The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition

 Xbox
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 165 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 142 out of 165
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 165
  3. Negative: 16 out of 165
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Gammacee
    May 22, 2007
    10
    Never before has a single player game kept me playing for so long. Still not bored...
  2. Ben69xd
    May 21, 2012
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is the crown jewel of all The Elder Scrolls games. No fast travel, a better armor and weapon innovatory, and no memes. you can only level up via your Major and minor skills, which is a good thing. if you don't feel like running for an hour then you can take a stride sture. a smaller map is better than what you think. means more things can happen while traveling. combat is straight forward. and the text dialog makes it so they call you by your characters' name which is better then people just calling you "Dragonborn" or in this game "Nerevarine".… Expand
  3. PaulS.
    Jan 16, 2004
    10
    The Best RPG Game on Xbox. It destroys Knights of the Old Republic. You can do anything you want and when you want. It has great music, great gameplay, and great story lines. You can join many different factions or groups and complete their duites. BUY THIS GAME!!!!
  4. Macca
    Nov 19, 2003
    10
    F...n awesome. get it. get it now. or die.
  5. Michael
    Feb 6, 2004
    10
    This game is the bomb!!!
  6. DanH.
    Jul 10, 2004
    10
    In my top 5 games ever.
  7. JoeD.
    Nov 19, 2003
    10
    This game is the best game on XboX.
  8. Nathen
    Dec 14, 2003
    10
    This game is a great open-ended RPG. I have never played a more detailed RPG. The amazing landscape makes this game look great!!!
  9. LycaonCaesar
    Aug 5, 2011
    9
    This is almost a perfect RPG. Morrowind is open-ended, offers hundreds of quests, plenty of story lines, and the main plot is possibly the best I have seen in any game. In true RPG fashion you start with nothing but your shirt, pants and a stolen dagger, and you might end up as a force to throttle the heavens. The world is beautiful and varied - especially for a game of its age - and thereThis is almost a perfect RPG. Morrowind is open-ended, offers hundreds of quests, plenty of story lines, and the main plot is possibly the best I have seen in any game. In true RPG fashion you start with nothing but your shirt, pants and a stolen dagger, and you might end up as a force to throttle the heavens. The world is beautiful and varied - especially for a game of its age - and there is never a shortage of places to go, dungeons to explore, items to find and people to interact with. Regardless of where you go, you will be filled with a sense of wonder, and anticipation of possible rewards.

    I would like to give Morrowind a perfect 10/10, but there are a few elements that needs to be improved upon for that (and fan-made mods have indeed been made). The most deterring aspect is combat, which severely lacks excitement, as you will find yourself chopping away with your sword or axe, smashing the same mouse button repeatedly until whatever is in your way is dead. There is no strategy to melee. Spell-casting would be fun as the spell book is far more varied than in the game's successor, Oblivion, but unfortunately you will find yourself lacking the mana pool to do prolonged combat with destructive spells and there is no mana regeneration.

    However the problems with the combat system barely deters from the overall enjoyment of the game, as the story will leave you hungering for more. Whenever you complete a quest you will want to continue unto the next one, and whenever you travel the world - which you will be doing a lot - you explore every canyon crevice hoping to find something new, which you often will.
    The expansions have equally impressive story-lines. Bloodmoon offers a new, enormous landmass to explore, but sacrifices story quality (although it is still fantastic and engaging), whereas Tribunal is confided to one large city and its sewers, but with a story rivaling that of the original. Further the difficulty of the expansions is high, making them great for characters that have already completed the main quest. Unlike Oblivion there is no scaling, and the game does not hold your hand. You can fail quests, and you can kill ANYONE, meaning a particularly malicious player can mess up his own progress, by slaughtering important NPC's. This is not a critique, but an applause, as the game lets you experience the consequences of your own actions in a believable way. The game is fantastic and once you start, you might never stop playing. Eight years after its release and I still enjoy it as much as any game I've tried since.    … Expand
  10. Pahn
    Jan 21, 2012
    10
    One of my top 10 favorite games of all time. Sure, it's a little buggy at times and you have to swing your first weapon about fifty times at a cliff racer to hit it, but this game isn't for the average gamer. It's for explorers--people who enjoy going wherever they want and doing whatever they want. It's for those who enjoy putting hours and hours into their character & leveling upOne of my top 10 favorite games of all time. Sure, it's a little buggy at times and you have to swing your first weapon about fifty times at a cliff racer to hit it, but this game isn't for the average gamer. It's for explorers--people who enjoy going wherever they want and doing whatever they want. It's for those who enjoy putting hours and hours into their character & leveling up skills so you can become the most powerful force in the game. It also allows you to progress with the main quest whenever you darn well feel like it while providing ample opportunities to advance with other organizations. This game is more "real" than any other I've played, including Oblivion & Skyrim. You can go into a house in the middle of nowhere, murder the occupants, steal them blind, and sell all their wares at a nearby village. The guards won't know a thing, as they shouldn't..they weren't there and you left no survivors. This is NOT the case in Oblivion or Skyrim, where every guard nearby seems to know the moment you stole that little silver cup. That's not real to me, but BS.… Expand
  11. FloodSlayer
    Nov 11, 2013
    10
    One of my most favorite game of all time. I've played this game for over 8 years now & there are a lot of missions I haven't done & locations I haven't been to yet. This is one of those that I would be ok with if this was the only game I am allowed to play for the rest of my life. The only problem I have with this game is the horrible combat mechanics & hit box.
