Skyrim Vr/switch
Skyrim on THE bus and Skyrim in your face
This month we check out the portable and virtual reality versions of the fifth Elder Scrolls game, play through Kirby’s latest offering and discover if Super Lucky’s Tale is worth spending your hard-earned money on
It’s astonishing to think the Elder Scrolls series is nearly 25 years old now and it’s equally astonishing to see how much mileage Bethesda has squeezed out of the fifth game in the series. Since its release in 2011, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been released twice on PC, as well been ported to major home consoles. It’s now been updated again for the Switch and PS VR, and we were interested to see how they both hold up.
The Switch version is a particularly impressive beast as it includes the full game and all three of the game’s expansions, all of which have been crammed onto a single cartridge. It’s taken something of a graphical hit, which is particularly noticeable when played docked, but it’s still easily on par with the first-generation versions of the game and certainly doesn’t detract from the experience. Skyrim really shines in portable mode, however, and it’s hard to believe that you’re playing a game of this magnitude on a handheld. Everything just looks so epic. In fact, playing Skyrim portable becomes fantastic fun, as the quick save option of the game allows you to easily pick up and play whenever you need to.
Less impressive, however are the motion controls that have been added to the game. They’re nowhere near as precise as we’d like and all they really do is highlight the fact that Skyrim’s melee combat remains as weak today as it was in 2011. Having said that, picking locks becomes a lot more fun and spellcasting is pretty good as well, so they’re not a complete waste of time. Thankfully, you don’t need to use motion controls if you don’t want to, meaning you can simply get lost in Skyrim’s huge world. Another bone of contention we have is that it simply feels too expensive for a game that came out six years ago and has
been reissued countless times already. There’s no denying Skyrim’s huge campaign and copious sidequests will keep you going for ages, but it still hard to ignore the game’s cost when you look at how much other versions are currently available for.
Still, it’s Skyrim and it’s portable and bonuses like Amiibo support and the aforementioned motion controls mean it’s far from a lazy port.
If Skyrim manages to impress on Nintendo’s Switch then it absolutely smashes expectations when played in virtual reality. Yes, its textures take a big hit in order to hit the required frame-rate that’s needed for all VR games, but the sense of walking around the world of The Elder Scrolls is easily the best VR experience we’ve had yet – and we’ve had some incredible ones over the last year. Everything about the world feels tangible, living and breathing, as if you can reach out and touch the very things in front of you. And in many ways you actually can because Skyrim VR does give you the option to use motion controls, which feel a lot more natural than they do on the Switch.
They’re something of a doubleedged sword, though, for while they allow you to easily admire your weapons and effortlessly pick up the many items you find on your travels they can also be very hit and miss at times, particularly when going through the motions of notching and firing your bow. The biggest issue when using motion controls, though, is that there’s no simple way of easily navigating the environment, turning movement into a fiddly and frustrating experience. Sure, it feels great using your arms to fling spells about, but it becomes an absolute nightmare when you want to run away from enemies that get too close to you. You’re better off playing the game with a traditional pad, as that’s the way it was designed in the first place. Granted, you lose a little immersion this way, but it doesn’t take away from the sheer impact that climbing to the top of a mountain offers, or the feeling that washes over you as you watch the sun rise. Being in the world of Skyrim is one of the best VR experiences gaming has so far offered and we hope other developers will follow suit as virtual reality remasters of classic games would certainly be worth revisiting.
Regardless of what system you choose the core game remains exactly the same, meaning you’ve an epic adventure in store of you that will see you choosing between rival factions, delving into all manner of dangerous dungeons and facing off against some truly terrifying dragons. While many of Skyrim’s mechanics have been improved upon by later games since its release, it still manages to offer a satisfying sense of exploration and discovery that few other games are able to manage – more so when playing in VR. PS VR owners certainly get the better deal, but no one really loses by buying these latest versions of Bethesda’s award-winning RPG.