Console: Xbox 360/ PlayStation 3/ PC
Players: Single Player
Release Date: 11th November 2011
Developers: Bethesda Game Studios
Publishers: Bethesda Softworks
Genre: Action Role-play, Sandbox
It is five years since we have had the chance to visit the world of Tamriel, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was the first game we ever played on an Xbox360 and it was one hell of a way to kick off our 7th generation gaming experience! Oblivion is one of the most critically acclaimed games of its genre, scooping 12 awards, selling over 3 million copies in less than a year of its publication; it raised the bar for the gaming world as well as Bethesda! In our second preview of the week we check out Skyrim, the game promising to be the best of 2011…
If this doesn’t give you goosebumps consult your local GP…
Well from first looks it appears that they’ve not only met their target but have once again managed to raise the bar once more but we can’t be certain until we get our mitts on a copy (cough cough hint hint).
Since we can’t do that yet all we can do is examine every little detail of Skyrim and brace ourselves!
Plot
Once more we are thrust into the world of Tamriel only this time we take our adventure to Skyrim, a northern province on the continent. Set almost two hundred years after the events of Oblivion, the region of Skyrim has fallen into chaos; a civil war has begun due to the assassination of the King. To only add fuel to the fire, an ancient god known as Alduin has risen in the form of an enormous dragon and seeks to destroy Tamriel. You are one of the only few surviving ‘Dovahkiin’ which translates as Dragonborn and the responsibility of restoring peace and stopping Alduin falls on your shoulders.
As with all Elder Scrolls, these events along with the incarceration of your character are part of an age old prophecy foretelling your destiny and the downfall of the world unless you are able to stop it before it can happen.
Gameplay
Here comes the interesting bit, a lot of the game play many Elder Scroll fans will be used to (in particular those Oblivion fanatics) will find that the previous system of traditional role-play class systems has been completely removed and we now have a new skill and perk system which developers feel will allow players to develop a more ‘natural’ style of play.
With eighteen skills and two hundred and eighty perks, it means that no two characters will be alike.
Levelling isn’t capped but will be more arduous after a player reaches level fifty with huge amounts of experience required to reach every level thereafter.
There are a few more changes to the mechanics, dual spell wielding (with over eighty-five spells to master), archery has been made into a fine art with it taking more time to fire an arrow and time shots and we can now create weapons by using the Forge.
Perhaps the greatest change and the one we are most looking forward to is the ‘Radiant Story’ which controls the ways in which quests play out. Depending on your actions and character build side quests will alter to match your development and abilities… sounds sweet right?
The Skyrim map is roughly the same as Cyrodill from Oblivion (approximately 41 square km) and is made up of five cities (all of which are larger than any found in Oblivion) as well as various towns and villages. All of this coupled with huge forest expanses and towering mountainsides makes for one world we cannot wait to get completely lost in for hours on end. If you do decide to go for a spot of mountain climbing or hill-walking you can choose to do it on foot or horseback or if you’re truly lazy then you can avail of the fast travel option from previous games.
Just take a look at the changes we can see between Oblivion and Skyrim…
On top of all that, the folk over at Bethesda created a DRAGON LANGUAGE… *nerdgasm*…
Development & Collector’s Edition
Oh where do we start… three years in development (with the idea being tossed around since Oblivion was released) work on Skyrim began straight after Fallout was released in 2008. Utilizing their own game engine ‘Creation Engine’ Bethesda, director Todd Howard speaking about the system remarked that a player can “stare at a fork, or an apple, and then look up and see a mountain, and… then run to the top of that mountain”. It isn’t the only engine operating in the game, Bethesda has created new software specifically to grow flora with more detail, interact better with the environment including the wind. So much detail has gone into the game that wind now operates almost like a NPC affecting not only the movement of the tree branches but of snow fall and eve, the direction in which rivers and streams flow.
Character engines have seen a near total revamp utilising the Havok Behaviour system the detail in which characters can interact with the player and even each other has been expanded upon. It also affects the efficiency of playing the game in 3rd person, allowing for some improvements on the same system in Oblivion.
If you fancy owning the Collector’s Edition be prepared to shell out some serious bucks for this one! For the grand old price of €139.99* (*prices may vary) you will find yourself the proud owner of:
30cm tall statue of Alduin
The Art of Skyrim artbook
The Making of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim DVD
Worth it? Well it all looks very pretty so…we’re gonna say yes!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is due for release November 11th 2011