  12. Tubie
    Jan 24, 2011
    10
    This game made me buy the Xbox twice. I thought I had no use of the machine then I tried this game and just had to get another Xbox because I did not have a PC that could handle this game. I was introduce to this great franchise, a game that introduced me to what a real open world game looks like.
  13. JaceN.
    Feb 23, 2006
    6
    To be considered the definitive version seeing as just about everyone traded in their copy of Morrowind for Morrowind GOTY. And adventure of incredible scope and depth with so much to see and do. Occasionally the luck based roll of the dice that determines success gets truly annoying and the distance required to travel for some quests leads to "driver fatigue", plus the ever present To be considered the definitive version seeing as just about everyone traded in their copy of Morrowind for Morrowind GOTY. And adventure of incredible scope and depth with so much to see and do. Occasionally the luck based roll of the dice that determines success gets truly annoying and the distance required to travel for some quests leads to "driver fatigue", plus the ever present elitist element that believes the game is too easy and you get too rich & powerful too quick...despite how long it took. The real downfall of Morrowind has to be its crippling software bugs. Often while the system performs a marathon juggling act with massive amounts of data between the game disc, RAM and the XBOXs hard disc...something gets dropped and the game will freeze up, the screen stops dead, the loud buzzing errupts from the speakers and you have to eject & insert the game to begin again. Its truly an inexcusable flaw in an otherwise awesome game. Its a miracle that the XBOX was able to do a version of Morrowind in the first place but the phenomenal system strain and terrifying crash bugs rob it of a higher score. For a game that is so long you dont want your system locking up all the time as youre just starting to get into things.… Expand
  14. DarrenM.
    Sep 20, 2004
    3
    Morrowind is currently enjoying an undue resurgence in popularity because it's suddenly become cool to compare Fable (unfavorably) to this game. So, to clarify: Morrowind has a huge scope and pretty nicely rendered large environment to screw around in. But the story is awful, the game has no end, there are (I think) like four main NPC scripts that get really, really boring in about Morrowind is currently enjoying an undue resurgence in popularity because it's suddenly become cool to compare Fable (unfavorably) to this game. So, to clarify: Morrowind has a huge scope and pretty nicely rendered large environment to screw around in. But the story is awful, the game has no end, there are (I think) like four main NPC scripts that get really, really boring in about four minutes, more statistic jibberjabber than anything not called dotHACK, really boring gameplay after about the first two hours, LOTS OF WALKING to get to anywhere, absolutely no humor at all, and once you begin to progress through the game there are constant load times and slowdown. and that's not an exaggeration-- if you've completed the main game, and are working on the expansions, and have a character equipped with legendary artifacts and maxed-out stats, the game will literally take five minutes to load from the hard drive. and if you've equipped the Boots of Blinding Speed with the Cuirass of the Savior's Hide?, you seriously can't move two feet without a load pause. it's absurd that this flaming pile of a game was ever released, I don't care how good the concept was. The execution is terrible.… Expand
  15. MarkW.
    Feb 3, 2005
    5
    This game was good in the beginning. I really wanted it to be good; however; the quests became very mundane and my character became very powerfull. Sadly, you may feel compelled to keep trudging along after investing so much time into the character. This game is a poor spin-off of an old PC game: Might and Magic's Mandate of Heaven. It has some good points, but im soooo tired of This game was good in the beginning. I really wanted it to be good; however; the quests became very mundane and my character became very powerfull. Sadly, you may feel compelled to keep trudging along after investing so much time into the character. This game is a poor spin-off of an old PC game: Might and Magic's Mandate of Heaven. It has some good points, but im soooo tired of running back and forth I cant think of them. If you want to play a God-like errand boy with no problem solving skills then buy this game---I bought it used for $ 14.00.… Expand
  16. Uter
    Jan 5, 2004
    3
    It's really long which is great, but what's the point of being long when it isn't fun?
