Graphically, Vvardenfell is beautiful and densely populated with characters, creatures, and organic life. It literally consists of miles and miles of land that is not to be taken lightly. It is easy to say that there is at least 100 hours of gameplay here, and even more if the player is in no real hurry. Morrowind should not be viewed as a typical where the player is on a rail system heading toward a final confrontation that will end the story. This game is more like the life of a player’s alter-ego, and should be considered as such before anyone even attempts to play it. You will not get anywhere by playing this title haphazardly, for minutes at a time… this title, like EverQuest, will consume all of your time and energy. The sound is subtle and accurate, and everything sounds the way you think it should. The is, however, extremely repetitive… it seems that there is one main track in Morrowind that runs on repeat and picks up in tempo and volume and adds a musical “sting” at the beginning of a combat sequence. The main flaw with Morrowind is in its gameplay. To put it bluntly, the combat system is horrible. This is another area where the developers seem to mimic EverQuest slightly, excepting in the fact that the attacks are completely controlled by the player. Weapons are swung or fired with the right trigger, and their effectiveness, naturally, is dependent upon the character’s skill levels. The whole game is done from a first-person perspective (you can change to a third person view, but it is essentially worthless in combat so odds are you will ignore it), and there is no discernable way to tell how much damage you’ve inflicted on an enemy. This has been rectified on the version with a patch (a health meter now appears above an enemy’s head while in battle, and then gradually disappears if one of the combatants runs away), but as stated above, there’s no such fix for the Xbox. There has been some talk about releasing an update via Magazine’s pack-in CD (the way the extras for DOA3 were delivered) and also through the future inception of the “Xbox LIVE” internet service, but that has yet to be decided. Since the whole pitch of the Xbox centered on it being a true console and not a mini-pc, it is understandable that tends to vehemently avoid the whole patching mentality. There is a quest of sorts at the heart of Morrowind, but you’ll spend so much time involved in the nooks and crannies of Vvardenfell, you’re bound to forget it completely. The game does record progress via the character’s “journal,” but it is kept in such a disorganized fashion that you’ll spend time leafing through the pages just trying to find out what quest you were in the middle of before you set out on one of Morrowind’s hundreds of “diversions.” All in all, this is a landmark title. Its open-ended gameplay will appeal to those who adore a real-time RPG and its sheer size (again, this has to be the biggest world ever created for a game) will bolster that appeal. However, its size may also act as a deterrent for those who simply don’t have the time to get that deeply involved. If these words fail to convey what is in store for a potential player, just know that the official Morrowind guide clocks in at 370 pages. For those on the fence about what version to get, rest easy. They are identical games offering the same experience. The PC version requires quite the monster machine to run effectively (a 1Ghz machine with 256 Megs of RAM or better is recommended), so if your machine doesn’t meet those specs, you should take into account the fact that you could probably purchase an Xbox and Morrowind for less than what it would cost to upgrade (or replace) your PC. If you have the time, and would love to immerse yourself in another world in the most literal sense possible, this game is for you. If you’re expecting type antics from this, stay far away.

90%

By Russell Garbutt