ES4: Shivering Isles - Reviews @ DEN, GameZone

The Shivering Isles are also a bit unbalanced – There’s lots of nifty new equipment and goodies to find for low-to-mid level characters, but higher-level characters may find much of the loot they snag is a bit underwhelming. There’s no less than four or five new varieties of arrows for archers to use, but the selection of other weapons added here seems a bit slim. Alchemists will jump with glee at all the new ingredients for them to play with, but spellmakers and enchanters will find little to amuse them. Warriors and magicians will find enemies that pose new challenges to overcome, but thieves and assassins will be disgusted at how few options they have here – enemies seem just as inept to detect someone skilled at sneak as those in Cyrodiil (if not more so), there’s no local fence, no one to bribe to shed your bounty, and in fact, crimes in Shivering Isles incur a bounty that’s completely separate from crimes in Cyrodiil, meaning that even if you make it back to a guild contact in your homeland, you still won’t be able to bribe your way out of your indiscretions in the Isles.

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And while some of Oblivions missions were a little dull Shivering Isles is chalk-full of spectacularly fun things to do. Although most take place in dungeons deep within the earth, the types of missions vary from scavenger hunts to assassinations to setting booby-traps. And to complement the new variety of tasks are a whole slew of fresh items, armor and weapons; every one which you will need to defeat the new monsters and behemoths within the demented worlds including a whole band of knights. The new creatures are pretty challenging, kicking my butt multiple times and will give you a good run for your money.

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