Review : Top 5 Games of 2011 part 3

Next up is the 3rd place in my daily countdown of the best games of 2011. This game really surprised me. I certainly didn't think I would enjoy it at all, but boy was I wrong. I simply can't stop playing it. I'm completely hooked.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Skyrim is the fifth instalment in The Elder Scrolls action role-playing video game series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

The main story revolves around the player character's efforts to defeat Alduin, the firstborn of Tamriel's primary deity Akatosh. Alduin is prophesied to destroy the world. Set two hundred years after Oblivion, the game takes place in the land of Skyrim, which is in the midst of a civil war after the assassination of the High King. The open world gameplay of the Elder Scrolls series returns in Skyrim; the player can explore the land at will and ignore or postpone the main quest indefinitely. And here are my thoughts:


The Good

The world. It' huge and gorgeous. I read a review that the map of Skyrim is as large as 5800 soccer stadiums.

The lasting appeal. You can play Skyrim for hundreds of hours. Feels like it will never end. With future DLC's the game will extend to even more fun and last a bit longer.

The Graphics. With such a enormous map the graphics looks really good. It isn't as ground breaking as Crysis 2 or other graphical monsters but it looks great considering the massive world.

The music and sounds. Skyrim has a great soundtrack. When you visit a village a nice ambient song will be played and if you're in a dungeon completing a quest to will hear a intense battle songs all made with quality. Sound just like an movie.

The character. You can train your character to be everything from a alchemist to a blacksmith. Lots of choices. You can even buy a house and get married.

The levelling system. It's awesome. I just love the idea that you will get better in skills you continuously use, for instance if you use your bow all the time you will get better and better using it. 

The quests. There are tons of them and some of them are really really intense and fun. The quests generally last for a quite a while, which is good.

The fast travel option. Thank god there's a fast travel. I would have gotten so sick of the world if I didn't have the option to quickly come to the place I wanted. As beautiful the world may be, to a certain point I would get tired of it riding or walking the humongous distances.

The Bad

The glitches. Skyrim contains a lot of glitches and bugs. However it isn't always a bad thing. They are quite humours to experience, as longs as it doesn't get you annoyed as hell. (Check out one of the glitches below)

The quests. They are soooo many which mean it can get really stressful opening your questlog and see that it's next to being full.

Conclusion

As I mentioned earlier  I thought I'd never go for this game. I did try out Oblivion and found it quite boring especially on the XBOX 360 which had some annoying bugs that made the game unplayable. I thought, lets give it a chance and after a couple of hours I couldn't stop playing. You know it's a great game when you find yourself daydreaming about turning the computer on and start Skyrim as soon as you get home.

Part 4 can be found here >> Review : Top 5 Games of 2011 part 4