
	Platform PC Genre Role-Playing Publisher Bethesda Softworks Developer Bethesda Game Studios ESRB M (Mature) Released November 11, 2011

- It just keeps going and going - Beautiful world to explore - Great score - Constant stream of upgrades and new weapons and equipment - Maybe the best game that Bethesda has ever made

- Still some bugs being ironed out - Combat takes practice because it's still a little clunky - Menu system feels a little cumbersome for the first few hours - So much content even at 20+ hours in it felt like I'd only scratched the surface

Review: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360) Review: Fallout: New Vegas (PC) Review: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords (PC)
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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Score: 10 / 10

With other Bethesda role-playing games I've often fallen into the trap of pursuing side quests to buff up my character and to help fill-out the universe in my own mind. What often happens then is that I suddenly have what feels like too many quests in my log book to take on and I just throw up my hands and give up on the game altogether. What do I do next? Where should I go?

I've written about the way that too many choices absolutely cripple me, so I did my utmost to remain on the main story path.

This choice helped me stay focused and make better use of precious gaming time but with Skyrim there are so many loose ends and other stories happening that it was a tricky business staying on the straight and narrow with my dark elf avatar as she investigated why dragons have suddenly returned to Skyrim and what it means

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that she's "dragonborn."

Why's there a bard standing in the middle of forest, several dead bodies strewn about in the vicinity? Did he do that? I paid him some gold to sing a song but didn't stick around for the end of it.

Why was there a spectre running through the woods? I briefly followed him then let him go. Later, I came across a headless

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spectre on a ghost horse and completely ignored him.

And the books, books, books! Who the hell has time to read? I'm saving the damn world here, people. On the one hand it's nice to see that the citizenry (probably) reads but delving into the contents, history, fiction, whatever, takes too much time.

The offer of mercenary work? No time for that, I must press on!

Buy a house? What the hell for? There be dragons that need slaying!

It felt like I was riding the crest of a wave with all this stuff happening around me but my focus was firmly on the ten or twelve feet in front of me.

As time wore on, I began to regret my decision. Bethesda crafted this massive world with all this content to create something memorable and I was stomping through it, actually running past enemies rather than standing to fight because I was on a self-imposed time crunch.

The worst part about Skyrim is that I became addicted to the F12 key. "Wow, that looks awesome!" *screenshot, screenshot, screenshot* The vistas, the villages and towns, the enemies, the rivers, the everything. During the night cycle I'd take pictures of the moons and the aurora. In high mountain passes I took pictures of blowing snow. Swirling spell effects. Anything and everything. It got ridiculous.

Menu screens. I was taking screenshots of menu screens.

With downloadable content on the way and the extra stuff that will no doubt pour out of the Skyrim Workshop, here's another Bethesda title that offers multiple hundreds of hours of gaming, even without rolling a new character and starting from scratch.

Skyrim is definitely one of the best games of 2011, but if the DLC holds out, it might just be one of the best games of 2012 as well.

- Aaron Simmer

(February 14, 2012)