Emerge yourself in a beautiful and breathtaking adventure with Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim! If you got the man hours to spare. Skyrim is the fifth installment in the Elder Scrolls series. This is Bethesda Game Studios fifth stab at the epic RPG adventure with a massive depth. Question is; Will it leave you wanting more or is this one of those ultimate games?

Story

Speaking about story lines in a game like Skyrim is hard, because you as player can basically ignore the main plot and do a wide range of quests or dive into sub stories. However you choose to play, the game starts off with you arriving at Helgen by prison transport along with Ulfric Stormcloak (the alleged assassin of the high king) and some other prisoners.  You are rounded up with these prisoners to be executed.  When it’s your turn to be executed, a dragon appears and with some quick decisions from there, basically you as player can take two paths and either way you’ll arrive to this village, but after that the rest is up to you as player.

This “create your own story as you go along” is a great way to express the beauty of Skyrim. This is my first Elder Scrolls adventure, but it’s in no way intimidating to take on the story because you can take it in your own stride.

Game play

The game plays out in either first person or third person, depending on what you prefer. Personally I’m new to the fantasy FPS world and more used to playing FPS games like Modern Warfare and the Battlefield series and I was a bit hesitant at first to the concept of playing a game in first person where your arsenal is based on traditional fantasy weapons. The way Bethesda work it out though is truly amazing! I was a bit worried if handling a weapon like a sword would be conveyed well or not, but it actually feels believable the whole way through.

Moving around the world feels really natural and especially with the quick move feature, it’s even easier to get around the massive world. I was a bit worried before picking this up that the intro knowledge level to get into the game would be high and that you had to know much about the story and game play to even be able to play, but it’s the total opposite! You can pick this up and with easy to navigate menus and explanations, there’s nothing to worry about! If you on the other hand want to dive more into the background story you can do so by reading books in the game, but the game play will still be there if you skip that part.

Design

Skyrim is a beautiful place! I felt, and still do, like a kid in the candy store with wide open eyes, trying to take everything in.  The landscape and architecture bears similarities to a Tolkien/Nordic mythology . If it would be something in this great design that sometimes can look a bit weird would be that the characteristic design breaks a bit when you come up to  people or object real close. This though is such a small problem  (well, it’s not even a problem per say) so it doesn’t even come close to interfering with the rest of the design. Sometimes character design is a bit off, but this stands short in comparison to a mostly stunning environment .

Sound

The music score in the game is amazing! You really feel this epic music coming on and the best part is that the music doesn’t interfere when you play. Some games it feels like you have to mute the music in order to be able to play it, not in Skyrim though.

To play or not to play

To play: If epic adventures is your thing and love questing, this is just your ticket!

Not play: If you want a linear game play and story design,  then this probably is not your cup of tea. In Skyrim quite a lot relies on you as player to move the story along.

Yes, he might spend too much time playing, but who are you to judge? Then I think you should get off your high horse, throw away your iPhone and stop wasting time on Facebook.

Want to make him real happy?

This is what you should buy.

For the Sport-Game Aficionado

Sport gamers are a narrow-minded bunch. They find a game they like and stick to it (even though there have been some rare transitions like the shift from FIFA to Pro Evolution Soccer some years back)

“My boyfriend already has Madden Football so I can’t buy that” is the wrong approach.

“My boyfriend has most games in the Madden series but not the latest game – that’s what I’m buying” is how you should think.

Just make sure you look through his shelves. Chances are that the latest game sits there already.

Best Buy: The latest version of his favorite EA Sports game

Worst Buy: Unless he doesn’t really like sports games and just want to waste some time with his drunk, stupid mates (or is 11 years old and slightly retarded) Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games

Could Work: SSX (Snowboard Super Cross.) The new version of this game is actually quite enjoyable, and if the person you’re buying it for likes men in skin-tight spandex, this is the best buy.

For the Role-Playing Geek

I know what you think. You just want to buy him a big, fat slap in the face and a note that says:

“THERE ARE PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE TOO. GO SEE SOME OF THEM YOU TWAT!”

But the thing is that you can’t change this person. In fact, people in real life are pretty overrated. Come back when you see someone with a burning sword in the local groceries. Then you’ll have my attention.

If you want his unconditional love, go get the best role-playing game around.

On Christmas day you’ll meet his eyes – for a fraction of a second – and somewhere in there you’ll see that this is his best Christmas ever. …then you won’t see him for a few weeks though.

Best Buy: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. When it comes to offline, single-player games, this might be the finest one ever made. You can easily kill 10 hours without knowing what happened.

Worst Buy: Bastion. I know quite a few people liked this game – the graphics look good, there’s a sense of humor in it and the soundtrack is sort of nice. But when you play a game for five hours and turn it off never to play it again, it’s simply not that good.

Could Work: Get off it already! World of Warcraft won’t make your kid bring a shotgun to school. It’ll only postpone his sex debut a couple of years, which is good huh? Buy that.

For the Blood-Thirsty First-Person Shooter

So the one you’re buying a present for is a fan of first-person shooting games. Congratulations!

This year has provided three excellent releases in this category.

• Battlefield 3
• Biochock Infinite
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

There’s not much to say. These are just great games.

Best Buy: Any of the above

Worst Buy: Prey 2. Don’t get me wrong. I like this game. Quite a lot to be honest. But if the one you’re buying a Xmas gift for isn’t into RPG elements and just want to get a gun and kill as many as possible, this might be a too much of a hassle.

Could Work: Any of the above

Ok. Now you know what to buy.

Go get it!

