Its a dwarf in a box! (The Elder Scrolls III - Morrowind (PC))

Member Name: andycharger

Product:	The Elder Scrolls III - Morrowind (PC)
Date:	02/12/03 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great game, Lots of effects

Disadvantages: Music, sounds

Well, I must admit I was a bit sceptical when I installed Morrowind on my PC a few weeks back. Everywhere I looked, PC game websites were raving about it. People I knew were raving about it. The problem was, I do not always believe the sites or the people i know!

And it is with this in mind that I write this opinion and inform the average gamer all about it.

Basically, it is a huge adventure game. When I say huge, Im not understating it. the complexity, diversity and sheer size make it very taxing on the memory of both Computer and human alike.

I can liken it to the "dungeons and dragons" style games played the world over and that were popular in the 1980's and 1990's. Ones where you used your imagination, a few dice and a book to navigate through a makebelieve adventure.

However, with the advent of computer technology, these games are brought to life with amazing graphics, speech and effects in the game that is Morrowind!

to understand the story and planning of the game, here is a little insight.
You are an outlander, (someone who is from out of town basically) who arrives in a new world. Using your skills, weapons,magic and various other means, you must navigate the new world and experience many adventures on your way. This involves speaking to other people in the game, doing favours and missions for them, Picking up equipment and stealing sometimes!
All of this is controlled using a 1st person view as experienced with many shoot em up style games like Doom and Unreal.

While talking of controls, the initial stages of the game rely on you learning where the controls are. A step through tutorial tells you what to press and when. This is very useful to the complete novice so its worth paying attention.
It is mainly on the mouse while using the arrow keys. There are other buttons required too but all of this is configurable using the customised settings of your choice. Handy for al
l of us out here with our differing gaming styles.

Once you have picked up the controls, it will be time to start actually trying the game out. I did this and it did not take long to learn what to do. Unfortunately, you need to listen and interact with everyone you come across to be successful in this game. This is where you need to talk to the creatures you meet. Sure you will still make mistakes but it helps to know as much as you can to minimise these.

The sounds in this game are superb. Most of the conversation you have with the creatures is in subtitled format which can prove annoying but your initial meeting is an Audio one. You will learn that there are about 20 or so greetings in the entire game that are audio so this can get a little repetitive after a couple of nights playing! One negative point there.

The music is very "lord of the rings" style. This is on a constant loop without changing so 20 minutes of this is enough. Again the audio and speech setting are all configurable so you can turn them off if needed.

The action side of the game is quite slow and if you are someone who wants shooting and fighting at a non stop pace, perhaps think about another choice. However, if you like meaningful, detailed adventure games, this is definitely one for you.

One thing this does lack that is essential to such a long game is addiction. I am not addicted to it which means it takes me a while to get around to playing it again. It is possibly for this reason that I find it hard to get into. Then again, this situation is a bit like the "chicken and the egg".

Installation was very quick. It is only one disk so there is no constant disk changing. Suprising when you consider the amount of detail and effects that the game creates.
The hardware you need is worth mentioning.
As this runs on DirectX 8.1, you need to make sure your video card and sound cards can handle it. There are some issues
with older Video cards using 3dFX technology as there are no drivers available.
However, here is a brief list of what you can use as a minimum guide:

Windows ME/98 128 MB RAM;
500 MHz Processor;
8x CD/DVD-ROM Drive;
1 GB free hard disk space;
32MB Direct3D Compatible video card;
DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card;
Keyboard;
Mouse


Overall I would buy it again but I would like a little bit more originality when it comes to voices and music!

Summary: