‘Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’ supplies unending quests for massive play

I would have written this review sooner, but I took an arrow to the knee.

For those of you well-versed in recent game releases, you probably know what's coming. For those of you still scratching your heads, it's time for the "Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" review.

"Skyrim," one of Bethesda Game Studios' latest creations, hit the market late last November and stole gamers' hearts. This game alone won the Game of the Year award from Spike TV, X-Play and many others. Not only on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the game also bridged the console gap by appearing on the PC through Valve's Steam distribution service.

"Skyrim" is a role playing game, or RPG, which allows the player to roam a truly massive landscape while completing quests, meeting people and ripping dragons' souls from their bodies. Players have the opportunity to choose from a variety of play styles because there are no set classes.

The more you use a certain skill like magic, lock picking or one-handed weapons, the more those particular skills level up, allowing the player to purchase upgrades. This aspect of the game allows for some fun combinations. I went with a standard warrior build. One-handed weapons, shields and blacksmithing all allowed me to meet my enemies face-to-face in combat. I also found lockpicking to be extremely useful to gain some extra cash in locked chests.

This is a truly massive game. It takes many hours even to attempt to do everything, and even then I found out that the quests do not end, thanks to the game's radiant quest system. The landscape and game soundtrack do a great deal to pull people into the game. This title gave me some of the same odd feelings of playing a work of art like the PlayStation 2 classic "Shadow of the Colossus."

Story-wise, you're thrown into the middle of a civil war and given the choice to pick sides, or you can continue on to your destiny and fight for the greater good; it's all up to you. I tried to play the aloof hero that was neither good nor bad, but being bad just pays so much more gold.

Amazingly, we made it this far without mentioning the dragons. They are everywhere, and they want to kill you. By taking down these monolithic lizards, you absorb their souls and can tap into the power of the Voice. This is due to the fact that your character is the proverbial "Dragonborn." With the Voice, you can use your shouts to force your enemies to kneel and dragons to fall from the sky.

Although winning many awards, this game was by far the buggiest game I played throughout all of 2011. When I first started playing on the PS3, the gameplay was great and nicely fitted for a controller, but after a while there were some serious game-freezing issues. However, Bethesda later fixed this in a patch. In games this large, it's nearly impossible to get all the bumps and grooves hammered out before launch, but the company has done a great job of listening to their fanbase and fixing issues as they arise.

I have also played "Skyrim" on PC. I mainly got it so that I could try out all the cool mods I have seen on Youtube. A couple worth mentioning were the My Little Pony dragons and the mod that allowed you to actually speak the dragon words into a microphone and make them happen in game.

This is by far a game that everyone should try at least once, and buy if you are the slightest bit of an RPG fan.

Jayson Sharp is a senior in computer science. Please send comments to edge@kstatecollegian.com.