Do you want to be the one ruining this Christmas?

1. Mistress of Pain – Blizzcon costume challenge winner 2009

This costume is just amazing! So much attention to detail and elaborate features. Check out the video as well where you see her moving around.

2. Starcraft 2 – Marines

These guys mean business! Just look at the awesome looking details, some of these also have the battle scars on there!

3. Super cool Sephiroth!

Look at this guy! He really got the costume down to perfection! Awesome job and gray hair has never looked that cool.

4. Join the dark side… I mean Link!

Awesome take on one of the most classic gaming characters. This guy made an amazing shield and sword to go along with the all black costume. Wicked!

5. True God of War!

Kratos as we all know makes for one bad ass killing machine with his cool weapons and looks. The guy in this costume actually manage to get to looks right and everything.

Now for some that aren’t that good….

1. A not so big daddy…

2. There’s been better I can tell you that

You know that cool link we have listed above? Well I guess everyone has that cousin that doesn’t have all the horses in the stables…

3.If only Halo was made for the 8-bit console

I’m thinking “So this is how a dumpster would look if it was a transformer!” Cool in that case, but as Master Chief how about no!

4. If you’re not in the fight to win it, leave it.

“So I kind of just fell into this costume and my hair sort of turned on fire”

5. I don’t think this is what the creators had in mind

Bowser in all his glory…

1. Modern warfare 2 – Favela Elevator glitch

On Favela you can (with some change of controls) be elevated above the map and make sure to use tactical respawn to get back up there again.

2. Red Dead Redemption – It’s crazy wagon time!

Weird and funny glitch/bug that made some wagons start jumping around and if you get on one of them it hurls you up in the air!

3. Dead Space – Get off the ship glitch
I know the video is a bit long and there’s som stuff to do in order to make this work, but check out the video anyway because if you make this work it’s a pretty cool experience and it looks great!

4. Super Mario World – The Berry Glitch

You’ll need to collect a feather and do some other stuff (just check the video). You will have to time this one really well to make it work.

5. Super Mario Bros – Size Glitch
One of the classic glitches! You actual become smaller by picking up a mushroom (You all might think that this isn’t how it should be, but check the video and you’ll see).

Another cool video about glitches in games: Check out  Angry Video Game Nerds hilarious video about game glitches as well (especially with the Glitch Gremling!).

Yes kids, I said tape.

No, not Scotch tape; tape as in cassette.

Never mind.

In the game Commando Libya you were standing behind a machine gun killing soldiers coming in from the right and left side of the screen. This task wasn’t that hard. At this time, Libya seemed to have the slowest moving soldiers around.

However, once in a while bombs were rolling towards you at a quicker pace, and that was the real trouble. When they reached your gun you were dead.

Basically that was what the game was all about. And to be honest, it wasn’t that exciting.

The reason why people played Commando Libya was the bonus rounds.

After you’ve completed a level, a line of war prisoners were lined up against a wall. To get the game to move on you had to gun them down by holding the fire button and moving the joystick over the soldiers.

You executed them.

When they were all killed, you’d get a comment like: “That’s funn!” (the comments had bad spelling) or “That were Ghadaffi’s children” (that was how he spelled his name back in the days.)

The reactions to this game when it was released in 1986 were pretty, well, how should I put it … mixed.

When people were talking about dangers of playing violent video games (which they still do today,) this was the perfect game to bring up.

“Look at the disgusting games we allow our children to play. And the games look SO REALISTIC”

At the same time, a lot us of saw the dark humor in this and it didn’t create hordes of gun-loving C64 geeks (that’s a real game idea for you!)

And when you think about it, the same people that thought Commando Libya was going to destroy a whole generation of children probably didn’t mind when Kaddafi was executed in real life a while back.

I guess Commando Libya was just ahead of its time.

Wunderwaffe – Call of Duty Black ops Zombie

Ever wanted to zap a bunch of Zombies? Well now you have the chance in the Zombie map shi no numa for Call of Duty Black Ops. The weapon can only be located through the weapons box and it becomes a necessary means to surviving later rounds. The best thing is to wait for a bunch of zombies to gang up close to you and then zap’em all!

Gravity gun – Half life 2

Awesome weapon where you can pick up objects and hurl them towards the enemy. You can pick up a barrel by shooting a shot towards it and you then can pick up the object and do whatever you like with it. This weapon is so great and weird that they actually made an own game just based on this weapon and that would be Portal.

Shrink Ray – Duke Nukem 3D

Best thing about this weapon – you shrink the enemy and then you can stomp on them, what more do we need to say?

The keyboard – Typing of the dead

So wait, the keyboard is the weapon? How lame isn’t that? Well we don’t really care if it’s lame or not, but it sure is weird (and original) to have a weapon where you use a external keyboard to “fire” of out the letters in order to take down the enemy. This game was made for the Dreamcast and as the Dreamcast, for natural reasons, didn’t come with an keyboard, you had to go and buy one just for this game. Even that is a bit weird…

Topsy-Turvy Bomb – Armed and Dangerous

This is just great! So many weird weapons in Armed and Dangerous and this is just one of them! You activate this bomb that turns the whole environment upside down. How cool is that?! The bad guys will then fall into the skies while your guy holds on to the platform of the bomb.

The Weapon to look forward to:

In Saints Row 3 there’s a car (we list it here anyway, as basically everything can be used as a weapon in this homicidal game) that some sort of weird “cat-head-on-top-with-a-canon-car” through which you can pick up people on the street and shot them out of the canon with. Yummy!