Sky-high sales for Skyrim
Brett Davis, Reporter
December 13, 2011
Filed under A&E, Game Reviews, Top Stories
The fifth installment of The Elder Scrolls series, “Skyrim,” has more than likely been made known to most people both gamers and non-gamers alike. The day of “Skyrim”’s release, a recorded 230,000 people were playing “Skyrim” on the Xbox network. The week after its release, an estimated 7 million copies were sold for about 450 million USD.
The game has received a 10/10 rating from Official Xbox Magazine, 10/10 from Wired.com and generally good reviews from other game reviewers. The game earned a 9/10 from Gamespot stating, “Skyrim performs the most spectacular of enchantments: the one that causes huge chunks of time to vanish before you know it.”
The story begins with the player riding in a carriage to be executed for an unknown crime. The player then arrives in a town and is now able to customize his or her character. The player is able to choose the sex of their character and then choose between several races ranging from noble people called “Imperials” to cat-animorphs called “Khajiit.” Then the player can go into even more customization options like color of the eyes and hair style.
Just as the player is about to be executed, a dragon attacks the village. It is then that the player can choose to escape with either an Imperial Soldier or a rebel Stormcloak. After escaping the town, the entire map is available to the player to explore. The game allows the player to travel in ways like running from place to place, riding on horseback and being able to fast-travel to places they have already discovered.
The game does its job of keeping the player preoccupied by not only including a massive amount of quests to do in the game, but also generating new quests for the player to do. The player can join a variety of guilds and factions, such as The Dark Brotherhood, The Thieves Guild and The Companions. These groups also give the player quests to complete and perks, such as the ability to be a Werewolf.
When a player levels up in this game they can improve a main stat such as Health, Magic or Stamina, and then add a skill point to another stat such as Blocking, Destruction magic, Archery and Restoration magic. The player can level up by using said skills by forging swords to level up “smithing,” or attacking enemies with daggers to increase one-handed weapons.
There are a wide range of enemies for the player to combat in the world of Skyrim. Enemies include wolves, giants, mammoths, werewolves, vampires and dragons. Dragons play the biggest role in the game involved in even the storyline. Dragons can either be hostile or passive and can be regular dragons, blood dragons or elder dragons. When a player defeats a dragon, they absorb its soul and are then able to purchase or upgrade existing shouts they have found.
Shouts are a new feature in the Elder Scroll series. Players can use shouts that they have found in places called “Word-Walls.” These shouts can do a variety of things; some can calm attacking enemies, make the player breathe fire and even speed twenty feet ahead.
The Elder Scroll’s latest release, “Skyrim,” is a game meant to be explored thoroughly and enjoyed. With its many tiny details this game reflects the hard work of its creators, while still fulfilling the player’s desire for an epic-world adventure game.
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