue with FO3. The main character was a vault dweller, like in the first game. The Enclave was brought back because Bethesda needed a main baddie faction and the Enclave are popular with Fallout fans, rather than coming up with a faction they could truly call their own. The G.E.C.K., the MacGuffin in Fallout 2, was recycled because it was easier to do that then for Bethesda's writing team to come up with something new. Fallout 3, though, at least boasted an interesting setting and it wasn't 300+ hours long BEFORE the DLC. Non-player characters are another major gripe of mine with every Elder Scrolls game I have ever played (Morrowind onwards). The NPCs in Skyrim are all uniformly bland. They don't have anything interesting or humorous to say (lines that accidentally go memetic, notwithstanding). It seems the writers have a tin ear for dialogue, but that might be their attempt to stay within the confines of the heroic fantasy genre, where a lot of people expect dialogue to be stilted and contain archaic words or turns of phrase. The voice acting, apart from Hollywood actors Bethesda hires for bit roles, is solid but unremarkable.

    In the absence of interesting NPCs, I find myself having a hard time giving a crap about the world or any threats to it. Why should I care what happens to the world when NPCs and even recruitable don't feel like people I can relate to. Would it kill them to try and make the companions in TES at least remotely interesting or give the sense that these are individuals and not just copy and pasted templates?

    I think I'm going to take a pass on whatever banal new land Bethesda wants us to fart around in next time they make an Elder Scrolls game. P.S. I really wish Bethesda would let Obsidian do all their Fallout games. Obsidian do a better job and Bethsoft could focus more time and effort on IPs they actually seem to care the most about. Bethesda collects royalties, Obsidian makes better games, fans are happy, everybody wins!!    … Expand
  40. SilentSputnik
    Feb 8, 2013
    6
    The leveling system in this game is absolutely horrible. As you level up, enemies around you also power up. This leads to the feeling that no matter how much effort you put into your character, you're never making any progress.
  41. JackYaLate
    Jan 20, 2013
    5
    Graphics: 6/10 Gameplay: 7/10 Story: 7/10 Enjoyment: 3/10 = 5.75 (Average)
    Masterpiece? No. Nowhere near. That would mean that you would have no glitches. Wait what? This game has glitches? I thought it was a masterpiece? Meaning it's not perfect? Could of fooled me with these reviews.
    And no that is not the only reason I marked it down. I marked it down because it's boring and    Graphics: 6/10 Gameplay: 7/10 Story: 7/10 Enjoyment: 3/10 = 5.75 (Average)
    Masterpiece? No. Nowhere near. That would mean that you would have no glitches. Wait what? This game has glitches? I thought it was a masterpiece? Meaning it's not perfect? Could of fooled me with these reviews.
    And no that is not the only reason I marked it down. I marked it down because it's boring and repetitive! I got this game close to when it came out and my longest session with it is like 30 minutes. Thanks for reading and I'll JackYaLater.    … Expand
  42. leon1212
    Jan 16, 2013
    6
    glitches up the ass but decent game overall so play it or die fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
  43. XboxGamerGuy
    Nov 14, 2012
    7
    Amazing visuals, Epic sound track, great game play. Is it better than oblivion? No it's not! The main story is boring with little consequent, guild missions are no where near as good as oblivion. The game is amazing but so much effort into making it look good with so little time spent on making a epic story! On a side note "some" of the side missions are great...
  44. charlie412
    Nov 7, 2012
    6
    I would say this game is not one that will appeal to everyone, on one hand it looks amazing and has endless hours of gameplay but to me the game just doesnt feel as fun and sometimes it can be a bit of a chore, i found game like fallout 3 to be like this, they offer lots but i dont really find the game itself amazing to want me to do it, so if you want to complete this youll need anI would say this game is not one that will appeal to everyone, on one hand it looks amazing and has endless hours of gameplay but to me the game just doesnt feel as fun and sometimes it can be a bit of a chore, i found game like fallout 3 to be like this, they offer lots but i dont really find the game itself amazing to want me to do it, so if you want to complete this youll need an intravenous becasue it will take over your life trying to finish it… Expand
  45. Chuck_Woolery
    Nov 2, 2012
    7
    Weird thing about Skyrim, I LOOOVED Oblivion, but Skyrim was just was lackluster for me. That didn't stop me from playing out almost every quest, but I think it didn't improve enough on Oblivion and the Oblivion DLC for me. Also, I found it very easy... was pretty easy to create an unstoppable character.

    Still its a significant achievement and it was enjoyable all the way through, so    Weird thing about Skyrim, I LOOOVED Oblivion, but Skyrim was just was lackluster for me. That didn't stop me from playing out almost every quest, but I think it didn't improve enough on Oblivion and the Oblivion DLC for me. Also, I found it very easy... was pretty easy to create an unstoppable character.

    Still its a significant achievement and it was enjoyable all the way through, so it's hard to give less than 7 for me.    … Expand
  46. TheStranger
    Sep 20, 2012
    7
    The best Bethesda game I've ever played. I even ended up completing the main storyline and being how I didn't get far into Oblivion and Fallout 3 before I called it quits that's quite the compliment. The "immersion" of these games isn't quite there yet, but there is improvement little by little as each one of these games gets released. Skyrim was still way too repetitive. The greatestThe best Bethesda game I've ever played. I even ended up completing the main storyline and being how I didn't get far into Oblivion and Fallout 3 before I called it quits that's quite the compliment. The "immersion" of these games isn't quite there yet, but there is improvement little by little as each one of these games gets released. Skyrim was still way too repetitive. The greatest aspect of this game was the soundtrack. Beautiful stuff.… Expand
  47. canabalistic999
    Sep 7, 2012
    5
    Elder Scroll games have always been about quantity first, their open worlds are massive especially when compared to the size of any other game on console (not always true with pc) but one thing that is recurring in every game in the series that holds it back from greatness is quality gameplay. Im not talking about how much you can do, how deep the story is in any quest line, or even howElder Scroll games have always been about quantity first, their open worlds are massive especially when compared to the size of any other game on console (not always true with pc) but one thing that is recurring in every game in the series that holds it back from greatness is quality gameplay. Im not talking about how much you can do, how deep the story is in any quest line, or even how many different variations of character you can make, im talking about true gameplay. Now when I start talking about gameplay I am only speaking of aspects that don't fall in to other categories that could be used to rate a game such as visuals, amount of content/replay-ability, story, or sound im talking about things like the depth of its combat mostly. See the thing to understand here is that this game ultimately revolves around combat primarily and interactions with npc's as a distant secondary. Melee in this game is void of skill, it is nearly 100% stat based and you can simply quick swing, power swing or block and the different swings only differences are damage and time taken to execute which in combat comes down to can i take him down with one or two hard hits or do i need to block a bit and beat him down piece by piece there is no dodging to counteract your possibly poor block skill or lack of shield there is no need to understand enemy attacks either they will hurt you if they hit you or if you block it it will hurt alittle or almost as much as normal and with spells and archery its all relevant the spells do elemental damage so the enemy is either resistant, weak, or neutral to a spells type not to mention that every spell has its different element counterpart. Basically what combat comes down to is a stat based mashfest either you swing and block/heal or shoot spells/heal till you prevail or you just cant do it no median for skill no use of in-game mechanics to turn the tide of battle if you have lower stats than your foe or anything its either you can or cant period. Now for a lot of people gameplay depth doesn't matter, all they want is to feel powerful when they hit things or see cool animations for spells/attacks which this game definitely provides, as well as for gamers who highly value things outside of gameplay such as the points i mentioned earlier. Overall this is a game for people who value aesthetics over gameplay and quantity over quality, which the second point is perfectly reasonable but the first not so much since movies and other media sources can provide aesthetics and not gameplay where as only games can provide gameplay which is the sole reason Myself and many many other gamers buy games. So for a quick summary Gameplay is far from deep and ultimately does not rely on the players ability at all making it hard to call fulfilling for doing anything through gameplay, yet the aesthetics are amazing beautiful scenery and more content (not necessarily play time) than any other console game can offer (doesnt really beat out the pc games so much). Dont buy if you want a deep narrative or varied/engaging gameplay.… Expand
  48. Davidlmw
    Sep 4, 2012
    6
    Having played Skyrim and the DLC I must continue to ask both Bethesda and the user's who gave it a 10 to look at what the definition/definitions of a true RPG game are. (Wikipedia has some good one's) In the end there are consequences for the choices you make in the conversation wheel or in your choice of actions or inactions in the gameplay itself in a true RPG.

    The only consequences    Having played Skyrim and the DLC I must continue to ask both Bethesda and the user's who gave it a 10 to look at what the definition/definitions of a true RPG game are. (Wikipedia has some good one's) In the end there are consequences for the choices you make in the conversation wheel or in your choice of actions or inactions in the gameplay itself in a true RPG.

