So here’s the thing. For our first WeView of the year I thought I’d put the winner of our Overall Game of the Year award up for the community to take a look at. Sure, we have polls and the like coming soon to gather the views of our community but I thought this would be a nice way to get things rolling in 2012. However, there was a snag. Portal 2 won our award, and a very deserving win it was in my opinion. The problem? We already covered Portal 2, all the way back in May of last year. It’s old news now, it’s been done.
Therefore I had to come up with some sort of compromise. The obvious one was to pick the game that came second place in our Overall category. Upon looking this up I found it was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a perfect candidate. It’s been out for close to two months now, and although I know the world is absolutely huge hopefully you’ll have played enough to feel comfortable giving your verdict on it.
Skyrim isn’t a game I’ve spent any time with, or one I particular fancy investing time in. These kind of huge RPGs don’t really appeal to me, I mean I have no desire to play Fallout 3 either. Fortunately I’m not the only writer here at TSA, and Peter was more than willing to cast his critical eye over the game back in November. As you’d expect for a game that rated so highly in our awards, Peter was very positive about it rating it at 9/10 and having this to say:
The Elder Scrolls isn’t a series that will appeal to everyone but it certainly shouldn’t be too daunting for newcomers joining at this fifth instalment. The complexities can be easily learnt or even mostly ignored and, although they are what powers the fantastically diverse gameplay paths, what makes the game special is the world it inhabits. Skyrim is a busy, active place that feels naturally alive. It might be somewhat overstocked with murderous wolves but the sheer volume of things to do, people to meet and enemies to kill is simply quite amazing. Simply put, Skyrim – the game – is a wonderful experience because Skyrim – the land – is a wonderful place. I heartily recommend a few days off work or school so you can visit.
Now, with the bugs that have plagued the PS3 version of the game (as well as the issues that have cropped up in other versions) I’m sure some of you may have differing opinions. Perhaps some of you have managed to combat the bugs or see past them to find a good game. Maybe you couldn’t get past the bugs and they ruined the experience. Of course there’s the option that you didn’t get any bugs and didn’t like the game anyway. Whatever your thoughts on the game, now is the time to let us know.
If you feel like sharing, just drop a comment below. Remember, the aim is for short, snappy reviews but I won’t completely ignore longer ones. Once you’ve given your considered opinion it’s time to rate the game on the Buy It, Bargain Bin It, Rent It, Avoid It scale. If you want your review and verdict to appear in the verdict post on Monday make sure you have it in by Sunday afternoon, when I’ll start collating the various opinions on offer.
R4U Eldave0
Massive, atmospheric, gripping, frustrating, repetitive and buggy. Truely one of the best (and worst) games of 2011.
Tuffcub
I agree with this. Perfect description.
gaffers101
Ditto. That’s a great sum up of Skyrim.
MadJunkBoy
yup pefect description =D
Nocure-fd
I have put over 200 hours into my first character so far. Nothing I can say would highlight my opinon of Skyrim any better than that simple fact.
Buy it.
the bottler
Totally agree. Have invested 170 hours so far – absolutely loving it. Level 57 I think and pretty much unstoppable now. The only real bind used to be saving so frequently in case you got killed in one or two hits ( seemed to spend more time saving than playing the game early on). Now that my armour rating is so high now i dont have to save as often – winner.
samiro05
I ran out of save files. No joke, I created a new one every other time I saved and it no longer lets me create new ones now. Obviously can still save over old ones but I was gutted I didn’t get to finish Skyrim with what seems to me like I could have had 500 save files. I think I’m on 150 or something close to that when it stopped. A really fantastic game and so much to do :)
Origami Killer
I’m a new comer to the Elder Scrolls series and what a game to enter it with. Although I’ve only played 14 hours of Skyrim I feel it is enough to give my verdict – even though I’ve barely touched the surface of the game. There is just so much to do! So many quests, dozens of dragons to kill, caves to clear and so many things to find. But there’s a few bugs: frequent crashing, disappearing walls in my case) and mammoths that propel you 100m in the air should frustrate or either amuse you. The bugs can easily be ignored though, BUY IT! Except you Steven ;) JK
MayContainEvil
Skyrim is awesome, it’s the Game of the Year for me.
Buy it.
Nylon_Crash
This is a fantastic game, huge, it almost seems endless in scale. I find myself walking for miles, taking in the sights, killing the odd bandit and wolf who dare come near me.
Then I find my first town, I go from person to person finding out what they have to say, getting quests and clues to what to do next. I am drawn in, hours pass in a blur but in a good way.
