By Sam Ceruti

Bethesda is at it again after their last Elder Scrolls game Oblivion, they realized there was room for improvement. Their product of 3 years of hard work Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is available at GameStop and Best Buy on November 11, 2011. This role-playing game is so wide open there is endless combinations as you can choose between 10 races, and over 18 different classes with endless skill trees that can be leveled as you progress through the game.

Todd Howard the mastermind behind Bethesda and Skyrim leaked the game to E3 or Electronic Entertainment Expo and showed some in game footage to entice gamers. Bethesda stressed the need for a new graphics engine because in Oblivion the landscape seemed fuzzy at points now in Skyrim the landscape is very vivid along with the different creatures in the game. The dialogue has also expanded as you can give your character a little bit of personality when interacting with the other CPUs in the game.

What is probably most appealing to those who have never played the Elder Scrolls Series is the dragons, which you can battle throughout the game and receive mystical powers from such as dragon shouts. These shouts can be any kind of magical power from a sudden lightning storm to a big ball of fire. The coolest shout in my opinion allows you to summon a dragon to fight for you in battle. However the most revolutionary part of the game is the dragons have a mind of their own and will attack you at any time. There is no set time and place where you will be forced to fight a dragon such as a boss battle.

Bethesda also tried to crack down on the repetitiveness that many people complained about in Oblivion about the gates you had to disable. Instead there are over 150 dungeons that all have different themes and or creatures inside so each dungeon is a new experience. In the month of November alone Skyrim has to compete with Modern Warfare 3 and Assassins Creed Revelations to receive gamers’ attention. MW3 is more for the shooter type and is always competing with the Battlefield games. On the other hand Skyrim is in a class of its own and will strike big with all RPG fans especially those who have been biding their time for a new Elder Scrolls game.