    The only consequences that can be placed in an RPG role are what happens if you choose to pay a bounty or not or steal from someone in Skyrim or choose to do a quest or not which is not an RPG.

    As many users have noted there are far to many bugs, freezes and QA issues that could have been dealt with prior to release.

    The storylines are mediocore at best and the NPC involvement or lack thereof allows for no relationship building and consequences for your actions or inactions which an RPG by definition does allow.

    And as many users have remarked, the interfaces in combat situations are mediocore at best.

    Should Bethesda decide to develop a true open world game and an RPG I would suggest they gather the right mix of talent on the development team. It is clearly obvious that the artistic side was well represented. However, the RPG and UI was not; as well as QA. In Oblivion the menu system was tedious at best; and Skyrim was not that much better. For the obvious artistic representation I wish Bethesda would have devoted as much time on the RPG and UI side. If so, they would have developed a true classic. If one goes back and looks at Fallout 3 you can see that there are consequences for your choices, especially if you are not at the right skill level in areas like health and speech.

    Lastly, diversification is key in such an open world. If you take the time to explore the cave systems and Nord sites you will come to find that in the end it all looks the same with very little diversification and reward for completing any of them.

    I wish great game developers like Bethesda would not fold to the pressure of the "almighty dollar" and take the time to consider the consumer who does spend a great deal of money on these games and the hardware that supports them. BTW if you are going to sell a game as an RPG, by it's true definition, perhaps you might want to look at the definitons of an RPG first before you market it as an RPG to the consumer.    … Expand
  49. Jacksonsteel200
    Aug 27, 2012
    7
    This game was fun, the atmosphere was great at times depending on the environment. The main storyline of the dragonborn was interesting enough and the civil war side quest was as well. Once finishing those I lost interest in continuing the game, for many reasons. The combat isn't that good, hit detection is off and the animations are not impressive at all. Fighting Dragons isn't veryThis game was fun, the atmosphere was great at times depending on the environment. The main storyline of the dragonborn was interesting enough and the civil war side quest was as well. Once finishing those I lost interest in continuing the game, for many reasons. The combat isn't that good, hit detection is off and the animations are not impressive at all. Fighting Dragons isn't very exciting. While the many villages and towns you visit are filled with people, they all say the same lines over and over whenever you pass. It doesn't help that a majority of the voice overs sound the same. One of the most disappointing things about this game besides the combat, which is very important in a game that ask for so much of your time, is your character. It is cool you can choose your own race and all that but your character is pretty lifeless. The same emotionless stare is seen on your character's face throughout the game. It also doesn't help that there are no voice overs for your character. Another issue are your companions whenever you end up paired with one or two. They take forever to catch up to you and they are mostly useless in a fight. This game offers a lot of freedom but it comes at a price, while Bethesda may have fixed certain things by now, the fact that if you didn't do certain quests before others the game may not allow you to progress further is pathetic. Last but not least, are the bugs, I understand bugs pop up in many games but they should not be overlooked just because a game offers so much freedom and all that. Bethesda shouldn't still be releasing games this buggy after all this time. Bugs that freeze the game or slow it down to the point where it takes 10 seconds to swing a sword or quests get locked out. Bethesda delivered a huge game with a ton of content which is impressive but in my opinion more effort needs to go into combat, artificial intelligence and better animations. A little less quantity and a lot more quality.… Expand
  50. Dingi
    Aug 15, 2012
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I love the Elder Scrolls Series, especially Oblivion. Skyrim, to me, was fun. But, it slowly dissolved into repetitiveness. I thought the Oblivion story-line was far more interesting, if a tad cliche. Sure, the graphics and leveling system are better than in Oblivion, but Skyrim just feels so...empty. I also thought that Oblivion was a tad harder (although the difficulty could easily be adjusted). Also, I like how Oblivion just dumped you off in the middle of a sewer and after you got out you were free to roam and the game just basically said "do whatever the heck you want". I don't think Skyrim gave me that chance because after the dragon attack, the game basically TOLD me to go and warn them. I mean sure, you were free to roam but it just didn't feel...right.
    Anyways, there's my two cents.    … Expand
  51. Harumpel
    Aug 9, 2012
    6
    I am a senior RPG gamer and I thought I would like Skyrim. But the story is so uninspiring and the combat is so easy, that I quit playing before the first half of the game. Slaying dragons is a joke, they position themselves in front of you, so that you simply press the same key until they are dead. I skilled melee and completely ignored anything else, I can kill any boss enemy with only aI am a senior RPG gamer and I thought I would like Skyrim. But the story is so uninspiring and the combat is so easy, that I quit playing before the first half of the game. Slaying dragons is a joke, they position themselves in front of you, so that you simply press the same key until they are dead. I skilled melee and completely ignored anything else, I can kill any boss enemy with only a couple of hits. And I have only a lvl10 char. I don't care about fancy graphics as long as gameplay and story suck. For me, this game is much worse than Fallout 3 and even worse than some of oldschool RPGs like NVN-1.… Expand
  52. wynams
    Aug 4, 2012
    6
    With each new chapter in the Elder Scrolls, it has become increasingly polished at the expense of being watered down.

    TES V is a polished RPG for the masses. Easy to get in to, yet rather un-rewarding to demanding gamers. There is no choice and consequence outside of picking a side in the civil war or becoming/not becoming a vampire and/or werewolf. The story is passable, but much of    With each new chapter in the Elder Scrolls, it has become increasingly polished at the expense of being watered down.

    TES V is a polished RPG for the masses. Easy to get in to, yet rather un-rewarding to demanding gamers.
    There is no choice and consequence outside of picking a side in the civil war or becoming/not becoming a vampire and/or werewolf.
    The story is passable, but much of the content is based on "radiant" or randomly generated content vs monster type to get item from location. While it is a great way to generate nearly endless content, random will always be a less great option than specific structure and purpose.
    Many bugs exist in the game. You will lose followers, scripted quest events will bug, however, in a game of this scope ... bugs are just few enough to not be a major pain.
    Magic is terribly underpowered (that or melee is imba) ... the synergy that exists between smithing, enchanting and alchemy is game-breaking (your player will become a god, even on master).
    Combat is sloppy ... if you have allies, summoned pets, followers etc ... it is nearly impossible to actively contribute to a fight and not inflict friendly fire damage regardless if you are playing a warrior, mage, thief or hybrid.
    Most quest items have a weight and cannot be dropped (adding to the frustration of what to loot).
    Graphics look nice, especially the world at large and weather events. The ragdoll physics are a bit over the top. Animations are average ... I always thought this was not Bethesda's strong suit, but they have improved slightly. Music is the biggest plus for me in this game. I do like the perk/skill system although I find it to be another aspect of imbalance. That's about all I have ...

    Decent game, wildly popular because it looks nice, caters to the masses, some frustrating bugs (that remain in version 1.7), virtually no choice and consequences for the user, excellent game sound track.

    This review was based on 400 hours I spent with it. While I did finish both sides of the Dawnguard expansion, I have never had the desire to finish the main story. I have several level 40 characters.

    THANKS for reading!    … Expand
  53. classicaldon
    Jul 1, 2012
    6
    Skyrim has a lot of good stuff, but it misses something very important: characters and story. The characters don't have anything to say, they're shallow, even the important ones. And the story, well.. it simply isn't that engaging. The game gets repetitive and boring after a while.
  54. eduinsane
    Jun 10, 2012
    7
    If I were to define Skyrim in only four words, that is about what you could expect from me. For as interesting a world Skyrim is to look at, the developers seemed fine filling it with repetitious, "uninspired" quests, given to you by countless amounts of npcs', none of which in possession of what I would call an actual personality.
  55. Soopy
    Jun 3, 2012
    5
    Average game at best. Makes grand attempts and falls flat on all of them. None of the game mechanics seem to compliment another. The combat is blehh. The World is well designed, the views are stunning. But there's not much of anything of value in it. The story is poor, and the ending to the main quest just bad. The sense of progression and achievement is non existent and the characterAverage game at best. Makes grand attempts and falls flat on all of them. None of the game mechanics seem to compliment another. The combat is blehh. The World is well designed, the views are stunning. But there's not much of anything of value in it. The story is poor, and the ending to the main quest just bad. The sense of progression and achievement is non existent and the character development pointless.… Expand
  56. wesker2012
    May 27, 2012
    6
    This game is really overated. Yes on a technical level, the game is extroadinary, but the combat is so bad and the look so bland, the fun factor level for me was a 6.
  57. Ben69xd
    May 21, 2012
    5
    This game removes everything that a RPG is/was Classes, GONE! If you are going to buy this game, make sure that you are an Argonian (why? because of here http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Argonian_(Skyrim) ), get married, beat every story, don't deny a quest, level everything to 100, get every achievement, and then go back to playing morrowind. the gameplay is alright, but you have toThis game removes everything that a RPG is/was Classes, GONE! If you are going to buy this game, make sure that you are an Argonian (why? because of here http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Argonian_(Skyrim) ), get married, beat every story, don't deny a quest, level everything to 100, get every achievement, and then go back to playing morrowind. the gameplay is alright, but you have to force yourself not to use the fast traveling system if you want to wander. Pluse this game is 10x more ugly than oblivion and the voice acting is just a little bit better than oblivion but not buy much.… Expand
  58. Kietz91
    May 14, 2012
    6
    Unbalanced, unpolished, uninspired, and shallow.

