Morrowind is an entertaining, engrossing, complete game experience.

Every once in a while (sometimes a long while) a game comes along that gets everything right, accomplishes everything it sets out to do. Though it achieves its lofty goal, no one ever finds out because there are more bugs in the game than a Twinkie left on the sidewalk for a week. No, I am not talking about Morrowind¸ I am talking about its predecessor, Daggerfall.

Daggerfall could have been the best RPG of its time. It had depth unlike anything ever seen before. It had atmosphere. It had bugs. So many that most of the people who bought the game could not run it. In the world of computer games, however, several games can do this and still survive. Even though Bethesda released such a buggy game, and then followed it with the nearly as buggy and totally uninspired Battlespire, here we are, discussing the sequel, which took years to get to us. Who says we PC gamers are not insane? I wear that label as a badge of determination. Then again, most psychopaths are pretty frickin’ determined.

Okay, let me just say that I was one of the few that got to play Daggerfall. I loved it. It had everything you’d want in an RPG, especially the living, breathing world and the freedom to do whatever you want when you want. The game was ahead of its time on many levels. No RPG that I have played to date has attempted to incorporate such a huge amount of possibilities into its core. Sure, some people got so frustrated with the game that they didn’t bother with it anymore. I understand that. Hell, I agree with that feeling. But that is no reason to stay away from Morrowind.

Promised some five or so years ago, Morrowind was supposed to correct the problems inherent in Daggerfall and bring the series into the Windows era seamlessly. Graphics were to be updated to full 3D, sound to be upgraded, but the core of the game was to remain the same. Quite a lofty goal set forth by a company that cannot be accused of taking the easy way out. Bethesda is Rocky Balboa in Rocky III. They took a brutal beating with this style of game, and, yet, here they are, newly formed, and ready to take on the same battle yet again. And, yes, like Rocky, they are victorious.

We’ve been weaned on a different style of RPG in the years after Daggerfall. Most first-person RPGs that came out after Daggerfall sucked. (Anyone remember Descent to Undermountain?) So, after the great RPG depression, we were resurrected by the Bioware boys with the isometric Baldur’s Gate, and RPG gaming was changed. There were a few first-person RPGs (Might and Magic series) but nothing on the scale of Daggerfall. Now, the sequel is upon us, and it will cause many people to rethink their ideas of the RPG in many ways.

The game’s beginning gives you a great feel for the depth you are about to experience throughout. Even how you create and name your character is detailed and interactive, taking place as you’re being transported from prison to a new country. Someone wants you to carry out a task, though you don’t know who and you don’t know why. You’ll be lead in the right direction at first, the only time you’ll have to follow direction. This beginning sequence sets the tone for the game, giving you a good glimpse of the beautiful graphics and good voice-over work.

For hardcore RPG fans, there is plenty of tinkering to be done, multitudes of side quests, and basically plenty to keep you busy. The game might be a bit daunting for the casual gamer, but I suggest you give it a chance and take the time needed to learn the game. It is well worth it. Not many games offer the same amount of gaming for the dollar. Morrowind is an entertaining, engrossing, complete game experience.

Most importantly, I didn’t encounter one bug. I am sure there are a few in there, I just didn’t encounter them myself. The game played smooth, and looked absolutely beautiful when it was cranked up to 1600x1200. This was on a PIII-800 with 512MB of RAM and a GeForce2 GTS card. The frame rate dipped when the action got hot, but it never got so slow that it was noticeable. I particularly liked the wide range of colors and the spell effects. This game is just downright gorgeous, so much so that the game could ride on this feature and nothing else and still succeed.

Of course, it doesn’t do that. Morrowind is deep. We’re talking about a game that, if you follow everything to the letter in an attempt to finish the game as quickly as possible, would take roughly 100 hours. There’s no fun in that, though. Instead, you can choose to be a citizen of this cyberworld. You can take your time. Like Daggerfall, you can essentially play Morrowind forever. You can really feel like you are in an alternate reality. You feel the nuances of the game, the weather effects, the change in attitude of the citizens. It is dynamic. And it almost feels real. This is what sucked me in. I am still playing. And I am still enjoying it.

The game is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. There are some times when the game drags a little (the beginning, after character creation) and some areas seem a bit uninspired. Some people who are used to more action-oriented RPGs (read: Diablo 2) might think the game is a bit boring. Don’t get me wrong; there is plenty of action. Just not so much of the mouse-button mashing some prefer. Also, at times (and I am being highly critical here) you lose sight of the story. Maybe this is because the game is so engrossing on an instant level that you lose sight of the big picture. I don’t know. But I felt it, and dammit, my therapist said my feelings matter.

Bottom line is, Morrowind kicks ass. What Max Payne did for the third-person shooter, and what Grand Theft Auto did for the action genre, Morrowind has done for the RPG. It has both resurrected a dying breed and further evolved the genre as a whole. Notice I didn’t say ‘revolutionized’. There is nothing groundbreaking here. Instead, this game is all that past RPGs should have been. That, in itself, is quite an accomplishment.

Reviewed by John Misak.