The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

"RPG Goodness."

This game is quite possibly the best RPG ever made, it’s simply amazing, a must have for anyone with a x-box. This game has few flaws, and those flaws are so small it’s hard to tell where exactly they are. One of the biggest problems of the game is, it’s more addicting than smoking, you won’t want to quit, and if you aren’t playing that will probably be the only thing on your mind. Many people (me included) have reported playing this game for hours on end and not realizing it until they’ve been disturbed by an out of game entity or problem. So if you’re a weak minded person or easily addicted to something, than for your own well being, you may want to get this game in the summertime.

Story – 10/10 There really isn’t much to say about the story, you start out as (whatever name you pick) as a (whatever race you pick) and you have just been released from prison, or from slavery for a special mission. You sign your papers at the census house, and you go about your marry way. Before you leave the census house, you talk to some imperial guy that gives you orders to find a man named Casius in Balmora. You can either go there or blow him off and join a guild or a faction, the choice is yours. If you choose to join with Casius, you will get training from a few members of the “Blades” faction, he will also give you $200 to spend how you desire, and tell you to get some experience in a guild or faction. From there you basically right your own story, you can read your story by pressing the white button, which will enable you to read your journal.

Gameplay - 10/10 The gameplay is in this game is outstanding, you start out by picking your race and your attributes, it all depends on what you want to do in the game, then you pick your celestial sign. Your celestial sign, much like a zodiac sign, gives you special attributes and extra bonuses to your stats. One thing that you will learn quickly playing the game, is that anything can be taken, the problem is, if you get caught you could have to pay a fine, or fight for your life. One other thing you may notice (the hard way) is that you can attack and kill anyone for any reason, while a few people you will have to kill within the game, there are certain characters that will alter the game if you kill them, so watch who you kill. The island you play on is huge, there is also little hidden islands containing treasures, and surreal characters, this is the first drawback of the game, it may take you days (in the game of course) to get where you are going. There are however many different ways to get around, such as various boats, a creature called a silt strider, and a certain mage in each town’s mage’s guild.

As you traverse throughout the game, there is tons of different character skins, as well as different clothing, so you will never see the exact same character twice, with the exception of the guards and the ordinators, who much like the police and the military, have uniforms. With all those different types of clothing people wear, you can kill them and take it, or if they have a weapon, you can also take that, in fact there are tons of different types of weapons, from swords to crossbows, this game has nearly ever midi-evil weapon. If you walk from town to town, you will also encounter random creatures, some are powerful and vicious, while others are calm and passive, hunting and killing these creatures is the best (and cheapest) way to raise your stats. However you can also seek out trainers that will raise a certain stat for a fee (which is usually way over priced). Throughout the game you may also encounter some secret characters, these range from a talking mudcrab to a pathological liar, all of which are worth taking time to search out and find.

Sound – 8/10 The sound in this game is pretty good most of the time, there is a few flaws with it though. When you are attacking, or casting magic, there are usually only one or two sound bytes for each action. So when you fire your bow and arrow, no matter what you hit, the same sound byte will always come up, making it difficult to tell if you scored a hit or completely missed. However this is a small flaw, which is easily overlooked as all of the dubs (voice-overs) are extremely well done. The sound of the weather sounds almost as good as it looks, it really helps bring you into the game. The background music is decent but it isn’t something that is a “must listen too”, in fact, I just listen to some CDs in my stereo but that’s just me.

Controls – 10/10 The controls in the game are pretty solid, very easy to pick up. Didn’t get the manual with the game? Well during the loading time the game will teach you most of the basic controls, and as you play through the game (mostly the beginning) the game will teach the controls to you. However after you see the loading screen controls several times, it begins to get boring and tedious, but that’s a different section.

Replay – 10/10 The replay value of this game is insane. There are so many different guilds and factions to join, people to kill, and things to steal; two games should never be the same. Unlike most RPGs, this game allows you to pick your race and your starting attributes, so right when you start a new game, you can make it different. Beyond that there is also tons of different spells to learn, and armor and weapons to find and master. Hell even if you do manage to do every mission in the game, you can always go on a genocidal killing spree, which is rather fun to do I might add.

With all the different things you can train your character to be, not only is a replay enjoyable, but I recommend that anyone should do it. You can train your character to be many things, from a warrior to a thief. Both of which take a lot of game play and training to become good at, but the path of a thief is easier at the beginning. One thing is that everything in each mission will relatively be in the same place, this excludes characters that walk around here and there. All of the characters will be found in the same areas also, which takes away some of the fun, but the game is so friggin long you may just forget where each character or item was in the first place. If that wasn’t enough, you can alter your armor and weapons with different magic attributes. Then you have custom spells you can make, it all depends on your alchemy skill which is increased various ways

Graphics – 10/10 If you’ve ever read one of my reviews before, you’ll know that I always say “Gameplay over Graphics” and with this game you have the best of both worlds, whether you are a hardcore gamer, or a graphics whore. There is many different things within the game that just look amazing, they have different lighting and shadowing effects depending on the time of day, or the lights in the room or building. The weather effects are nothing short of perfect, while it only rains, or gets windy (sandstorms) it looks as though this just filmed some real rain or a sandstorm, and play it in the foreground of the game. There is also tons of different character skins and apparel worn by characters, so you should never see the exact same character twice. Even then it doesn’t end, there is different weapons and all of them are different in some way. This games’ graphics should appeal to any gamer or graphics whore in video gaming.

Rent or Buy? This game is a definite buy, it’s for anyone and everyone with a x-box. While the long loading times are well, long, they are defiantly worth it, as “good things come to those who wait”. The graphics and sound of this game are simply not to be missed, and the gameplay is outstanding and amazingly addicting. With the replay value off the charts this game would be an outstanding deal if it was the same price as “Steel Battalion” but luckily you can probably (depending on where you live) pick up a copy for around $40.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/05/03, Updated 05/11/03