    If I were to define Skyrim in only four words, that is about what you could expect from me. For as interesting a world Skyrim is to look at, the developers seemed fine filling it with repetitious, "uninspired" quests, given to you by countless amounts of npcs', none of which in possession of what I would call an actual personality. The    Unbalanced, unpolished, uninspired, and shallow.

    If I were to define Skyrim in only four words, that is about what you could expect from me. For as interesting a world Skyrim is to look at, the developers seemed fine filling it with repetitious, "uninspired" quests, given to you by countless amounts of npcs', none of which in possession of what I would call an actual personality. The gameplay, while serviceable, is rather unpolished and doesn't meet up to the standards set by other action games of today. Character development, not only weak, is rather unbalanced. The game rewards you for boosting skills you may have no interest in using, and the whole point of actually leveling your character seems trivial, being that enemies scale with you. Long story short, this is a rather flat experience. Sure, if you set your standards low, the sheer amount of content, as lackluster as the majority of it is, should last you a long, long while. Anyone looking for something thought-provoking and memorable, however, should look elsewhere. The game is a nice looking, yet very generic hack 'n' slash loot fest. If that is something that interests you, you will probably love this game. If you are looking for something more, this game should be avoided.    … Expand
  59. GamingKing2KO
    May 7, 2012
    7
    Terrific game, loved the gameplay but some of the levels were too easy to earn. Too much glitches, this game needs to be polished. And if you save over 3-5 mb some of the game content cannot be accessed.
  60. handoba
    May 4, 2012
    6
    The most overrated game I have ever seen, not as fun as it promises to be, cool in the beginning but it ends boring, and brings almost nothing new to the series.
  61. KillerGum
    Apr 24, 2012
    7
    Skyrim is, in a nutshell, a very disapointing game. Having not played the previous ES titles, I decided to pick this up because of the massive hype it recieved. It simply did not meet the hype it got.

    Lets start off with the good. Pros: Huge open world to explore Many, many side quests Expansive culture Many things to forge Great level up system Pretty good graphics And here's    Skyrim is, in a nutshell, a very disapointing game. Having not played the previous ES titles, I decided to pick this up because of the massive hype it recieved. It simply did not meet the hype it got.

    Lets start off with the good.
    Pros:
    Huge open world to explore
    Many, many side quests
    Expansive culture
    Many things to forge
    Great level up system
    Pretty good graphics

    And here's the bad...
    Cons:
    A few bugs here and there
    EXTREMELY shallow combat system
    I had no incentive to explore the world
    World can sometimes feel "empty"
    Characters seemed very bland
    Shallow combat makes spells more useful, negating the "Play your style" approach

    A few of my Cons could be just the way i see things, but to me, this game is only "Pretty good" Obviously, if you are a fan of the ES series, you should pick this up. If you are a newcomer like me, I would be cautious when approaching this game, but also come at it with a positive attitude.    … Expand
  62. Mattheusheck
    Apr 20, 2012
    7
    Vast world, pretty graphics, nice music, quite interesting story, character development system better than Morrowind and Oblivion. Unfortunately, there is lack of something great, stunning and absorbing. I didn't end even the main quest. It contains also poor main characters, nothing distinctive. If you like sandboxes, you'll enjoy dungeon crawling. Otherwise, better think up purchase.Vast world, pretty graphics, nice music, quite interesting story, character development system better than Morrowind and Oblivion. Unfortunately, there is lack of something great, stunning and absorbing. I didn't end even the main quest. It contains also poor main characters, nothing distinctive. If you like sandboxes, you'll enjoy dungeon crawling. Otherwise, better think up purchase. Nevertheless, Skyrim is better than his older parts of The Elder Scrolls series.… Expand
  63. Levardos
    Apr 19, 2012
    6
    I must admit that Skyrim has disappointed me. It didn't live up to my expectations. This game is an improved version of TES IV: Oblivion. It doesn't really show any innovation. Just improvements... What this game is only good for is exploring. And even if caves and ruins all differ, it still quickly gets repetitive. There's not enough types of opponents. Dragons on the other hand, I mustI must admit that Skyrim has disappointed me. It didn't live up to my expectations. This game is an improved version of TES IV: Oblivion. It doesn't really show any innovation. Just improvements... What this game is only good for is exploring. And even if caves and ruins all differ, it still quickly gets repetitive. There's not enough types of opponents. Dragons on the other hand, I must admit, are epicly made. They are innovative.. But other than that... Well, ok, random events, these are fun as well. But besides that, the story and all of the side quests are really boring. I was seriously hoping that they'll make the story really entertaining... They had so many years to work on that. But all they've done is that they have improved few things, and added dragons. Graphic-wise they've done a good job. I really think this game is far too hyped up. Comparing it to oblivion, it just doesn't offer enough of new things. I got bored sooner than I expected. Oh, and also... "Romancing" is the most shallow in the history of games here. And the only purpose of having a wife is that she may start a shop, and give you money every once in a while... Pros: -Huge open world, which is fun to explore... until it gets boring. -Graphics. -Dragons. Cons: -Just doesn't offer a lot of new things, compared to Oblivion. -Boring main story and side quests. -Could use more types of enemies.… Expand
  64. TheElderTrolls
    Apr 11, 2012
    7
    Personally I Feel As If I Waited Longer To Get This Game, Then I Actually Played It. I Mean It Is One Of The Best Games Ever, But To Me Its Like Harvey Birdman Said" Let me get this straight: Skyrim's people --who supposedly thought dragons were a myth, like Godzilla-- find themselves in the midst of a FULL-FLEDGED DRAGON INVASION, and it ranks maybe 5th on their conversational priorityPersonally I Feel As If I Waited Longer To Get This Game, Then I Actually Played It. I Mean It Is One Of The Best Games Ever, But To Me Its Like Harvey Birdman Said" Let me get this straight: Skyrim's people --who supposedly thought dragons were a myth, like Godzilla-- find themselves in the midst of a FULL-FLEDGED DRAGON INVASION, and it ranks maybe 5th on their conversational priority list, after the civil war, their lost amulet, the fact that you're wearing light armor, and the weather. And when you singlehandedly stop said invasion, what do you get? A few comments from guards to the effect of, "Hey, stopping that dragon crisis was awesome, bro." Then it's back to "I took an arrow in the knee." The faction quests, with the possible exception of the Thieves' Guild, are similarly uninspiring. Oh, and my wife in I have a sham marriage , in which I show up every week and she gives me gold. I'd like to converse with her, but she can only say four lines of dialogue. Bottom line: maybe this is the price of a truly open world -- i.e., it's miles wide and an inch deep. And to be fair, there's plenty of mindless fun to be had. But I'd trade most all of these random dungeons and dragon/troll/mammoth battle royales for some sense that what I'm doing matters."… Expand
  65. skinny_mean_man
    Apr 8, 2012
    7
    a good game. just maybe not for everyone. if your into the elder scrolls you already know what your getting into. it is a game that will be perfect for some and just a decent play for others. i'm the ladder of the two. it's a game that i can only play for an hour here and there. i can not sit and play for hours on end, i find myself getting bored and even annoyed after an hour or two.a good game. just maybe not for everyone. if your into the elder scrolls you already know what your getting into. it is a game that will be perfect for some and just a decent play for others. i'm the ladder of the two. it's a game that i can only play for an hour here and there. i can not sit and play for hours on end, i find myself getting bored and even annoyed after an hour or two. still its a solid game but for me something didn't click just right.… Expand
  66. Olly_RPG
    Mar 13, 2012
    6
    A revelation to those who have never played an RPG before, boasting impressive graphics, a lavish soundtrack and one of the most costly and cinematic advertising campaigns yet for a game of the genre, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim struggles to satisfy experienced players used to more in depth roleplaying games, especially those who have enjoyed the previous Elder Scrolls titles.

