A Passable Entry Into The Morrowind Saga

With the phenomenal excellence and success of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and its first expansion Tribunal, it didn't surprise me too much when the second expansion, Bloodmoon appeared practically hot on the heels of the first expansion.

Like Tribunal, Bloodmoon adds a new area to the game world of Morrowind, this time though, instead of a the grand capital city of the region we are given a remote frontier land outpost on a frigid island northwest of Vvardenfell. The setting for this second expansion pack could not be more different from the first, and that's a good thing - Variety is, as they say, the spice of life.

The Bloodmoon expansion sends the player to the aforementioned island, which is known as Solstheim. Once you disembark at your new adventure-ground, you quickly meet up with the East Empire Company at their foothold on Solstheim and hear harrowing tales of mysterious disappearances in the night. The plot thickens...... Well, it sort of thickens. This time the story feels a bit forced. The Tribunal and Nerevarine stories done with, it felt like Bethesda were reaching a bit with this one, which mostly involves the local tribesmen and their werewolf troubles. The lore isn't as thick and engrossing and is rather forgettable.

While it isn't usually my policy to talk about graphics and sound in an expansion pack, they bear mentioning here. The reason for this is that Solstheim is the first snow-covered area in the game. Strangely, the predominantly white look - as you'd expect from snow - doesn't really work as well with the Morrowind graphics engine as other terrain types. Solstheim looks rather bland in fact, and it isn't particularly interesting in its design either, being rather flat and ... "samey"... in vegetation in most areas. Caves and dungeons work well here; however, with a rather appropriate atmosphere to them, ranging from a rather chilly feel to a blessedly snug shelter from the elements.

Bloodmoon offers a two major new quest chains, as well as a few side quests. The already mentioned werewolf quest chain takes the novel path of allowing the player to turn the whole thing on its head and actually BECOME a werewolf. The other quest chain, involving work for the East Empire company, sees the player eventually overseeing the construction of a new town on a remote part of Solstheim. Despite the lack of a really engrossing plot, there is plenty to do.

As with Tribunal, there's no real interaction between the other areas and the new area, which is a shame, especially as Solstheim is a little bland when taken by itself. You will find very little reason to travel to either Vvardenfell or Mournhold once you are ashore in the new area, unless it is to sell off some gear at the wealthy stores at Mournhold.

Overall, Bloodmoon is pleasant enough, but it feels more like a huge fan-made mod than an official expansion from Bethesda. The new area has the look and feel of something made with a construction set, with mobs, trees, objects etc plonked down seemingly at random in places, to the point where the landscape doesn't quite seem real. I sort of drifted away from this expansion after a few days, only returning to complete it during a particularly nasty bout of the flu when I began to feel better and had nothing else to do. This time though, the questing and completion of the game felt a bit mechanical, rather than the magical unraveling of a plot as in the original game and the first expansion. Bloodmoon feels rushed, like they wanted to get it out quickly so they could move on with the production of the next game in the series, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

This is well worth a look, especially if you are a Morrowind completionist and aren't too worried about a bit of extra expenditure for a bit of extra game area and some more quests. Don't expect to be blown away, but if you go in with low expectations, you might just have a good time.