  17. SamM.
    Apr 11, 2006
    0
    Worst game I have ever played this game is for losers.
  18. JohnB.
    Jun 17, 2005
    9
    All I can say is that certain people who complain about poor graphics or too many loading times in the game obviously have no one tom blame but themselves- It's pretty obvious that you need a GOOD computer to run this game. My computer runs it just fine, at 512 MB RAM memory, and this game is almost flwless. One criticism could be the fact that the difficulty curve is a little steep.
  19. DustinK.
    Nov 19, 2003
    10
    Big additon to the original the expansions rock. I love being a werewolf and wiping the world clean of life over and over again.
  20. [Anonymous]
    Jun 30, 2004
    10
    Best game ever and loaded custimization, plus traveling all over the world takes long periods of time(sometimes even taking days). This is amazing with landscapes and the land is big and remarkable.
  21. Dbl90
    Jul 17, 2004
    9
    Morrowind by itself is one of the best RPG's of all time. The conveniant and brilliant levelling system which has one only level in the skills they use.The stunning visuals and audio make one feel totally emmersed in the game. The game has hundreds of hours of gameplay and quests and even more just mesing around. Tis is done in part because Morrowind is a CRPG, and because of this Morrowind by itself is one of the best RPG's of all time. The conveniant and brilliant levelling system which has one only level in the skills they use.The stunning visuals and audio make one feel totally emmersed in the game. The game has hundreds of hours of gameplay and quests and even more just mesing around. Tis is done in part because Morrowind is a CRPG, and because of this you can do anything you want, you may have to face the conequences but the option is still there. Morrowind also has Now add the GOTY version to the picture, which contains two expansion packs and the main game. It is even worth buying even if you the main version. Each expansion pack adds many more hours of gameply to the experiance and will allow for a greater dificulty in play, greater variation, and will balance the game a little bit more. The new expansion packs offer items, and in the great morrowind tradition, more quests than you can shake a stick at. Although a great game Morrowind also has some problems. Morrowind has a big world as I mentioned earlier. The problem with it is that without a particular item or items, and a low speed skill it can take a long time to get to the middle nowhere as some quest require. Also, the game is buggy. Expect for the game to shut down randomly every once and a while and save often. Also, there are many complaints about the combat system. It isn't the best, and it isn't the worst it is bearable. If one uses magic or ranged combat or turns of always use best attack they can mix the combat up sufficiently so that it is fun. The third and final flaw is the game gets REALY easy after you hit level thirty. You can get a rediculous amount of cash, the expansion packs adress tis problem, but after they are completed there is not realy anything that will put up any fight. All in all Morrowind is a great game with some flaws, but still must have game for any owner of an xbox.… Expand
  22. EricR.
    Sep 7, 2004
    8
    It think this game has a sound concept, but it lacks in excitement. It is nearly impossible not to be bored when you start, lots of teadious walking, and paperwork (yes i know its an rpg, but still, paperwork?). The costomization of the characters is the higest point in the game in my opinon, as with its ability for diversity in its storyline according to your path and game decisions. But It think this game has a sound concept, but it lacks in excitement. It is nearly impossible not to be bored when you start, lots of teadious walking, and paperwork (yes i know its an rpg, but still, paperwork?). The costomization of the characters is the higest point in the game in my opinon, as with its ability for diversity in its storyline according to your path and game decisions. But this game really lacks in excitement. It is very hard to get into, but once you do (my brother is my test subject in this), it is very hard to get off the damn xbox.… Expand
  23. Bobjoe
    Sep 7, 2004
    10
    I love this game, when i first got the orignal game i played untill i could beat everyone on the game. then i got the game of the year edition and there is just so much more to do in this game i just can't put it down not even to eat.
