THE ELDER SCROLLS III - MORROWIND G.O.T.Y. EDITION

Elder Scrolls III - Morrowind G.O.T.Y. Edition-

Positives

A diverse, open ended experience that encourages players to play they want to.
Countless hours of questing and exploring rich landscapes.
Gorgeous graphics that leave you wanting more and more.
Excellent voice-over work and interesting plotline.

Negatives

Morrowind is extremely addictive and may leave tendencies to abandon your friends to complete another quest, explore another area etc.
Sound can get repetitive after 24 hours of play.
Morrowind suffers from tiny bugs and frequent loading times that may detract from the overall experience.

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Full Review

I have a confession to make before I write this review. I have been overly obsessed with this game and even now I find myself wondering whether I should return to Morrowind. This is what RPG perfection is all about. Forget Kingdom Hearts' lovable characters, forget Final Fantasy XII's gorgeous graphics, and forget about nearly every RPG that has been released on the PC to this point. Morrowind is not only one of the best PC RPG games for a long, long time it's also arguably one of the best games in this genre.

Many may disagree with me and I'm pretty sure they will but bearing in mind that this game was released back in 2002 it's amazing to think its 7 years old.

Morrowind plays much like a fantasy version of Grand Theft Auto to put it as simply as possible but the game has so many layers its difficult to know where to start. The beginning may be an ideal place.

You start the adventure onboard a vessel ship where you're guided through a series of different offices to eventually determine your character from what he/she looks like to their birth sign. It's all here. Levelling up is done with repeating certain attributes. For example practicing lock-picking eventually levels up that attribute and so on. 5 major and 5 minor skills are chosen through 3 different methods at the start of the game including answering a series of questions and manually choosing them.

After the quick tutorial you are thrust into the world of Morrowind with a letter to deliver and a world of possibilities. The world can be very daunting to say the least for fans used to being led by the hand on missions but after several hours of gameplay, the daunting atmosphere of the game will disappear and be replaced with wonder.

The story is lengthy and well-done and although it is cliché for this genre, it doesn't matter. Including all the side-missions and hidden treasures and bonuses you're looking at well over 100 hours of play-time. Be warned, if you have any commitments in your life be prepared to shift them aside as you'll be too concerned with finding the next objective or searching for a hidden area of the map.

With a game this huge there was always going to be a few bugs that creep up, especially with the series having a reputation for it. There have been various patches released to combat the bugs in-game but a few still appear. One of the more frequent ones being items popping up out of nowhere on the horizon and the "falling through everything" glitch. Now, the second bug was very uncommon to occur but is still worth noting.

However, with the negativity aside, there's not much more I can say about this game. The graphics are top notch for its time and although the music can get repetitive after 24 hours plus game time its easy enough to turn off. If you're interested in a massive RPG to lose yourself in, this is the game for you!

Conclusion Scores

Graphics -

Bearing in mind that the graphic and pixel quality is over 6 years old, this game still holds its own in the graphics departments and at times is beautifully mesmerizing.

Story -

The main-path story can become clouded with all the side missions and random fetch quests littered around the massive world of Morrowind but if you follow the main storyline without deviating it'll still take a good 20 hours to get through.

Gameplay -

Morrowind boasts both first person perspective and third person perspective but the combat, although could be tightened slightly, is much better to view in first person for more accurate blows. The story and the world of Morrowind itself has enough secrets and hidden areas to keep you busy.

Sound -

The music can get repetitive after a lengthy amount of time but the voice acting and the sound effects are top notch.

Lasting Appeal -

Although Elder Scrolls have released Oblivion, Morrowind still holds its own and probably includes more game time than Oblivion. The travelling aside, the quests are all brilliantly done and with 2 expansion packs to add-on once the main quest is finished and you run out of places to visit, this game will be in your CD drive for a long, long time.

Overall Score -

Few games capture the essence of a massive fantasy world quite like Morrowind. If you're thinking about buying this game there's only one piece of advice I can give you. BUY IT NOW!

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