The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition

"Easily Game of the Year... If this was made ten years ago."

Introduction- This game is like a medieval fantasy Grand Theft Auto, you may not decide to play that way, but you have the freedom to do what you want or you can decide to do really redundant, repetitive errands. This game is massive and that's where I feel it falls. You will see the same tree, rock, and mushroom reused for what seems to be the hundreds of miles this world of Vvardenfell. Combine that with clunky controls and major bugs, you will find yourself inside of that tree, rock, or mushroom throughout your supposedly two hundred hour plus quest.

Graphics: 3/10
The X-Box is known to all to have the best graphics of the console games. Though this game is massive, as I said before entire regions, spanning possibly thirty minutes to navigate and reach another, are reused. That being said, there is nothing dynamic or appealing about them. Most areas of the game are swamp and are very dull. A cave on one side of the map has a twin brother somewhere else in the world. Half the time you need to carry a torch. The lighting effects are horrible. You can elect to have shadows on or off and to me it didn't matter much. A shadow of a NPC on top of a building can be seen on all four sides of the building... The character models are just unattractive. You can see the polygons and the movement is very clunky. All characters run like they were cripples. Your sword which clearly bashes the head of the thing you are trying to kill, will go right through. You are thankful that they have a first person mode so that you do not have to see your own character's clunky movement. The weather effects are mediocre as rain just looks like lines that fall and splash. Snow does not even touch the ground, just as your sword rarely hits the enemy.

Sound: 3/10
As far as I have noticed, there are less than four sound tracks to this game. The overworld, battle, and town music. Nothing upbeat, just generic music that drones on for all the time you are playing. The sounds of the world include, rushing water, animals growling, weather, the very bad combat sounds. There is the four generic sword clinks you hear in the movies, the arrows whizzing by, and when you hit something there is a metallic doink sound which becomes annoying as you are being pummeled by an old Dark Elf with fists and you have a sword and are continually trying to hit him. This game also fails at voice acting and the timing of what a character says. Why would someone say "I must be good!" when you just wiped them clean from existence? Each race has one voice set for each sex. Twenty different voices and you will be surprised that at least a several hundred people have the same voice. All the races seem to have the same line that you get tired of hearing. "What do you want outlander?" or "Speak traveller."

Story: 4/10
You are a criminal that gets released by the Emperor. You can start anew and you are the hero of Prophecy. That's best left to Link in Zelda. That's basically all that can be said about the story as it is not very interesting or innovative for an Action-RPG. It relates to Baldur's Gate where its a collection of quests and sub-plots, no real intersting core.

Control: 4/10
You will break the R button of your X-Box controller. Maybe not but you will continually be frustrated while pressing it for it to actually hit something. The menu navigation takes getting used to. You also have two buttons to access it,. one for each hand. The control scheme could have been utilized for more options as different attacks or abilities, though you have to move differently in order to execute different attacks while still pressing the R button.

Gameplay: 6/10
Most of the quests are fetching and assassination far away then coming back to keep you occupied. These tasks are best left to Mario and Grand Theft Auto games. There are hundred of quests, mostly all regarding getting some item or assassinating someone. Since this world is so massive you will spend time getting from place to place even with use of the limited transportation methods. The games real strength lies in the customization of your character. While the combat of this game isn't too great, you're character can be befitted to the fullest extent with armor and his or her abilities. They have dozens of equipment and various outfits for you character to be one of the three thousand people of Morrowind. You can make your own spells by combining the limited generic spells they offer. You enchant your equipment and make potions out of the carcass of your enemies and enough herbs to make you feel like you're Martha Stewart. You might even wind up in jail... The world is just huge, but after a while, exploring will get boring. Also I give warning of many quest stopping happenings. Many times you will just suddenly sink into the ground for no apparent reason. You can travel aimlessly through the void, and it isn't even a magical spell from one of your enemies. Its a major glitch that will ruin an experience very easily. Having to reload your file is frustrating just because the game takes way too long to load!!!

Replay Value: Low
Once you start a file, you could probably never finish it completely. The only real reason to restart is if you want to try a new character or setup in customizing your character. The load times are extreme so even starting your first file makes you feel you have spent one of your three hundred hours playing the game.

Overall: 4
I was not impressed with this game at all. For a game voted Game of the Year you expect heart pumping action and real down to earth fun. This is more of a cult hit directed to those diehard fans. This game is slow paced. Takes a long time to get used to and you will wonder the same area for a while. There are no quests out of gathering items, killing some person you can't identify with, or a combination of killing the guy and stealing his stuff. Very little innovation and there are more games you should allot your money to.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/04