Tag: skyrim

Dawnguard – Icing on the Cake

What do you get a game that’s already won Game of the Year? Skyrim’s first official DLC “Dawnguard” tops the cake – adding fresh dungeons, new factions and more of everything that made the base title so immersive.

Dawnguard is named for one of the new factions, a band of heroes sworn to fight the evil Vampire Lord Harkon’s plot to cast Skyrim into Darkness. The player will make choices that align them with one side or the other, and while the core story progresses much the same either way – the people at the heart of the story and myriad of smaller details make this one of the most enjoyable side stories in Skyrim yet. More significant than the plot itself are the locations and opportunities for players who wanted to play a vampire or werewolf; or to hunt them.

Previously there were not many options outside the Dark Brotherhood assassin’s guild for a player infected with vamprism (merely a disease, Harkon points out). Werewolves were much more socially accepted by comparison, but the novelty outside the Companion’s Guild storyline was limited. In Dawnguard both get new talent trees and powers, as well as ample opportunity to run wild.

Dawnguard’s best moments are in the delivering of the story and development of the many new characters and locations. The new dungeons are a huge improvement on the original well-worn layouts, with clever use of lighting, new puzzles and thoughtful level design. True to Elder Scroll’s style, much of the add-on content lay outside the central story, waiting to be stumbled upon. The new content is tightly integrated into the old. You may hear of a location from a guard, a wanderer, or in a dusty tome on a shelf in an unlikely location.

Finally, Bethesda gave players much needed bug fixes and gameplay tweaks. Mounted combat and improved “kill cams” for archery and spells are technically part of a patch and not the DLC itself, but were released around the same time and corrected a few progression-killing bugs that had existed since Skyrim’s release. New content *and* bug fixes? Please, you’ll spoil the fans. Seriously, two thumbs up.

Review: Skyrim rolls a twenty, crits your weekend plans

Not only did it cancel your plans, it called in sick for you and brought you your slippers. Skyrim puts the game back in roleplaying in the latest “Elder Scrolls” title.

Prior experience not required. Even if you have never played (or didn’t care for) the previous four titles in the series, Skyrim is highly accessible to both the seasoned roleplaying game fan and new player alike. It wastes no time drawing you into the story and rich world, easing you into game controls and character creation along the way. It is instantly interesting and difficult to put down, setting a new standard for what an engrossing game should play like.

Like the preceding Elder Scrolls titles, the story, world and flow of game is highly dynamic and open ended. The core storyline drives just a few of your objectives and encourages you to explore and make your own agenda. Even the main story content itself adjusts and adapts to your choices – making no two players game experiences alike. Case in point: both my wife and I started new games individually and had a different gameplay experience. The dialog and even a few of the characters you’d interact with first changed.

Where Skyrim succeeds the most, though, is in the fun factor. It’s one thing to hand the reigns over to the player in an open-ended world, but another to make it actually fun. The places, people, landscapes and dungeons are memorable. Character development is smooth and well thought out. Progression is anything but a grind, and rewards you for simply doing what you want to do. Favor a sword and shield? Put one on and go. Prefer to sneak and dispatch your enemies from the shadows? Just do it. Dabble in spellcraft, but want to blacksmith? No problem.

One more thing – you’ll be playing this RPG with the sound on. The ambient sounds, effects and musical score are a knockout. Look for this title in the “game of the year” section of your favorite gaming magazine soon. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got an pesky ice troll to settle a score with….

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