The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, while problematic in some areas, is one of my favorite games of all time.

User Rating: 8.3 | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - Game of the Year Edition XBOX
This game served as my introduction to the Western RPG genre. If you look at the collection of games I own you will notice that I am now very big on this game. After playing through it at least 13 separate times I'm happy to finally write down a review for it. At the time of release, Morrowind was unheard of. It was impossible on any console save the Xbox due to the necessity of a hard drive. People were confused for their first few days in this new world, where characters lead their own lives for you to effect any way you want. If you liked someone's armor, kill them and take it. Just make sure nobody sees you or else its off to jail...Morrowind was refreshing, new, and exciting all the way around. However, being one of the first of its kind, the game had its share of glitches and problems. None of them were too big to keep me from playing however, and I still proudly own a copy of this game today.

Gameplay: Morrowind is a Western RPG. There are no turn-based battles in this game. Rather the environment is filled with monsters, all of which can attack you on impulse if you come within range of them. Beware the cliff racers especially, oftentimes you do not know they are there until they have descended upon you in groups of 3. For the low level character this means death, which can become frustrating in the early parts of the game due to the overabundance of these birds, but the seasoned warrior will be able to dispatch them no problem. The controls work very well. A unique feature of Morrowind is the ability to customize how your character plays the game. If you want to be quiet and sneaky press the analog stick down and sneak around. As you sneak, your skill will go up. Once it reaches 100, while sneaking you will be near invisible. The same with acrobatics, a level 100 skill will send you flying feet into the air and make traversing the huge map easier than ever before. The combat system is passable but definitely could use some polish. Alot of times its just a button-mash fest to see if you can kill the animal before it kills you. There are strategy elements involved with your limited inventory. Choosing what to take and what to leave behind in your house can be a tough task, but rewarding if you do it right. The Morrowind gameplay is definitely fun, but could use some work in some spots.

Graphics: Art this is not. Most of the textures in this game are muddy and bland. The sheer size of this game shows the limitations of the Xbox hardware. The plants, animals, and characters are rendered pretty well but overall if you are looking for a graphical masterpiece you should look elsewhere. The highest point would be the water. Actual moving and flowing water was a new technology back when this game was released and Morrowind nails it perfectly. The art style does stand out though. Making your character look great has never been so much fun. Every set of armor looks great on your character and the varied building styles of the Telvanni, Hlaalu, and Redoran, will capture your imagination. The ability to go inside and check the finer details such as forks having all of their prongs, and swords looking sharp and clean help kick this game up a notch. Good for the time, but these graphics could have been better.

Sound: I love the sound in this game. The music fits the atmosphere perfectly. Old-style sounds in old-style towns really drew me in to the game and made me care about the world. Most of the combat sounds the same, but that's ok by me. I am curious how a fur shield clangs as if it were made of steel, but that is just nit picking. The voice acting, what little there is of it, is also very well done. You can really tell when an NPC just does not like you, or when they want to have a chat. The main story characters are believable as well. Dagoth Ur is a personal favorite, he sounds so non-chalant, as if he knows you will kill him and has accepted it. Each race has their own voice, my favorites being the Orc and Dark Elf. The sounds of nature work well here as well. Especially the rainstorms. If you close your eyes its as if you are actually there. Birds chirping, trees swaying, the sound is definitely one of the high points of this game.

Value: There are some problems with Morrowind. The game might have been a bit big for its time. If you leave too many items laying out in the overworld your game will begin to crash from time to time. This will annoy some but couldn't stop me from playing over and over. You have to appreciate what Bethesda did with what they had here. The Xbox was a nice machine, but it was no computer. Yet if you compare the two versions you would be hard pressed to find the major difference. The story is very well written as well. The main story will take you somewhere between 25-30 hours to complete, but the real fun in this game lies in the many guild and faction quests that abound. Each faction and guild directly effects another. It gives you the sense that you are in the middle of a great war, it is impossible to master them all because many of the guild quests involve killing the leaders of other guilds. The great house quests and Imperial Legion quests are my personal favorites here. Very long, and add a TON of replay value to this already staggering game. Add to all of that the thousands of caves, graves, tombs, and little nooks to explore in the world and you have yourself over 160-200 hours of game play.

Tilt: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is not for everyone. Some will see the graphics and be repulsed. Some will play the game and hate it. Me? I love it. I love it more than any other Western RPG ever made (Yes that includes Oblivion.) From a technical standpoint the game definitely has its shortcomings. But the fun factor is undeniable. I highly recommend this game to anyone who missed it, and for those that dropped it, give it a true second chance. You will be glad you did.