    The    A revelation to those who have never played an RPG before, boasting impressive graphics, a lavish soundtrack and one of the most costly and cinematic advertising campaigns yet for a game of the genre, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim struggles to satisfy experienced players used to more in depth roleplaying games, especially those who have enjoyed the previous Elder Scrolls titles.

    The positive aspects of the game are immediately obvious, beginning with the graphics. Technically the game is impressive, boasting much improved textures over previous games, particularly on water, as well as huge draw distances and lighting. On the flipside however, the artistic design is incredibly bland, the game presenting a sea of muddy greens and greys. This seems to be a symptom of the current game climate, with developers afraid to venture into colourful environments in hope of pleasing the cash cow that is the CoD audience, so used to dark and dingy palettes. The hollowness of the art style is most exposed in the 60% of identical villages and character models. When compared with previous games Skyrim is extraordinarily samey, Oblivion boasted startlingly different cities and Morrowind used the fantastical Dunmer architecture, at its most impressive in the city of Vivec (that happens to dwarf any attempt made by Skyrim), the fifth title rests on the simple log shack in the woods, copied and pasted repeatedly, bar a handful of exceptions.

    It can be argued that when graphics are ignored, Skyrim presents one of the least believable worlds presented in a roleplaying game to date. Firstly, the games NPC's have extremely little to say, and all seem to say it in the same voice. The developers seemed to trade off the rich scripts of morrowind in exchange for a handful of words to be voice acted. As a downgrade from Oblivion, not even every NPC can be engaged with in dialogue, with the majority seemingly filling up the background to be killed by dragons at a random interlude. As a result, characters are not developed and dont hold any weight in the quests, the game lacks the Martin of Oblivion, a character to grow with and engage with. Similarly the towns and cities are very unfulfilling, with even the largest "metropolises" boasting four to six houses for NPCs to live in. This would be acceptable if Skyrim didnt completely rely on its quantity of content instead of its quality, but the game seemingly fails in both, boasting more quests and NPCs than previous games, when in fact it delivers less, as well as losing the sens eof a personal touch in its quality. True, the game features more rabbits and foxes than any other RPG, but the trade off is unacceptable.

    The questlines in Skyrim are among the weakest in an RPG that I have ever encountered, with extremely short guilds in comparison the its predecessors, as well as a main quest that delivers graphically, but with very little sense of satisfaction to be had from completing, not to mention the frustration of random dragon encounters. The Dark Brotherhood in particular pales in comparison to that of Oblivion. The majority of the other quests are simply killing bandits in caves, and while the deadric artifact quests are strong, with so few in comparison to so much filler, it hardly seems worthwhile. The game offers very little in terms of unique items and it also offers less armor than other RPGs, and this all culminates to a game that rewards bland questing with very little, and thus delivers a very weak character progression system, ultimately unerming the "role playing" factor. The withdrawal of a class system adds to this effect, and exposes the game as the most broad and borderline of RPGs, I would in fact argue that Skyrim is more of an action adventure or hack and slash, and unfortunately this brings us on to the combat, which has never been strong in Elder Scrolls games, but is now not even propped up with satisfying levelling and unique weaponry, where forging iron daggers over and over again can afford you the best equipment. The repeated hacking at enemies with no illusion of contact breaks the immersion, and while archery picks up, the slow down perks make the skill so embaressingly easy that any scope for being anything less than perfect at it is lost. The equipment in question also contains less depth than in other games, where the option to customise is lessened by having simply one suit, instead of all of the constituent parts that where once open to enchanting and renaming accordingly. The game then is weak, and has traded depth for graphics and thinly spread mechanics such as cooking. I haven't mentioned the game-braking bugs and glitches, but rest assured they are there. Experienced roleplayers will see through this game for what it is, and leave it to the thousands of 13 year olds who are on a break from CoD and FIFA. Play Oblivion/Morrowind instead.    … Expand
  67. Mustang678
    Mar 8, 2012
    5
    I bought the game when it came as did a lot of other people, and found it to be a disappointment. The world is a generic bleak, depressing fantasy setting which I'm growing increasingly tired of. Despite having an 'open world' it was really a chore to explore most of it and it became extremely repetitive and dull. I usually try to immerse myself in RPGs I play, but Skyrim really failed toI bought the game when it came as did a lot of other people, and found it to be a disappointment. The world is a generic bleak, depressing fantasy setting which I'm growing increasingly tired of. Despite having an 'open world' it was really a chore to explore most of it and it became extremely repetitive and dull. I usually try to immerse myself in RPGs I play, but Skyrim really failed to pull me in. The main quest was short and lacked any sort of tension. I even found the Dark Brotherhood quests lacking, these quests being a series highly praised in previous Elder Scrolls game. I found that all the races looked outright ugly or filthy in this installment, aside from the Imperial female. I can see what they were going for with the graphic design, but it really just made me want to leave Skyrim rather than do anything to save it. That aside, I did spend a full week playing a fun hack-n-slash action game as a 2-handed wielding twig. It was especially easy since every skill is a breeze to train (another letdown imo) and some of the scenery was downright beautiful. I enjoyed the music scores a lot, except for the main theme that they keep using everywhere. In the end I sold my copy to a friend of mine for a discounted price, and while I didn't seem to play the same immersive RPG everyone else seemed to play I still had fun playing it with a different perspective… Expand
  68. Upgrayedd69
    Mar 7, 2012
    7
    Definitely not as good as people say. It has frozen many times on me. I don't see how it is a "masterpiece". Felt just like Oblivion with better graphics. I think the hype was so high that people actually just started to believe it was as good as people were hoping.
  69. mako_psy
    Mar 3, 2012
    6
    As entertaining as it is, Skyrim has to be one of the most overrated games to come out of 2011. It's nothing more than a Fallout game with pretty scenery, dragons and a little more depth within the game. Don't get me wrong - I had fun! However, to say it's "the best RPG ever" is an insult to the many good RPG's out there. It's got an absolutely fantastic soundtrack that compliments theAs entertaining as it is, Skyrim has to be one of the most overrated games to come out of 2011. It's nothing more than a Fallout game with pretty scenery, dragons and a little more depth within the game. Don't get me wrong - I had fun! However, to say it's "the best RPG ever" is an insult to the many good RPG's out there. It's got an absolutely fantastic soundtrack that compliments the exploration of the amazing world Bethesda created. Unfortunately, the game feels a little too similar to everything else that Bethesda churn out and the constant glitching-although fun-takes you out of the immersive experience. Deserving of a 6, but nothing more.… Expand
  70. KingGeorge
    Mar 3, 2012
    6
    This game offers a huge world with endless choice. The environment, the soundtrack and the depths of detail in the story are all to this game's credit. The gameplay, particularly the combat, is what lets this game down in my view; in terms of melee it is essentially hack n slash. For religious RPG fans this game will appeal but for the general gamer it may leave you feeling let down.
  71. xipher
    Feb 6, 2012
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. There is lots and lots of stuff to do in skyrim from hundreds of quests to just walking though the forest, but after putting a lot of time into this game it all kind've feels empty and unsatisfying. I will admit they did an excellent job creating the world and the feel of the game. The music nature sounds and scope truly feel epic when your exploring above ground. The problem is that 75 to 80 percent of the game takes place in caves, underground ruins and castles. And aside from the occasional dwarven ruin almost all the dungeons and castles are just dark boring caves filled with weak annoying skeletons and crappy loot that you don't need. In fact the horrible loot system and lack of satisfying exploration are the biggest things holding this game back. For a game as big as skyrim the limited variety of armor and weapons to find is just sad. There is almost no point exploring for loot as the weapons and armor you can make and enchant yourself are better than anything you will find. The perk system also leaves much to be desired as most the perks simply buff what you can already do or give some little ability that barely makes a difference. It doesn't help that aside from the story quests and a few guild quests (mainly thieves guild) most of the quests are boring and unmemorable. Throw in some bad voice acting, wooden character animations, and annoying dragons and thats skyrim. Im disapointed that so many users posted 10/10 scores after barely playing the game. It looks amazing at first but the substance just isn't there. I played for around 230 hours before posting this.… Expand
  72. purifico
    Feb 6, 2012
    5
    What a bug-fest. Average game at best. Like anything else coming from Bethesda though. The game looks ugly, the gameplay is kinda ok, but not really my thing, the bugs though made me give up after only a couple of hours of gameplay.
  73. SpunkyMonkey
    Feb 6, 2012
    6
    If this equation - Fallout 3>Morrowind>Oblivion - looks right to you then this may well be the review you're after. Having now played through Skyrim for over 100 hours I'd say that it fits into that equation like this - Fallout 3>Morrowind>Skryrim>Oblivion. For me Oblivion was a sidestep from Morrowind as opposed to a step forward and Skyrim is no different. On the plus side Skyrim's meleeIf this equation - Fallout 3>Morrowind>Oblivion - looks right to you then this may well be the review you're after. Having now played through Skyrim for over 100 hours I'd say that it fits into that equation like this - Fallout 3>Morrowind>Skryrim>Oblivion. For me Oblivion was a sidestep from Morrowind as opposed to a step forward and Skyrim is no different. On the plus side Skyrim's melee combat is deffinately getting there - the extra weight and overall feel is far more satisfying than it has been previously. The asthetics are superb with immensely atmospheric music, some lovely graphics, and dungeons that are no longer cookie-cutter bland. However, once you actually get into the game it's not all that long before it really starts to drag and those asthetics can no longer cover up what is just a souless and often boring game. Morrowind's main appeal was in it's exploration and sense that you were out in this big wide world where you could stumble across anything at anytime. However, thanks to the reliance on fast travel and the return of the compass which magically shows you things which you have yet to find the feeling of exploration is killed dead, and the game feels more like a test of your organisational skills than anything - not fun. The encumberance system just means you spend hours trudging back and forth collecting and selling loot and it just gets tiresome. Bethesda either have to dump the encumberance and persist with Skyrim's setup, or dump the fast travel and make the game more about exploration. The story is very thinley spread out too, and often handled badly with dragons swooping out of nowhere in the middle of an important conversation or other NPCs spouting some random BS at you during them instead. In fact the whole RPG element is nothing short of dire, with your choices and actions affecting very little - with a lot of quests often prevent you with 2 choices - "yes" or "yes". Throw in an essentially broken magic system, and a leveling system which kills the joy of finding any rare weapons, and suddenly you become aware of what a mishmash of gaming genres this is and how badley the series as evolved. Whilst not as mind-numbingly dull as Oblivionis, it's still something I couldn't recommend to folk. It's kinda like the Lost In Translation or Blaire Witch Project of games - a lot of hype and a empty husk of an experience. All Bethesda have to do is give Morrowind Skryim's combat feel and asthetics and you'll have a far greater game than the one served up here, which is a damn shame as I was so hoping they'd learnt there lesson from Oblivion. However, they most certainly have not. Less size, more substance next time Bethesda please.… Expand
  74. porss
    Jan 27, 2012
    5
    Overall the game was alright and I have to give the devs credit where credit is due. Amazing graphics, very expansive world, decent (or maybe not so decent) story. It did definately give me a fair few hours of enjoyment.