  24. Andrew
    Jan 9, 2005
    10
    Give it an hour or two...you WILL be sucked into a gigantic world in which you will never run out of things to do. You see those mountains surounding the town you're in? You can climb them, and maybe find one of an endless supply of dungeons harboring a legendary weapon that has never been explored, and doesn't need to be, its like you are the first to ever discover it. GottaGive it an hour or two...you WILL be sucked into a gigantic world in which you will never run out of things to do. You see those mountains surounding the town you're in? You can climb them, and maybe find one of an endless supply of dungeons harboring a legendary weapon that has never been explored, and doesn't need to be, its like you are the first to ever discover it. Gotta friend not into RPGs? Let them massacre a village in their underwear, that should be enjoyable for any attention span.… Expand
  25. RavenX301
    Mar 6, 2006
    9
    I'm not sure what to say. It IS so massive and amazing that you have to give the game aleast an 8. I can't even wrap my mind around how the developers created such a huge, huge land and still keep realative good pacing. Still, the hugness of the game is also a downfall. The game is so large that its take up to a includeing 2 hours for some missions just in traveling and finding I'm not sure what to say. It IS so massive and amazing that you have to give the game aleast an 8. I can't even wrap my mind around how the developers created such a huge, huge land and still keep realative good pacing. Still, the hugness of the game is also a downfall. The game is so large that its take up to a includeing 2 hours for some missions just in traveling and finding your way around. I have to constantly look at the map over and over again. This now being 2006 in March I have yet to see another game of this scope come out. The combat system is...well....better once you get higer levels sense you acual HIT the target more than once every ten throws. Grahpics are a bit wierd in some places, mainly just the charater anamtions and how they move. However, This is still the only game sense Bluader's Gate II came out that you can really lose your self in all the extra stuff. It's like you can just simply come across a door in the hills on your travels and suddenly your on a quest for a hidden Gem or somthing. I love that. There has been no other sense BG II That i could ever entirly loss myself in and forget totally about the story. Again, however the traveling is so harsh. Most of the missions, no matter where you get them, leave you to go from one side of the map to another or inbetween. When you think about it, it is pretty real to have to travel for what seems like forever and the feeling that you get when you finally return to a life town instead of volcanos and rubel is priceless but in a game it seems just tooooo long for simple travel. There are ways like the mages guild and this large bug and boats that you can travel but its sometimes hard to always rely on them becasue they only take you to some places. traveling in this game does have it's good points. You see tons of cool places and new and wierd locations and going from place to place leaves you always looking at you map they give you with the manual and i find that rather cool sense it feels so much realer to me.… Expand
  26. MrG.
    Nov 26, 2003
    9
    Amazin game u play this game think about takin a month off this is a beautiful game excellent graphics fantastic ai. the only reason i gave it a 9 was the loading times weere a tad slow and didnt like the sword to sword combat sytem. Except for that a great game.
  27. MattD.
    Jan 29, 2004
    10
    I love this game... not only do you get to be assassinated, or atempted to be should I say, but you can turn into a vampire/werewolf. If you are an imperial and you are an assassin, then you are the best. I almost got made dead, but I pulled out my sword and "slice", the guy was gone. I am so amazed by this awsome game, even though I don't have an x-box, I go over my friends and play I love this game... not only do you get to be assassinated, or atempted to be should I say, but you can turn into a vampire/werewolf. If you are an imperial and you are an assassin, then you are the best. I almost got made dead, but I pulled out my sword and "slice", the guy was gone. I am so amazed by this awsome game, even though I don't have an x-box, I go over my friends and play this, I'm at level 23, while he is at level 67. Either way I still think this game is the perfect RPG EVER!!!!!!!!!… Expand
  28. TeeJayH.
    Apr 23, 2004
    10
    Superior. This Morrowind is MUCH better then the original version, with new challenges, new armor, new missions, and new looks. And I thought the regular was better, this version has just blown me completely away. I'm STILL playing it, after about 2 weeks of straight playing hour after hour. Can't beat Morrowind, this game is #1 all the way.
  29. Masko
    Jul 10, 2004
    9
    The game has great graphics and becoming a werewolf is very cool but it somtimes gets me confused with the directions but still this is a very good game.
  30. JamesS.
    Aug 24, 2004
    10
    How Can you not like it. From costimizing your own hero, to picking your own faction, or becoming a werewolf or a vampire. Also tricking yourself out with your own armour and weapons is also really cool.
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

16
#16 Best Xbox Game of 2003
2
#2 Most Discussed Xbox Game of 2003
50
#50 Most Shared Xbox Game of 2003

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. Xbox Nation Magazine
    80
    These new options are perfect for the hardened "Morrowind" veteran, adding just the right amount of innovation to an already solid RPG, and fortunately, this edition is compatible with old save files. [Mar 2004, p.91]
  2. Armchair Empire
    100
    The depth of Morrowind's gameplay and overall design is matched by the audio-visual presentation. Hands down, Morrowind's soundtrack should be released on CD – once you've heard the opening chords you'll be humming it for hours after first booting it up.
    Read full review
  3. Digital Entertainment News
    98
    I love you, Bethesda. I eagerly await Elder Scrolls 4 and Call of Cthulu. Marry me.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »