Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Almost, but not quite"

*WARNING: Some content of this review maybe considered minor spoilers!*

Being the owner of the XBox360 version of Elder Scrolls games and Fallout I unfortunately don't have access to the heavenly arsenal of mods the PC community has, so I look forward to Bethesda's DLC because I know it will add more substance to their already time-consuming and addicting RPGs. Dawnguard was no exception.

Dawnguard is, as I said in the summary, Skyrim's Knights of the Nine. It doesn't add a huge new world map and main quest line in addition to the existing ones, like Shivering Isles did, but it adds new locations, weapons, armor, and enemies to the already existing play space. It is a good length, not too short not too long, but the equipment, armor, new locations, and side quests will keep you entertained long after you complete the DLC's main quest line. Also like Knights of the Nine you must help reorganize an Order of warriors dedicated to fighting some form of evil, in this case, Vampires. That is, however, if you side with the Dawnguard. If you side with the Volkihar Vampires, it's pretty much the opposite.

Now onto the new weapons and armor I keep gushing about. One of the big things about Dawnguard was the Addition of crossbows, which haven't been seen in an Elder Scrolls game since Morrowind. The crossbows in Dawnguard are decent weapons even to an untrained archer, with high base damage and the Enhanced Crossbow and Enhanced Dwarven Crossbow ignoring 50% of your poor target's armor. There is also, of course, the addition of Dawnguard weapons and armor. The weapons are strong and are especially effective on vampires. The armor has both a Light and Heavy variation, suiting both types of play styles. Castle Dawnguard also is a huge homebase for you and your new group of Buffys. There is also Vampire Armor for those who side with the Volkihar vampires. This only comes in Light variation unfortunately, but comes in Red, Black, and Blue, so there's something. You will also meet a Snow Elf or two on your adventures on the main Dawnguard quest. This means you can also take their armor, known as Ancient Falmer Armor. It appears as white Elven armor with some magenta trims. It is decent armor and looks cool to boot. The DLC also brings back a relic from classic Elder Scrolls, Auriel's Bow. It has the same base damage as an Elven Bow but has an enchantment to deal Sun damage and does triple damage to undead. It also fires very fast. With 100 Archery and the right perks, drawing the drawstring all the way and firing will take less than a second. You will also gain the ability to forge Dragonbone weapons, which are stronger than Daedric, and the ability to forge arrows.

As previously mentioned, Dawnguard adds many new locations to Skyrim. One of these being the Forgotten Vale. This location is a big Tundra with a surreal landscape. The Vale Deers look like the spirit of the forest from 'Princess Mononoke'. Another new and exciting location is the Oblivion plane Soul Cairn. Soul Cairn is where the souls of people and creatures trapped in soul gems go after their soul gem is used. Here you will meet a new dragon friend who will give you a shout to summon him. The first three times you summon him he will teach you a word to a new Shout called Soul Tear. There is also a new shout which drains stamina, magicka, and health from the target.

Dawnguard adds a few new enemies as well. One of these is a Frost Giant, which is more powerful than a regular giant and looks like a giant and frost trolls perversion of nature offspring. These are only found in set location of the Forgotten Vale, so don't worry about meeting one on your daily commute. Werewolves are now added as random encounter enemies as well. The new enemy that gave me the biggest scare are the Chaurus Hunters. For anyone who remembers Fallout New Vegas' Cazadors, yeah that's pretty much what they are. Perhaps the biggest addition to the "Things That Want You Dead" Club are the Revered and Legendary Dragons. Both of these are more powerful than Ancient Dragons, making them a force to be reckoned with. Revered Dragons have the ability to dive in and out of water and even through ice fields and look a little like giant wyvern-esque Barracudas or Slaughterfish. Legendary Dragons I have yet to encounter but I have heard they are the most fearsome monster yet.

Overall Dawnguard is fun and adds a lot of new content, and I recommend it to anyone on the XBox360 who owns Skyrim and to the PS3 owners once you get it.