    Now onto the bad. The main complaint I have (and one that can apply to many dev companies these days) is that it is very clear that little to no thought was put into    Overall the game was alright and I have to give the devs credit where credit is due. Amazing graphics, very expansive world, decent (or maybe not so decent) story. It did definately give me a fair few hours of enjoyment.

    Now onto the bad. The main complaint I have (and one that can apply to many dev companies these days) is that it is very clear that little to no thought was put into game mechanics and gameplay. I imagine the design team was populated entirely by very creative, artistic-minded individuals who love designing beautiful graphics and thinking up "creative" new ideas (i.e. dual-casting) but put absolutely no thought into how the elements of the game will actually play out. Will the player be able to use them? As an example, the spell-casting system is, in my mind, ruined. Sure the idea that you have to equip spells in each hand sounds cool but it in fact plays out as a regression from one of the few major improvements between morrowind and oblivion. That is, with the removal of equipping spells in oblivion a player could now better utilize magic in mixed classes. Alternating between spells that boost their combat style and swinging their sword, shooting their bow or even using their staff. Not to mention the need to go through a laborious unequip/equip action while an enemy is trying their best to swat you. This, of course, is only one example out of a myriad of poorly planned gameplay mechanics that make Skyrim, at best, a decent game.

    It seems too many dev companies these days are moving in the direction of making great interactive movies (read Skyrim and the original Assassin's Creed) instead of making fun games. They appear to use their projects as excuses for artistic self-indulgence ("Wow look how beautiful those graphics are. Good job all!") rather than creating something that will be enjoyable to their audience. These companies would do well to mix their design teams up a little. Sure, employ the talented artists but don't exclude the analytical individual. The one who will assess things like game balance and gameplay mechanics.    … Expand
  75. clawbytes
    Jan 17, 2012
    6
    For a game that prides itself on exploration, customization and variety, it falls short on every category. I remember Todd Howard touting how much more diversity it has over Oblivion. That is true for the first 2 hours of the game. You'll immediately notice how much better the graphics are. People aren't as hideous looking as the lemon-shaped faces in Oblivion, the water effects areFor a game that prides itself on exploration, customization and variety, it falls short on every category. I remember Todd Howard touting how much more diversity it has over Oblivion. That is true for the first 2 hours of the game. You'll immediately notice how much better the graphics are. People aren't as hideous looking as the lemon-shaped faces in Oblivion, the water effects are amazing and Bethesda did try to make every dungeon as different from each other as possible, but after a while, all that means nothing when they offer the same boring experience. What's the point of all this extra space when every 10 miles is the same town with the same people with the same problems? My biggest gripe is the loot. Again, if you are familiar with Bethesda games, you'd know you can open every container and pick pocket every NPC or loot their corpse, but there's no incentive to do those when a Jarl carries nothing better than the next beggar and you can't steal the same items shop keepers are selling. I'm not going to further explain the stale main quest and bugs. It's not a bad game overall. If you've enjoyed the past Elder Scrolls/Fallout games, you'd know what to expect, if not, tread with caution.… Expand
  76. PhineasGraves
    Jan 16, 2012
    7
    If you've played Oblivion, Fallout 3 or New Vegas....You've played Skyrim. the new chapter to the Elder Scrolls series does nothing to move the series ahead. Same game play. Same lack luster story line. I'm not saying the game is all bad. It still has those really addicting properties you know the games for....it's just...feels the same. I felt bored after awhile and wished the gameIf you've played Oblivion, Fallout 3 or New Vegas....You've played Skyrim. the new chapter to the Elder Scrolls series does nothing to move the series ahead. Same game play. Same lack luster story line. I'm not saying the game is all bad. It still has those really addicting properties you know the games for....it's just...feels the same. I felt bored after awhile and wished the game was over. Everyone make a big hoopla about the graphics...meh. You can put new paint on it, but when the graphic design is still the same it does it no good. If you have never played a Elder Scrolls game you will love this game. If you HAVE played an Elder scrolls game before...Look to be playing the same game re-skinned.… Expand
  77. Hyperbole
    Jan 15, 2012
    7
    Skyrim is a good game and is should be played. But after a while I just found there wasn't much left to do. The Radiant quest system is a joke. The quality of the quests and side stories is decent though. The game looks lovely and I found combat a lot of fun. The user interface is horrible though. Having to pause every 5 seconds in the middle of combat to take a potion? Really?Skyrim is a good game and is should be played. But after a while I just found there wasn't much left to do. The Radiant quest system is a joke. The quality of the quests and side stories is decent though. The game looks lovely and I found combat a lot of fun. The user interface is horrible though. Having to pause every 5 seconds in the middle of combat to take a potion? Really? It's like a broken V.A.T.S system from Fallout 3. I feel the game really suffers from not waiting till the next generation of consoles arrived. But I get it from a economic point of view from Bethesda's side. Talking of Fallout 3 can't help but remind me of atmosphere, something which Skyrim has a had time at creating when it wanted to despite all it's major attempts. Any atmospheric moments I got from the game were moments that happened by accident.

