A must-have for Skyrim fans

DRAGONBORN - THE second major expansion released for the classic Skyrim - does a lot of nodding in the direction of Morrowind, the seminal third game in the Elder Scrolls series. Dragonborn takes place on the island of Solstheim (an island that also featured in Morrowind's Bloodmoon expansion), which is overall not much of a departure from the whole Skyrim feel, but definitely holds a few surprises.

Solstheim's dungeons are definitely a fresh experience. The Black Book realms - festooned with tentacles, acidic seas, and eyeballs in the sky - make for creepy hunting, and even the usual Dwemer or snowy dungeons throw new puzzle wrinkles into their otherwise familiar formula. You'll be fighting a handful of new enemies in them too, which helps. You'll be fighting a handful of new enemies in them too, which helps. Disgusting Seekers float around and confuse you by cloning decoys of themselves, while the goblinlike Rieklings sometimes ride wild boars and always throw spears at you. Be sure to visit the Trisk Mead Hall and talk to - do not attack - the pack of Rieklings out front. It will lead you on a hilarious sidequest.

While trying not to spoil much about the main quest I'm going to go straight ahead and say that Dragonborn's biggest new feautre is arguably the ability to ride dragons.

You don't gain the skill to do so until you learn all three words of a new Dragon Shout, which happens at the end of the main quest. When you finally do, you're probably going to be a bit disappointed. It's not a completely passive experience, a la Grand Theft Auto IV's taxi rides, but it's only a step above that. You can command your winged, scaly beast to land, lock onto targets, and attack, but that's it. Which, in this reviewers opinion, is total rubbish. We've been flying dragons in Elder Scrolls games since modders added the ability in the early days of Oblivion, so why on earth haven't Bethesda added the ability to Skyrim, over half a decade later?

Regardless, Dragonborn has a great plot and, at 68 hours completion time, it will keep you busy. Simply put - there's certainly enough stuff in this expansion pack to make it the best one released for Skyrim so far. A must-have for any serious Skyrim devotee.