Skyrim

Sorry for the absence...but, yes, I've been lost in Skyrim.

The next installment of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series of RPG video games, Skyrim is based on the open-world, do-what-you-like-follow-the-main quest-whenever gameplay model that characterized its predecessors, Oblivion (ES4) and Morrowind (ES3). We'll skip the basics and cut to the chase:

First off, the developers completely rewrote the graphics engine from last time out (Oblivion came out 5 years ago), and the results are mostly impressive. The dungeons and the landscape are both meticulously drawn, and seldom exude the texture-pasting sameness of the predecessor games. It's a small thing, but it unquestionably evokes a much stronger sense of presence and realism in the game. My graphics and CPU horsepower are a few notches down from the top end (Intel quad 9550 / Radeon HD 6850), so I've had to trim down graphics detail to keep the gameplay smooth...and some of the detail blurs out at both distant and closeup views.

We've found that the leveling system still seems a little odd - melee battles seem to be either irritatingly easy or grindingly tough (I'm at Level 17 right now, and I've already walked away from three or four confrontations that were just too much trouble.)

Much of the world fairly crackles with activity - animals grazing or running through the woods, water cascading over rocks and cliffs, active and realistic weather, clouds drifting across distant, snowcapped peaks. (One early reviewer even comments about ants on the ground - I haven't seen this, either because the reviewer was on drugs, or my graphics resolution concessions washed them out...who cares, I hate bugs anyway...) Much of this was present in Oblivion, but it all seems to beat at a more relaxed, deliberate pace. It accomplishes alot without seeming to try too hard.

A few minor complaints. I don't think the soundtrack is quite as good as Morrowind's; not as much of the lonely melancholia that sepia-toned Morrowind's bleak dungeons and tundra-scapes and a little too much Nord-heroic chorales for my taste. The primary game menu is a bit cumbersome and sterile. Stability-wise, I've had but one CTD in 20 hours or so of playing, not bad, and the level load times are short - but you do need horsepower to enjoy the detail without chugging, and choppy gameplay is the quickest poison for a game as richly ambient as this.

Gamers are drawn, at a fundamental level, by different aspects of a game - action, tension, plot, gadgets, etc - I am generally disposed to good atmosphere and evocative ambiance, and Skyrim delivers this in spades, if you can compromise a shade for its stout technical demands. The combat is decent (being mostly melee, which is exceedingly hard to do well), and the writers serve up immense depth and lore for those who want it, and don't force it needlessly on those who don't.

It has sold squillions in the five weeks since it's been out, for good reason.