    The shouts are fun, but the down time feels slightly too long. I didn't mind the bugs too much, it is to be expected with an open world game such as this, but the quest breaking bugs take some stomaching. The dungeons are very well done and much less cookie cutter than other Elder Scrolls game, but after a while they seem to become all the same again. The same few groups of enemies too. And I guess that's my main complain about the game as a whole, is that as much fun as the first 40 or so hours are, after that (least for me) there were no real new surprises or situations. Dragons just become an annoyance rather than an actually threat. With that said though, it's was worth purchase for those 40 hours, because you really do have a lot of fun within them. But, that's not an Elder Scrolls game for me. An Elder Scrolls game should be about spending hundreds and hundreds of hours building your character and mythos and immersing yourself. Skyrim just doesn't have enough content and there is really no excuse, since I spent 6 months on Morrowind and around 3-4 on Oblivion, there is no excuse why a game made 10 years after the former and 5 after the latter should have less to do. Everything feels a little forced and console feel never suited The Elder Scrolls series point blank.    … Expand
  78. darthfredy
    Jan 10, 2012
    6
    A great experience if you like crafting and traveling in marvelous countrysides.If you look for a real deep story and to interact with NPC, don't buy this game.
  79. Loco
    Jan 9, 2012
    6
    This game has been optimised for X360, so it's getting the highest score from me out of the 3 releases. Nevertheless, I'm underwhelmed. ...... I'm a huge fan of the Elder Scrolls series (I've been there since the beginning!), and I love my PS3 and PC versions of Oblivion (PC version is modded beyond belief, and still gets a lot of my time). However, there were niggling issues with thatThis game has been optimised for X360, so it's getting the highest score from me out of the 3 releases. Nevertheless, I'm underwhelmed. ...... I'm a huge fan of the Elder Scrolls series (I've been there since the beginning!), and I love my PS3 and PC versions of Oblivion (PC version is modded beyond belief, and still gets a lot of my time). However, there were niggling issues with that game that I hoped would be resolved. They haven't. ....... Combat is still clunky and unbalanced, dialogue is awful, the UI is appalling, quests are linear and forgetful, the game engine (Gamebryo not 'Creation'!) is as buggy and weak as ever, and the animations in the game are 2004-spec......... The music and sound, however, are VERY strong, the world is well realised (Bethesda actually had art direction this time!), and the allure of the big open gamespace is as strong as ever. Dragons are fun, if easy to kill and repetitive. Dragon-shouts differentiate the PC from the NPCs, which is important. These are the plus points, but there should really have been more........... Besthesda are not pushing themselves. Oblivion 1.5 is nice, but where's the innovation, guys? Deep inside i'll always know that this is not yet the RPG I know this dev can make.......... Next time- get a new engine (a REAL, new engine), redesign combat entirely, come up with decent stealth mechanics, hire new writers and build a better connection between the game world and the people that inhabit it (better AI, animations etc.). Because as much as I love the Elder Scrolls, I can't pretend forever that this isn't a bit of a mess. -Loco… Expand
  80. HarveyBirdman
    Jan 4, 2012
    5
    How can a game with so much to do feel so empty? Regardless of what you do, it never feels like you've impacted the game world in any meaningful way. Or forged an meaningful relationships. Or even had meaningful conversations. Let me get this straight: Skyrim's people --who supposedly thought dragons were a myth, like Godzilla-- find themslves in the midst of a FULL-FLEDGED DRAGONHow can a game with so much to do feel so empty? Regardless of what you do, it never feels like you've impacted the game world in any meaningful way. Or forged an meaningful relationships. Or even had meaningful conversations. Let me get this straight: Skyrim's people --who supposedly thought dragons were a myth, like Godzilla-- find themslves in the midst of a FULL-FLEDGED DRAGON INVASION, and it ranks maybe 5th on their conversational priority list, after the civil war, their lost amulet, the fact that you're wearing light armor, and the weather. And when you singlehandedly stop said invasion, what do you get? A few comments from guards to the effect of, "Hey, stopping that dragon crisis was awesome, bro." Then it's back to "I took an arrow in the knee." The faction quests, with the possible exception of the Thieves' Guild, are similarly uninspiring. Oh, and my wife in I have a sham marriage , in which I show up every week and she gives me gold. I'd like to converse with her, but she can only say four lines of dialogue. Bottom line: maybe this is the price of a truly open world -- i.e., it's miles wide and an inch deep. And to be fair, there's plenty of mindless fun to be had. But I'd trade most all of these random dungeons and dragon/troll/mammoth battle royales for some sense that what I'm doing matters. If it's an RPG, Bethesda, I want to play a role, not just be a roving bringer of destruction and taker of loot.… Expand
  81. FakeLies
    Dec 31, 2011
    6
    I had HUGE expectations in this after oblivion...and now im twisted...there are a lot of sidequests and places to visit..the world truely is huge, and i think it´s better set alive than in oblivion by the random encounters you will have on roads, like talmor carrying a prisoner ( you could walk by or rescue him), and there are a lot of these moments...the dragons wereI had HUGE expectations in this after oblivion...and now im twisted...there are a lot of sidequests and places to visit..the world truely is huge, and i think it´s better set alive than in oblivion by the random encounters you will have on roads, like talmor carrying a prisoner ( you could walk by or rescue him), and there are a lot of these moments...the dragons were impressive, i had a lot of fun only watching the random fights between dragons and giants :D...the Thuums can be used tactically by setting the power of the individual Thuum and by thinking about its cooling-time...the graphics are nice. But then again there really are reasons to not like this game...the world is huge, but you will end up in a rotation of town-dungeon-town-dungeon etc....money really has nothing to say anymore, the only things worth buying were some potions if you run low on them and spells,youll end up with thousands of septimes just hanging in your inventory unused because the loot is practically all you need...the character-creation was dumped down to be more actionlike,it really is more action than before, but it has lost a lot of its roleplaying by deleting classes and stats...the perks do add and are usefull, but not necessary, so leveling only becomes intresting for raising health/magicka/stamina...the quests are simply repetitive, go get that, kill him, walk there, kill dragon, learn word nr. 56 etc....the quests where you had npcs fighting at your side were rather annoying, i would have apretiated doing those quests alone, for the npcs always seemed to die really fast or break down if they were immortal,and they only mindlessly charged forward into battle without making use of tactics/stealth or anything...although there are random moments adding to the whole plot, the story seems just poorly thought out...dragon x wants to destroy the world, the land is twisted because of a civil war, and the quests are just poor in storytelling...the guilds seem rather pointless, i felt dumb being guildleader after 3 quest, being raised from a little fish to the leader of the famous and legendary companions guild, and all those guildquests are like that... the civil war is a joke,2 or 3 quests to prove your loyalty, then some quests just slicing through hordes of enemies in castles to conquer them--> civil war won yuhey!...the game seems awesome and stunning at first, but it gets boring really fast...many people complained about the smithing perk being owerpowered, the whole difficulty being to low if you got your hands on this uberequipment which is fairly easy, but i dont understand those...if the game is too easy for your taste, set the difficulty higher...if you hate the uberequipment because it kills the challenge, then dont use it...simple as that...i always had challenging fights, but you really have to be one patient guy if you want to play this through with sidequests etc.... especially for i see no replayability in this due to a lack of classes,stat costumization and a general lack of options in every case...from my point of view its far from a metascore of 96, i would have given it 9 points after the first 2 hours, but the first impression in this case, even if its sad, is wrong.… Expand
  82. GhostBox223
    Dec 22, 2011
    7
    i hate to say it but pcforever had way too many good points...i absolutely love the game i have spent waaaay too much time playing but but like he said..i basically ran through it on auto pilot...didnt have to read a book or listen to an npc i just clicked through the convo raided the cave or dungeon killed everything then proceeded..i actually wanted to give this game a 10 i swear righti hate to say it but pcforever had way too many good points...i absolutely love the game i have spent waaaay too much time playing but but like he said..i basically ran through it on auto pilot...didnt have to read a book or listen to an npc i just clicked through the convo raided the cave or dungeon killed everything then proceeded..i actually wanted to give this game a 10 i swear right hand to god but after reading pcforever's review i actually cant...im not a pc player so graphics a perfect to meand i like the story and i dont know what kind of stuff he was doing but i constantly found myself running out of gold and i had made all daedric armor and weapons early on before 25% of main quest was even done so i needed to buy nothing but houses and crap....definitely cant go without giving this game a playthrough it is an absolute must ....Hopefully the make it a little more interactive in a sense!!!!!!!!!!!!!… Expand
  83. BlasphemousBat
    Dec 20, 2011
    5
    I had hoped for this game to be really engaging, but there's not much to do at all. The main quest is sweet but a bit short, the Companions questline was just forgettable, College of Winterhold Questline was boring, and the Dark brotherhood and Thieve's Guild questlines were alright. Miscellaneous quests are an absolute **** The textures aren't great at all, the animations were reallyI had hoped for this game to be really engaging, but there's not much to do at all. The main quest is sweet but a bit short, the Companions questline was just forgettable, College of Winterhold Questline was boring, and the Dark brotherhood and Thieve's Guild questlines were alright. Miscellaneous quests are an absolute **** The textures aren't great at all, the animations were really stiff. It's quite boring after you do a bunch of stuff, and apparently Giants are stronger than DRAGONS. Also, the dragons themselves aren't that big, and can EASILY be killed. Also, the amount of bugs are HUGE. This is quite a disappointment in terms of content. Everyone thinks this is the best game ever, but in truth it's far from it. Rage all you want fanboys.… Expand
  84. Denngamer
    Dec 17, 2011
    6
    The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is a let down in the sense that it is not a evolution from Oblivion. 5 years on from Oblivion and Skyrim still feels like a rehash and instead of a brand new game a huge expansion with better graphics. I really wanted to love Skyrim but I could not help feeling disappointed with the game that was so hyped. The main story is just boring full of uninterestingThe Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is a let down in the sense that it is not a evolution from Oblivion. 5 years on from Oblivion and Skyrim still feels like a rehash and instead of a brand new game a huge expansion with better graphics. I really wanted to love Skyrim but I could not help feeling disappointed with the game that was so hyped. The main story is just boring full of uninteresting characters but the side quest lines save the game from being a utter snore-fest. The voice acting is varied to say the least and some truly bad facial animation keep me from being fully immersed in this world. It used to be that I like Elder Scrolls better then Fallout but now the times have changed and I would rather see another Fallout game rather then a Elder Scrolls game. I did like the game but I was disappointed.… Expand
  85. MindSpaz
    Dec 16, 2011
    5
