The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Preview
Possibly the ultimate RPG
by Zee Salahuddin
previewed on PC
Game interface
It would be a travesty to be subjected to a user-interface that utterly baffled the player with its myriad options and endless menus and sub-menus. This has been one of the gripes for the previous games, but it was largely overlooked by the player base, because the rest of the game made up for this shortfall.
Skyrim, however, plans to change that. The UI is designed to be fluid, tactile and natural. Instead of having to flip through pages upon pages of UI elements, the menu is simply broken into four primary categories: Spells, Items, Map and Magic. Each of these sub-menus is designed to be intuitive, gripping, and on-the-fly access. Nothing breaks your immersion more than having to slip through your spell book for that one spell that will hurt a particular enemy.
You can even set favorites, so if you are using a set of spells or skills more often than others, you can set up the interface to allow even easier access to these abilities.
Gorgeous Graphics
Each game in the series has pushed the technological barrier for what you can accomplish in a video game. The developers are using a brand new engine, bringing to life a world with a meticulous attention to detail that is the hallmark of Bethesda Studios. The mountains, the rippling, shimmering water, the weather effects and the textures, all come together to create a game that is eye-candy in the purest sense of the term.
Character animations, facial muscle movement and movement animations have been completely overhauled, adding an emotional appeal and life to the world. And, perhaps more importantly, the third-person view of you is actually believable, less wooden and properly given the attention it long-deserved. Gone are the days of loading times. This is one massive world, with seamless transitions. If you can see something in the distance regardless of how far it may seem, you can travel to it, sans loading breaks.
Perhaps one of the most impressive elements in the environment is something you can’t even see: wind. Wind can influence which way trees and their branches sway and the direction in which water runs. The areas of the map where there is snow are all dynamically created. This is to say that the natural lay of the land is predetermined by the artists, but how and where the snow falls, and what it covers or what it doesn’t cover is entirely dynamic.
The developers assure us that the various versions of the game, be it for the PC, Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, will look as graphically similar as possible. The game should more or less look the same across all platforms, with some additional tweaking options in the PC version, such as higher resolutions and anti-aliasing.
Another impressive features is the map of the world. Skyrim is a massive game world, about as large as Oblivion, with roughly 16 square miles (or roughly 40 square kilometers). There are five major cities teeming with life, and over 130 hand-crafted dungeons teeming with death. The really impressive part is that the in-game map is fully 3-D, with the topography, major points of interest an cities all showing in complete 3D, instead of the traditional 2D RPG ink-map.
Conclusion
Skyrim is one of the most hotly anticipated titles for 2011. Even prior to its release, die-hard fans believe it will sweep editor choice awards and top laurels with most gaming magazines, websites and review engines. Given the information we have shared with you in this preview, they might not be entirely wrong!
