ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE [Review]: Welcome to the Front.

CAUTION!!! DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED FOR THE FOLLOWING…

1. To become/remain single and lonely.
2. To gain at least 30 pounds.
3. To have absolutely no social life (besides digitally).
4. To develop painful chronic carpal tunnel syndrome.

If you’re still here, then Welcome to Tamriel! It has been a while since I reviewed the Beta for Elder Scrolls Online, and I have to say, this game has improved ten-fold since the first time your boy went on a crusade through the massive continent of Tamriel. (A lot has also remained the same though, so rather than be repetitive also check out my past review.)

GOODIE BAG

The masterfully designed and beautiful world has been fine-tuned since the beta, giving users a graphical interface worthy of a game called Elder Scrolls. While still not on par with Skyrim‘s graphics, you need to remember: THIS GAME IS TEN TIMES THE SIZE! Plus, the fact you’re playing with thousands of other people is just the icing on the cake at that point.

Never before have players witnessed an MMO — especially one of this magnitude — look so real. The teams at Zenimax and Bethesda rid of any cartoonish World of Warcraft junk here, as attention to detail was spared nowhere.

Also, since this is a just-released game, there is no limit to the upgrades that you can see to the world in the next 10-to-15-years (yes, that’s the lifespan for a great MMO). The water reflects the area around it. Fire illuminates in an eerie glow, shimmering on cave walls. Sunspots even appear on screen if the camera is positioned at the right angle. Beware of this however, because if it happens in a fight you can literally get killed from having the sun in your eyes.

Bad day in the office.

Almost all of the quirky bugs people experienced during the Beta have been fixed. Only a few remain and the Templar was able to report them the second I came across one. More magical? The bug was fixed right away. Reporting a bug (one that proved to be true) even earns you a reward of random equipment sent to you through in game mail. With us PC people helping the development team find these last little quirks, the game looks even better for console players who shouldn’t have to deal with the slightest bug come June. (Cont. on next page…)