    Boring. And old news. I honestly feel like I'm playing oblivion with a graphics update, and DLC. In terms of looks, the game looks pretty good, not the best I've seen though. Bethesda has this bad problem with ground textures overlapping each other and I see that quite a bit in skyrim. Secondly, the voice acting is done really well, but there are only about 5 voice actors from what I canBoring. And old news. I honestly feel like I'm playing oblivion with a graphics update, and DLC. In terms of looks, the game looks pretty good, not the best I've seen though. Bethesda has this bad problem with ground textures overlapping each other and I see that quite a bit in skyrim. Secondly, the voice acting is done really well, but there are only about 5 voice actors from what I can hear. The quests get boring and repetitive and you level up far too quickly. The perks system though, is perfect. The 3 person fighting looks amazing, especially compared to oblivion and morrowind. The combat system is by far the best RPG combat system I've played. You can do a full 360 sword spin and kill everyone around you, and the more you use your weapons, the better it feels to use them. Sprinting feels natural, and not some kind of awkward clunky movement like in MW2/3. The reason I give this game a 5/10, is because of the repetitiveness of the quests, and general story. And on top of that, every time I battle a dragon, it feels the same. He flies up, breathes fire/ice, lands, and repeat. NPC bugs everywhere, much like oblivion and morrowind. and of course, jumping is still clunky.… Expand
  86. Acquiredempire
    Dec 13, 2011
    7
    Fun but main story is way too short and NPCs had little to no personality. Never felt any strong emotion or bond to any faction or character. Ending was non eventful. When I beat the main story quests I didn't even realize it. To me it felt like is should have been the half way point. The world itself is very well done and fun to explore. Fighting is the best it has ever been in the ElderFun but main story is way too short and NPCs had little to no personality. Never felt any strong emotion or bond to any faction or character. Ending was non eventful. When I beat the main story quests I didn't even realize it. To me it felt like is should have been the half way point. The world itself is very well done and fun to explore. Fighting is the best it has ever been in the Elder scrolls series. Not too many bugs and glitchs as previous installments. Just wish it had more memorable NPCs and a deeper story but the game is very well made otherwise.… Expand
  87. lintmaster
    Dec 8, 2011
    5
    Out of principal I didn't buy this game because of the travesty that was Oblivion. That game ranks among the greatest disappointments in my gaming life and I'll just assume they still employ the same adolescent dough heads that created that piece of crap. If you hated Oblivion then DO NOT buy this game. Don't encourage them. We need to some how get the video game industry back on track.
  88. MrDialUp
    Dec 8, 2011
    5
    Skyrim is a great game brought down by bugs, great sound and great role play features brought down by a confusing and semi-difficult to use menu system where I end up either equipping an unintended item or accidentally closing the menu all together, and the infamous bugs, many quests are currently bugged and by Bethesda's own admission they will not even begin working on the majority ofSkyrim is a great game brought down by bugs, great sound and great role play features brought down by a confusing and semi-difficult to use menu system where I end up either equipping an unintended item or accidentally closing the menu all together, and the infamous bugs, many quests are currently bugged and by Bethesda's own admission they will not even begin working on the majority of them untill January if i'm not mistaken, also there is a texture problem for most xbox 360 users to where the game looks like it could have been made in 2006 which is quite frankly inexcusable considering I noticed this within the first 10 minutes of playing (This is why we beta test). Bethesda has not treated this game well considering it is there trademark series, they tried to update the game to fix the texture issues among other bugs instead however they did NOT fix the issues and broke resistances to everything which is a key mechanic, also they have not given any word as to when they will fix the texture issues which means it most likely will not get fixed in a long time by which I most likely will have put it on the shelf forgetting about it.… Expand
  89. jdrandall38
    Dec 6, 2011
    6
    This game is loads of fun and there is a ton to do. That being said, after a few days of non-stop addiction this game grows very stale. Searching dead bodies, unlocking chest and selling goods starts to get real old. The combat interface is simply put "Awful." When you go to use your power move, there is no adjusting your aim. So you just will randomly swing hardcore at the air. WhoThis game is loads of fun and there is a ton to do. That being said, after a few days of non-stop addiction this game grows very stale. Searching dead bodies, unlocking chest and selling goods starts to get real old. The combat interface is simply put "Awful." When you go to use your power move, there is no adjusting your aim. So you just will randomly swing hardcore at the air. Who would do that? Also, the glitches are funny when you first start playing, but they start to get very annoying after a couple day. If you need some comparison, it is Oblivion with dragons. Nothing else. 6/10.… Expand
  90. seepingskeptic
    Dec 6, 2011
    6
    Just what some others have said. Huge world, but poorly designed, bleak-looking lacking variation. Sure, all people do is rant and rave about the 100+ hours of content, but whats so great about quests that regenerate? You get the same boring quests throughout the game.
  91. Mike_M
    Dec 3, 2011
    5
    Overall: A game of extreme pros and cons, Skyrim is ultimately too much of a grind to play for enjoyment. Pros: -The music is phenomenal. -It is chock full of quests of different sorts, some with story lines, some are one-offs.
    Cons: -I've played 2 different characters, for a total of 100 hours or so, and I can't stand how hard it is to max-out each character's main skills. It's damn    Overall: A game of extreme pros and cons, Skyrim is ultimately too much of a grind to play for enjoyment. Pros: -The music is phenomenal. -It is chock full of quests of different sorts, some with story lines, some are one-offs.
    Cons: -I've played 2 different characters, for a total of 100 hours or so, and I can't stand how hard it is to max-out each character's main skills. It's damn impossible. It makes the game a slog. You can't experience everything that each skill has to offer without putting in 100 hours per character.
    -It's somewhat buggy. -Some of the combat is just as tedious as the leveling.
    -The dialogue and voice acting, especially on the people you talk to the most, is grating and annoying. -A few of the races [lizard with boobs, cats] are absolutely stupid.    … Expand
  92. kr11048
    Nov 27, 2011
    5
    First, the pros: The graphics are occasionally downright sublime. The water effects are especially spectacular. There are some fresh game elements, but enough has stayed the same so as to let Oblivion fans jump right in. With some notable exceptions, just about everything that I liked about Oblivion is back.
    Now the cons: Let's start with load times. In a word, extreme. It is not unusual    First, the pros: The graphics are occasionally downright sublime. The water effects are especially spectacular. There are some fresh game elements, but enough has stayed the same so as to let Oblivion fans jump right in. With some notable exceptions, just about everything that I liked about Oblivion is back.
    Now the cons: Let's start with load times. In a word, extreme. It is not unusual for me to wait 2-3 minutes when simply opening a door, if that door requires the loading of a new section. That would be bearable if opening such doors weren't something the game requires so frequently. During some stretches, I think I spend an equal split of time between playing and waiting for things to load. Next, some of the additions were fun at first but quickly became annoying, like the random dragon attacks. You can't go much of anywhere in the game without yet another dragon attacking. Okay, enough already. I've got enough dragon souls to last awhile...could you just go away?! The dungeons impressed me with their massiveness, at first. Then they just started to seem too massive...massive just for the sake of being massive. On one not particularly unusual dungeon, it took more than 10 minutes (after I'd cleared out all the baddies) to run at full speed from the start of the level to the end. That would be great if the dungeons were at all interesting, but they're just room after monotonous room, to the point where you're thinking, all right enough already, just get me to the end so I can advance the story.
    Those are my biggest grievances. Oh wait...let me just say that if I ever come across the Bethesda employee that came up with the idea to eliminate Oblivion's Feather spells, I'm going to drag him into a dark alley in Riften and go to work with my ebony battle axe!    … Expand
  93. Rimsie
    Nov 27, 2011
    5
    Well, I'm enjoying it but shocked at the low resolution, it really looks dated and detracts from the emersion. After Oblivion I was expecting a step up on the graphics but its pretty similar. Should have waited for Borderlands two, the original has far better textuals than this venture.
  94. AndrewWinters
    Nov 26, 2011
    6
    When I went to GameStop, bought The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and put it into my Xbox 360 disc drive, I was really excited. I thought, this is going to be one hell of an epic game! It turns out, it was not. From the minute I started the campaign, I thought, "The graphics aren't nearly as good as they were hyped up to be." It felt like all the quests were just "Talk to Grumio," "Talk toWhen I went to GameStop, bought The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and put it into my Xbox 360 disc drive, I was really excited. I thought, this is going to be one hell of an epic game! It turns out, it was not. From the minute I started the campaign, I thought, "The graphics aren't nearly as good as they were hyped up to be." It felt like all the quests were just "Talk to Grumio," "Talk to Isabella," "Talk to Grumio again," "Fetch this object," "Go back to Grumio," and so on. It's not the kind of game I thought it would be. It's not the kind of game where you do all the exploring. A lot of times, you have to rely on game guides or online Elder Scrolls Wikia pages, etc. The Radiant Quest System, as well as the AI, isn't nearly as intelligent as it seems on paper. If they added online multiplayer and made this one of the first console MMORPG's, I would love Bethesda. I still love Bethesda, but this isn't the kind of game that keeps your excited if you spend hours on end with the game. That's what I did, and it just made me get bored and realize how overrated the game is. Even more so perhaps than CoD.… Expand
  95. McAdooZ
    Nov 24, 2011
    7
    Skyrim is a great game, but suffers from glaring flaws. Ai is not the greatest and the game is full of glitches and bugs. The majority of these bugs are more humorous than problematic, but a few are going to cost you a lot of play of time and they occur more than anyone would like. Another issue is the lack of a strong central story. I sunk hours into this game and nothing about theSkyrim is a great game, but suffers from glaring flaws. Ai is not the greatest and the game is full of glitches and bugs. The majority of these bugs are more humorous than problematic, but a few are going to cost you a lot of play of time and they occur more than anyone would like. Another issue is the lack of a strong central story. I sunk hours into this game and nothing about the "main" quest really made me think that it was of more importance than the numerous large side quests available. The gameplay is great and the graphics are gorgeous for an rpg of this size, but a weak story and numerous bugs dull the experience.… Expand
  96. vDevilEnd
    Nov 24, 2011
    7
    Let's start with the bad, the game has many glitches & bugs which at some points can make the game unplayable. The voice acting is not the best and is repeated so much that it can become boring. The game play such as combat or interacting with npc's seems a bit off at times, and the graphics are very limited for console especially without using a mod on PC version to improve them much moreLet's start with the bad, the game has many glitches & bugs which at some points can make the game unplayable. The voice acting is not the best and is repeated so much that it can become boring. The game play such as combat or interacting with npc's seems a bit off at times, and the graphics are very limited for console especially without using a mod on PC version to improve them much more which tells me the devs were very lazy.The difficulty of the game I find is not very challenging at all either What is good about this game? It has a lot of fun rpg elements to it, it can be addicting to play despite it's flaws. Vast amount of areas quests, and stories to explore. If you love RPG this game is a must but it's far from a masterpiece claim it to be.… Expand
  97. mux056
    Nov 23, 2011
    5
    It is a pretty good game withg an engaging storyline, with amazing graphics, but the system is still outdated, and very laggy and crashy, and it is still following the same simple fomat since oblivion, and in some parts there are a lot of glitches, crashes, and sowtware lags.
  98. Kuzkula
    Nov 22, 2011
    7
    Not bad, really. I was skeptical when reading up on Skyrim in Game Informer and was reading the hype almost literally dripping off the pages. So, on a whim, I rented it from Redbox. Better to spend $2 and try it then $60 and either be stuck with it or have to make an unnecessary trip to GameStop. It got in my blood, and I HAD to buy it later.

