insanebear

Review: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim


Score: Superb
Difficulty played on: Adept (middle setting of five options)
Time to beat: Between 10 and 20 hours for main quest line depending on how you play; hundreds of hours when all side quests are taken into account
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Loved the most: A massive world populated by dozens upon dozens of the most beautiful and varied dungeons I’ve ever seen in a game.
Hated the most: It clings to outdated notions of inventory management that can keep you out of action for more than an hour every time you boot up.

After putting nearly 80 hours into Skyrim, I feel informed enough to give a quality review. Having said that, I could very likely double that amount of time with the quests I have left to do. So I can’t honestly say that I’ve experienced everything this massive game has to offer, but I have experienced all of its core systems and hope that will be enough to give you a fair and informed opinion.

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Author: Cody

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Monday, January 23rd, 2012 Reviews 1 Comment

Feature: InsaneBear’s 2011 Game of the Year

Another year, another reflective diary entry on how many social opportunities I sacrificed for video games…wait, that’s not right! No: this is a celebration of what has probably been the best year of games since 2007. So let’s get down to business and start with the InsaneBear tradition of looking back on the previous year’s games and re-evaluating our opinions in hindsight.

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Author: Cody

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Saturday, December 31st, 2011 Features 4 Comments

Random: Happy Festivus (and other holidays) from InsaneBear!

Here at InsaneBear, we try to hibernate through the winter whenever we’re not writing. But we always like to wake up this time of year to wish all of our readers a happy holiday and new year. Be sure to check in over the next week for our special Game of the Year podcast and official feature, and as always, keep enjoyin’ those vidja games!

Author: Cody

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Friday, December 23rd, 2011 Random 5 Comments

Feature: Pitching K.I.A.

Concept Art - Muted realsim that progressively gives way to colorful stylization as the action gets hotter.

Introduction: K.I.A. is a Tactical Modern Military First-Person Shooter that seeks to explore the human cost of war through a morally ambiguous narrative and gameplay mechanics that reflect your character’s emotional state in varying degrees of exaggeration. Stepping into the boots of Private Jose Hernandez, you’ll undertake an odyssey of war that spares no women, children, or refugees. Along the way you’ll bond ever closer with your squad-mates over conversations of home, risky favors, and nerve-rattling combat. The eleven soldiers who fight by your side hail from varying backgrounds, but every one of them will come to be considered family to Pvt. Hernandez over the course of a harrowing global conflict. But can the men of Charlie squad save you from yourself?

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Author: Cody

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Saturday, December 3rd, 2011 Features 2 Comments

Random: Happy Thanksgiving from InsaneBear

Where's the honey?

Please, we encourage you to eat too much, drink too much, watch too much football, and generally just revel in excess. Just remember: genocide should never be celebrated, unless of course we’re talking about the genocide of turkeys.

Author: Cody

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Thursday, November 24th, 2011 Random 9 Comments

Feature: Pitching Slayer

Concept Art - That's about right.

Introduction: Slayer takes all the action, drama, and comedy of Joss Whedon’s beloved Buffy the Vampire Slayer and puts it into a choice-driven Action-RPG set ten years after the destruction of Sunnydale. You play as one of the many potential Slayers who was awoken in the events of the series finale, and with none other than Giles as your personal Watcher, you must assemble your very own Scooby Gang to combat Buffy herself. An unidentified big bad has sired the most powerful Slayer the world has ever known and together they’re working to undo all the good that’s been done. You’ll encounter Angel, Spike, Willow and the rest along the way, but ultimately, only you can stop the vampire slayer turned vampire.

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Author: Cody

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Saturday, November 5th, 2011 Features No Comments

Random: A glimpse into the illustrious lives of InsaneBear’s crew

Author: Cody

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Sunday, October 9th, 2011 Random No Comments

Feature: Pitching Tag

Concept Art - The starkly clean world of Mirror's Edge tainted by a renaissance of graffiti.

After a bit of a hiatus, circumstances have allowed for the return of InsaneBear’s “Pitching” feature, in which I conjure up a basic game concept and present it for my faithful readers to critique and compare against the current gaming landscape. What’s good or bad about this game? Which of its elements would you like to see in other games? These questions and more are an important part of “Pitching” that will allow us to create a meaningful dialogue on conventions of game design. Of course, the feature’s return is subject to reader response; so let us know if you’d like to see more like this or if you’d rather stick with InsaneBear’s traditional features!

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Author: Cody

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Saturday, October 8th, 2011 Features No Comments

Random: InsaneBear reminds you to watch for tree-lurkers

Author: Cody

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Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 Random No Comments

Feature: Pitching Cube

Concept Art - Mixing the sterile, scientific environments of Portal with the grit and gore of Gears of War.

Introduction: You’ve seen the movie; now experience the savage tension of trust and betrayal in the video game adaptation of Cube‘s fight for survival. Take part in four separate campaigns of deadly co-operative puzzle-solving where nothing can be trusted–not your teammates, not even the chamber walls. Communication is the key to survival in this gruesome First-Person physics-based Puzzler that tasks four total strangers with escaping a mysterious cube-shaped structure constituted by countless chambers of death. But can anybody be trusted to divulge everything they know when their life is on the line?

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Author: Cody

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Monday, June 20th, 2011 Features No Comments
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