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The land of Skyrim is the most fantastic game-world that Bethesda has come up with to date. Fallout 3 had a great world, but it was based on a real place, whereas Skyrim is made from pure imagination.
With such a big world, you'd think there would be lots of load times, but the only load times you'll find are when entering places such as buildings, caves and dungeons. The load times aren't ridiculously long, either, which is a plus.
Unfortunately, there are a few bugs and glitches, some of which even stop you from completing quests, which can be problematic, unless you're playing the PC version where you can just go into the console and type in a command to skip a part of the quest. I encountered a glitch that disabled me from completing one of the later quests, and I had to skip it altogether, which caused me to miss a very important part that I ended up having to read about instead.
There are many different guilds and factions that you can join in Skyrim, such as the Dark Brotherhood, Bard's Guild, The Companions, The Mage's College, and more. The only factions that are essential to the main quest are the Stormcloaks and the Imperials, of which you can only choose one, and the other will dislike you and attack you on sight.
Another new feature in Skyrim is the ability to get married. There are a few dozen possible marriage choices for both males and females. You first have to complete quests and become good friends with them before you precede to court them, and after the marriage ceremony, they will run shops that will provide income.
There are many different skills you will learn how to use as you level-up and upgrade them, from magical abilities like Conjuration, Destruction and Alchemy to physical abilities like Archery, One-Handed Weapons and Blocking. You'll want to think about what you want to be, though, because if you just level-up random abilities that you don't plan on using, you'll be in trouble later on in the game.
Graphics
Skyrim is a truly spectacular-looking game. It may not have the best graphics of this generation, but it's above par for the average game, and for having such a big open-world, it does truly look fantastic. It's easy to over-look the detail in some of the places in Skyrim, as the really breath-taking places lie outside of the major cities and towns, and instead consist of snowy mountains, river paths and large forests. The most fantastic thing in Skyrim has to be the skies in a certain place towards the end of the main quest, which look somewhat like the Aurora Borealis.
The character customization in Skyrim is amazing, as you get to choose exactly what your character looks like, down to the cheekbone. The only flaw with the characters is that they tend to be a bit glitchy at times, and will glitch into walls and sometimes produce visual artifacts, and the character models aren't amazing, which is an issue Bethesda has been struggling with for quite a while. It's disappointing that you'll encounter a lot of glitches in this otherwise visually-amazing game, but you'll be able to forgive this because of how nice the game looks.
Sound
The sound-track in Skyrim is among the best in recent history, and the overworld theme is a very memorable theme that is known well among the gaming community. The sound effects in the game are among the finest, and hearing a dragon's roar will put you on the edge of your seat with anticipation.
The voice-acting is superb, which was to be expected. There is a very large voice-cast for Skyrim, as you'll be able to tell as you walk through the towns and listen in on the many conversations going on around you. If you listen closely, you might be able to hear conversations about secret places in towns, or even news about what's been going on in Skyrim - sometimes, they'll even be talking about your character, and something big that he's done.
Story
The main story is quite compelling, and the side-quests are also fantastic. In the main quest, you'll be doing a lot of quests involving your origin, the Imperials, the Storm-Cloaks, Grey-Beards, and dragons. It's a very exciting adventure, that will take you across most of the places on the map, but it's more of an intro to what's to come.
Once you've beat the main quest, you're only a quarter done exploring what Skyrim has to offer, as there are hundreds of side-quests to be completed. There are hundreds of different places in Skyrim to be explored, most of which you'll find just by doing said side-quests. Some of them are generic hunt and fetch quests with a twist or two, and others will involve you going into the most dangerous dungeons or fighting giants that can kill you in a few hits, so you'd better get good at magic or archery.
Longevity
This game will last you longer than most single-player games, and probably even longer than a lot of newer multiplayer games. The sheer depth of the game-world alone is enough to suck you in for weeks upon weeks, and you'll be coming back to this game a lot.
The main quest shouldn't take you more than 40 hours to complete if you're taking your time and doing side-quests along the way, but after beating that, the game starts to open up even more and get a lot more exciting. Though you might not get the 300 hours out of it that were boasted before its launch, you'll probably get close to 150-200 just from completing the majority of the quests and faction/guild storylines.
The Verdict
Pros:
• One of the best game-worlds ever
• Great sound-track
• Tons of fun quests
• Lots of replayability
• Great story
Cons:
• Glitchy
Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 9.5
Sound: 9.5
Story: 9.5
Multiplayer: N/A
Longevity: 10
9.5/10