    Graphics: Not seeing too much of an    Not bad, really. I was skeptical when reading up on Skyrim in Game Informer and was reading the hype almost literally dripping off the pages. So, on a whim, I rented it from Redbox. Better to spend $2 and try it then $60 and either be stuck with it or have to make an unnecessary trip to GameStop. It got in my blood, and I HAD to buy it later.

    Graphics: Not seeing too much of an improvement from Oblivion, but it's still noticeable. I'm enjoying the weather effect and night-time hunting. The water is pretty, as well. Wish I had an o2 sensor or bar or something, as I got caught by surprise in the depths of a large lake. Skins and textures for things are a bit crisper, fire is damn beautiful, and things just feel a bit better. Lighting and shading effects are in full force, as is HDR. Sound: A problem for me. Good sound effects, environment echoes or grass being stepped on; all sounds beautiful. All of a sudden- DRAGON! Now the fun begins, y'know? Roaring, breathing, flying, breathing fire. Sounds damn good. Then we go back into town and I hear the same person. Everyone is the same. Almost. Most middle aged Nords are the same guy, almost all women are the same. There are TEN, 10, X, voice actors for the entire game. Bethesda decided to go the cheap route and use voice altering software to change tone/pitch, but you hear the same damn guy or woman. I myself am a voice actor and I just notice these things. It bothers me to no end.

    Gameplay: Combat is both different and the same. Backpedaling while spamming right-trigger is not a viable option due to the slower speed. Dual-wielding spells or spell/weapon combo is new to the series, but you can't help but feel like you're doing the same old song and dance. With swords. But yeah, familiar. AI for melee fighting has been improved. They know how to block for sure, and when they come at you, you know it. Sometimes they seem to get confused though. I've had multiple witches just run directly into me spraying me with fire or ice while I smash their face in with my war-hammer. It's like they're either fleeing from you for dear life or trying to make out with you. I've hardly found a happy medium in the fights. Still kinda annoying to switch to 3rd after seeing your weapon in your face, only to see you're carrying it down and to the side. Not a big deal, but noticeable.

    UI: Love the new UI. Who cares if you can't see what you look like-- Does it even matter? You can go to 3rd person and see it! Yeesh. I love the quick menu for swapping from my war-hammer to my bow in a pinch, healing, readying different shouts, everything. The new perks system and way of leveling up simplifies everything and helps you customize your character to more of your liking. If you want to be a crafty sneaky little pickpocket, but need that extra bit to make sure you're fully inconspicuous, there'll be a perk or two you can sink some levels into. It's simple and effective, but makes you really work and practice to become a master.

    Overall: Love it. I can say this with complete honesty and if you remove the glamor and glitz from your eyes and see the truth, you'll agree:
    Skyrim is Oblivion with dragons, new world, polished/updated UI, new items, and just as addictive. A good game and fun, but not at all what was hyped. Doesn't mean you can't still enjoy it, just go in with a clear/neutral head. And most importantly, have fun!    … Expand
  99. binaryweapon
    Nov 21, 2011
    7
    Although the game is growing on me, I must say that for something from such an established production company like Besthesda it sure does have its detractions. As has been said countless times already, the textures are stunningly low quality, the combat mechanics are dull, and the menu system is annoying at best. If the time put forth here had been put into Fallout 4 instead, that gameAlthough the game is growing on me, I must say that for something from such an established production company like Besthesda it sure does have its detractions. As has been said countless times already, the textures are stunningly low quality, the combat mechanics are dull, and the menu system is annoying at best. If the time put forth here had been put into Fallout 4 instead, that game would be life-changing. Instead, we get this.… Expand
  100. DFCooks
    Nov 21, 2011
    7
    I rented this game since i normally don't spend $60 on a solo game. From what i've played up to now (lvl 25). I've decided that in my opinion, the inventory needs to be worked on (sort items based on weight/value/armor/damage). Quests often got thrown on the back burner while trying to accomplish a task. for example, i had to travel to a place to retrieve an item, and on the way i pickedI rented this game since i normally don't spend $60 on a solo game. From what i've played up to now (lvl 25). I've decided that in my opinion, the inventory needs to be worked on (sort items based on weight/value/armor/damage). Quests often got thrown on the back burner while trying to accomplish a task. for example, i had to travel to a place to retrieve an item, and on the way i picked up 3 different quests which then became more important to me since they were 1) closer to my current location. 2) easier than my original task, and more rewarding.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2011
2
#2 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2011
1
#1 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
96

Universal acclaim - based on 89 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 89 out of 89
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 89
  3. Negative: 0 out of 89
  1. Gamer.no
    Feb 6, 2012
    100
    This epic role-playing game might be Bethesda's best game yet, and offers an unique and spectacular world filled with fun. The freedom ensures a great experience for both the casual and hardcore gamer, as you're free to play the game how you like.
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  2. GameFocus
    Dec 16, 2011
    97
    Skyrim is the largest, and most compelling work that I've had the opportunity to play this year. It's engaging, engrossing, and will take over your gaming life for many months to come. Not only is Skyrim among the best that 2011 has to offer, but for me, this is, without hesitation, the Game of the Year.
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  3. Cynamite
    Dec 16, 2011
    90
    Quotation forthcoming.
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