Killing my first dragon makes me cheer with happiness and then it gets really interesting, I want to find all the shouts, learn them all.
This game is brilliant, so easy to loose you’re self in. I can almost forgive the glitches that are everywhere throughout the it, disappearing horses, getting stuck in invisible objects and my companions just stopping and doing nothing and halting the games progress until I either exit the place we are at and re-enter or loading from the last save.
But overall this game is a must, its epic, very deep and I love.
Buy it.
colmshan1990
I opened my copy on the 25th December.
Just over a week later, I’ve managed over 85 hours of happy, happy gaming, with only one instance of a bug or crash (and I’m more inclined to blame that on the fact the PS3 was running a game for 13 hours straight than the particular game involved).
The world of Skyrim is massive, stunning, and there’s always something new to do.
I’ve never been a big fan of the RPG genre- Pokemon, FFVII and Skyrim being the only three to get any massive time logged onto their save files.
Skyrim has caused me to skip the Jan sales, because I’m not going to quit it anytime soon. A game world like this could easily keep me going until Febuary and the Vita, especially with my return to lectures today.
10/10, GOTY, BUY IT.
Amphlett
13 hours straight?! Wow! You lucky, lucky, so and so! I’m guessing you’re of an age where you’re living ‘at home’ with the folks and have plenty of free time. Make the most of it chap, as it all changes when you get married and have kids, it all changes… As a comparison, I can normally get 2 to 3 hours in a session from about 10pm.
colmshan1990
Yeah, 21, in college but on Christmas break (not anymore- back to work I SHOULD have been doing. :( )
moshi
Could happily play this 24/7.
Dummy01
This is a very good game, despite the endless bugs. And it continued to be a very good game for me, until I touched Dark Souls… From that day, and comparing it to Dark Souls, the disc of Skyrim is used only for frisbee… Sorry guys!
kill_zide
lol I have a similar story I was getting into “skyrim” until I realized “The Elder Scrolls” title. I think its a decent ADVENTURE game but as an RPG and as a PART of TES its shit to me…
kill_zide
DISAPPOINTMENT!!! I was expecting a DEEP RPG somewhere in between Morrowind in Oblivion what I got was a game that had an IRRELEVANT leveling system OVER SIMPLIFIED mechanics Combat the HEAVILY favors two handed and BORING guild quests I could go on and on but most of the other cons are pretty minor (They are still cons though) and the only really good PRO to skyrim is the main story other than that its complete PIECE OF SHIT… (6/10) Rent it
SpikeyMikey23
so it’s a piece of shit yet you score it an above average 6/10?
I cannot say otherwise as I haven’t played it. The game is not my cup of tea, but I expected you to score it a lot lower than a 6.
kill_zide
I would have rated it lower buuut like I said the story is just too epic plus I guess my love of morrowind is making me a tad bit soft
Origami Killer
I find it contradictory how you say it’s a piece of s**t then say rent it :P
kill_zide
lol at the fans but dude please READ the part where I say OTHER THAN THE STORY its a piece of shit thats why I said rent it so they can experience the epic story then just give it back
tonycawley
He’s ENTITLED to his OPINION guys. Just because HE contradicts HIMSELF a little DOESN’T make his opinion any LESS valid, neither do his RANDOMLY CAPITALIZED WORDS.
kill_zide
lol tnx plus the capitalization was for EMPHASIS if you weren’t able to get that :)
mugsybalone
I quite liked his review. In my head it sounded like Bobcat Goldthwait :D
tonycawley
Oh I was able to get it, it’s just not really a done thing in terms of Engligh grammar.
Amphlett
So what were the randomly capitalized initial letters for (‘Combat’ and ‘They’)?
kill_zide
well thats good then cause I’m not really english :)
kill_zide
i’m sorry I mean “engligh” :D
aerobes
Made sense to me. I’ve read many reviews in the past that contain points as critical as this (apart from the POS bit :D) and get scored above 5. Still, maybe putting a score at all was a mistake.
Smallville2106
Talking about his grammar whilst spelling the word ‘English’ incorrectly lol
I love this place
tonycawley
:-)
There’s a difference between a simple typo and irritatingly spamming the place with shouty capitalised shite!
giantwoman
I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, but it shut the husband up for the last couple of months, so I love it. Plus it looks good and is less offensive background noise for me to put up with I’m doing other things than, say, Saints Row the Third.
Amphlett
That doesn’t sound like a good situation, if you’re happy that a game can shut your husband up.