A perfect game for my 2011 Christmas review. Truly this is a god among games.
So lets start with my favorite part which is the story. You are a refugee caught by the Imperial Guard after trying to cross over the border into Skyrim, the northern country of Tamriel, and sentence to your death. But along the way an ancient dragon, Alduin the World Eater, comes and destroys the town you were heading to and you flee to Whiterun. Whilst there you find about other dragons flying across and you eventually discover that you are Dragonborn, someone with the same blood and soul of dragons, and find out you are someone known as The Last Dragonborn foretold in a prophecy from an Elder Scroll who will rise and defeat Alduin. Best. Plot. EVAR! Honestly try and come up with a better plot than that.
Some of the gameplay has undergone a serious makeover compared to Oblivion. You've still got the sword and shield mechanic from previous Elder Scrolls titles but this time Bethesda developers have given you the ability to duel wield swords and spells to each hand. If you like hacking and slashing just hold two glass swords. If you like to use spells have a fire spell and a healing spell so you can do damage whilst healing yourself at the same time. Or do what I and have the same lightning spell in both hands and fire them together to create more powerful lightning bolts like Emperor Palpatine. Another cool addition are the shouts which are dragon spells that you can use to shake the game up a little e.g. Unrelenting Force, that makes a shock wave at your enemies throwing through the air, or my personal choice Fire Breath.
The enemies you'll face are standard but they can get really tough later on. Ice Wraiths, Trolls, Giants you name it. But the most challenging of them all are the dragons as they fly around looking descent fights until they come across you. All you know it's a fight to the death as you fire arrows at it's wings and waiting for it to land so you can swing a axe across it's face. Once the dragon is defeated you are rewarded it's soul, absorbing the soul's power and essence like in Highlander, and use it to make yourself more powerful. Because in the end, there can be only one (sorry, couldn't resist).
And now on to the design, the look of Skyrim is some the best in game design I have ever seen all year. Deus Ex Human Revolution's look is 5 year old's painting compared to Skyrim as you scan the snowy mountains and vast forest stretching through out the land. And let's not forget about the music, Skyrim's soundtrack is the best soundtrack I have ever filled my ears in a long time. I highly recommend downloading the soundtrack to your MP3 player. Immediately.
So after all the good things I have said they have been a few issues with it. Like the glitches which don't surprise me at all for a game this big. And there's the RAM issues created by an update a while back but they are fixing with the promise of Skyrim being compatible with Steam's upcoming Workshop so you can manage your mods more effectively.
After all the flaws that arose it still holds up to all gamers everywhere as I'm giving The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim my first 10/10!
I hope you've enjoyed reading this review and have a very merry Christmas and have a fantastic 2012. This is Big Daddy saying goodbye and also...Fus...Ro...DAH!!!!!!!