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. 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
  2. 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.
  3. rockyboss7
    Nov 14, 2011
    5
    Juego muy completo pero aburrido, extremadamente lento al avanzar y lleno de bugs. La forma de atacar es muy repetitiva y realmente cansina. Las misiones secundarias y el diseño del "mundo", un acierto, eso si.
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. Oukoiki
    Nov 12, 2011
    5
    So disappointed! I will go straight to the point
    -Low resolution texture from 2006
    -Awkward quick menu to get the right weapon/spell in few moves -Never-ending loading time -Can't casts spells/ uses weapon while mounted -Stupid AI Oblivion was even more fun! After all, that game was not ready at all for release. I think they were forced to release it for the famous date of 11/11/11.    So disappointed! I will go straight to the point
    -Low resolution texture from 2006
    -Awkward quick menu to get the right weapon/spell in few moves
    -Never-ending loading time
    -Can't casts spells/ uses weapon while mounted
    -Stupid AI

    Oblivion was even more fun!

    After all, that game was not ready at all for release. I think they were forced to release it for the famous date of 11/11/11.
    (sorry for my English)    … Expand
  8. happyp
    Nov 13, 2011
    5
    Basically the game is not as good as Oblivion and in some ways Morrowind. I really don't know if they intended to dumb it down or what but Skyrim is a bit of a turd and doesn't stand out from another other rpg.
    - Perks used to be embedded in the skill and automatically apply once you reach a certain level. This embedded system is better because your perks are not limited by the max level    Basically the game is not as good as Oblivion and in some ways Morrowind. I really don't know if they intended to dumb it down or what but Skyrim is a bit of a turd and doesn't stand out from another other rpg.
    - Perks used to be embedded in the skill and automatically apply once you reach a certain level. This embedded system is better because your perks are not limited by the max level of the game.
    - Removal of Acrobatics and Athletics is terrible. I used to have so much fun building these skills up and then running around the world like super man.
    - Removal of spell crafting. I really don't how being able to combine and experiment with magic as if it is this fluid and living energy is "spreadsheety" and "less magical" than buying simplistic spells from a merchant. Seriously, what was Bethesda thinking with this one? Make it a DLC plz!
    - Combat. I used to be able to quickly swap between 8 different weapons or spells. Sure now i can have two out at the same time but switching to other things is a huge pain. It is just plain terrible.
    - Combat. due to "Reload" time when swapping spells I often end up throwing a damn punch instead of casting. Terrible.
    - The snowy wasteland is terrible. In Fallout I get it but don't turn our beautiful elderscrolls world into a foggy, white wasteland. The lack of visibility and visual interest does not entice me to explore.
    - The early story seems to progress too quickly. killing certain large prominent enemies occurs too soon.
    - also one hour into the game people already recognize who i am. that just feels fake and ruins the "realism" of the game.
    - The horse can't walk backwards (or i haven't found the button to do this) so irritating.
    - The quests are nothing new.    … Expand
  9. PimpleyBum
    Nov 13, 2011
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's 2011 and Skyrim suffers from all the bugs and glitches we got in the previous game, as well as the Fallout games. NPC's being half in the terrain are common as are game crashes on fast travelling. The graphics are also barely above Oblivion.

    And while the game itself is fun, the main quest is the same tired "prisoner must save the world" we got before, coupled with endless fetch quests. The game also fails to deliver on it's enviroment, some areas are basically the arctic of our world, yet NPC's are running around in dresses or less.

    Sorry Beth, it's 2011 and it's time you were held to a higher standard.    … Expand
  10. 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.
  11. Davst
    Nov 19, 2011
    5
    Great, concept and a potential masterpiece!

    Great quests! oh wait.. alot of them don't work Great GUI.. oh wait.. its crap on the PC (dont release for a platform that you don't intend to focus on Great PS3 Experience.. oh wait.. memory leaks forced me to return it for the PC version Great open world.. yes actually All in all.. this is the concept.. or well.. it is the first beta    Great, concept and a potential masterpiece!

    Great quests! oh wait.. alot of them don't work

    Great GUI.. oh wait.. its crap on the PC (dont release for a platform that you don't intend to focus on

    Great PS3 Experience.. oh wait.. memory leaks forced me to return it for the PC version

    Great open world.. yes actually

    All in all.. this is the concept.. or well.. it is the first beta release of a great game that the developers didn't bother to finish.. and it's a damn shame.. it could be so great. I wish that Bethesda had any form of pride in the products they release and don't just dump a frustrating pile of crap on their users. Original grade.. 9, 8 for craploads of buggy quests, 7 since the PS3 version has so bad memory leaks its hard to play, 6 since the PC gui is just a **** port from the console version with clunky controls, 5 since riding and everything else in the game is half unfinished and for all the random crashes.

    Such a shame    … Expand
  12. 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.
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. 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.
  18. 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
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. 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
  23. 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
  24. 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
  25. 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
  26. 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
  27. 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
  28. 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
  29. 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
  30. 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
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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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