"Skyrim: Dawnguard" DLC: 5 Things We Loved, And 5 Things We Didn't

"Dawnguard" is the first major expansion for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the game that many consider the best title released in 2011, and I'll be damned if Bethesda didn't decide to make it about vampires, of all things.

You see, those without a sense of The Elder Scrolls series' history may assume that "Dawnguard" is nothing more than a somewhat late attempt to jump on whatever's left of the Twilight bandwagon. But vampires have been a part of the Elder Scrolls series for awhile—since 1996's Daggerfall (The Elder Scrolls II).

The "Dawnguard" DLC introduces two new factions, in effect: the eponymous Dawnguard, out to eradicate vampires from the land once and for all, and the much more interesting vampires, whose goal is to fulfill a prophecy that would blot out the sun forever.

The review is divided into five things I loved and five that I didn't love, but don't take that to mean there's an equal amount of bad here as good. My overall experience with "Dawnguard" was overwhelmingly positive, so if you're on the fence, consider this a definite yes.

There are plenty of high points, but it has its faults as well, and it's only fair to highlight them too. So read on for the full synopsis, and tell us what you think of "Dawnguard" in the comments or on Twitter.

The game first nudges you toward the new content when various strangers remark to you that a new group called The Dawnguard is looking for recruits to help hunt down vampires. After the first quest, though, you're given the option to side with the creatures instead.

Honestly, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't. Especially once they see what being a vampire means: you get to transform into the uber-badass Vampire Lord form.

Along with powers to become invisible, enchant NPCs, raise powerful dead allies, and detect nearby creatures in your normal form, you can transform into the floating, winged monster on a whim and gain a host of additional powers and attacks, plus a whole new skill tree to master.

You'll move faster in this form, as well, although the downside is being out in sunlight stunts your magicka, health and stamina.

The downside of the Vampire Lord form is that it's rather one note. Besides the ability to go invisible, which can only be used once a day, there are no other stealth options, so you won't be able to embody the romantic "creature of the night" vampire.

Instead, you're a killing machine, and most of the new perks you'll unlock will focus on that. Even your swipes do considerable damage in Vampire Lord form. I just wish there were more varied options.

The most obvious new addition as far as equipment goes is the crossbow, since you're given one as soon as you join the Dawnguard (which is mandatory). But there are plenty more:

There's horseback combat, the ability to craft arrows and bolts with firewood, a merchant who lets you redesign your character, new dragon shouts, and plenty more new powers, armor and weapons.

And when it comes to The Elder Scrolls, more is always better.

One downside about being a badass Vampire Lord is that it takes freaking forever to actually transform. There's often a good two to three second delay between tapping the button and seeing the transformation happen. All told it can take up to seven seconds to change forms, and by that time your prey's either run away or been defeated by a companions.

And it takes just as long to switch back. Sometimes the animation itself even glitches, and that wasn't the only technical problem I encountered—I fell through the floor in one area, and the game froze three times over two days of playing.

I played on the Xbox 360, so maybe these bugs are less severe on the PC or (snicker) the PS3.

There are a few notable new enemies to fight that bring a selection of new visual elements and better opportunities for looting. For example, gargoyles drop especially useful loot: various ores with which to conduct more advanced crafting.

The Dawnguard themselves employ armored trolls in battle, and they'll fight by your side if you choose to join the vampire hunters.

Likewise, Death Hounds—which are exactly what they sounds like—fight for the vampires. And if you become one, a demonic hounds cloaked in darkness will join you on your quests like the game's other dogs (Meeko, etc.)

As a vampire, you can also summon a gargoyle to help out during battle.

But not all the new enemies are super awesome—in fact, the vampires themselves are kind of underwhelming in battle, excepting one bloodsucking companion's tendency to raise freshly killed enemies to fight at your side. Seriously, she does it during every fight.

But while the idea of killing vampires is fine and dandy, in practice it's no different than fighting any other enemy. Especially compared to TES III: Morrowind, in which the seldom-encountered vampires (seriously, you could play through the entire game without ever seeing one) moved at incredible speeds and pretty much wrecked you if you weren't expecting them.

They're even affected by the weather (your vampiric companion will constantly moan about the cold). It's very un-vampire-like stuff.

Of course, "Dawnguard" wouldn't be quite as exciting if it just dropped a treasure chest full of new weapons and armor in your house and called it a day.

The new quests (on the vampire's side, at least—I didn't play through the Dawnguard quests after the first) will have you excavating ancient tombs, raiding a skooma dungeon (Skyrim's equivalent of an opium den) and travelling to a crazy realm of trapped souls.

Oh, and yes, that's an Elder Scroll strapped to that vampire chick's back.

Considering Skyrim boasts possibly the best integration of Xbox 360 Kinect of any game yet released (I'm looking at you, Heavy Armor: Steel Battalion), it was rather disappointing to discover that Bethesda didn't bother to implement voice commands for any of the new "Dawnguard" abilities.

Tons of normal functions, from opening the map to equipping dual fire spells, can be accomplished using the Kinect's voice recognition features during normal gameplay, but try as I might, I could not get it to recognize my shouts of "Vampire Lord!"

Then again, most people reading this probably won't care about this at all.

TES III: Morrowind is certainly a fan favorite when it comes to Elder Scrolls games, and it also happens to be one of my favorite games of all time. So I was particularly appreciative of the many nods and winks to Morrowind that Bethesda inserted in "Dawnguard."

I don't want to give away the best one, but suffice to say fans will meet and take a quest from a Morrowind character that I would have guessed we'd never be seeing or hearing from again. This character was unimportant, but you'll probably recognize him instantly.

So when you're wandering around the Soul Cairn killing Keepers, for Vivec's sake look around for this guy. You won't be disappointed.

The new Vampire Lord form should be the highlight of "Dawnguard," but after a while I found I wasn't using the form at all. There are some limitations to being a badass floating vampire monster, you see.

For one thing, this form forces you into third person. I have no idea why, but it doesn't make it any easier to aim its many distance attacks. Furthermore, you won't be able to interact with most elements of the world as a Vampire Lord. You can't loot corpses or containers, and that means transforming back to normal after every scrap. And don't forget, that takes about seven seconds.

Plus you can't look at the map or your inventory, meaning you'll be switching out of Vampire Lord form far more often than you'll like. For me, it made switching back and forth a chore, but your experience might be different.

Either way, I wholeheartedly recommend "Dawnguard" to any Skyrim fans looking for a meaty piece of content to…sink their teeth into.