Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Masterpiece"

I will start with the graphics, this game is stunning i have spent alot of my time in skyrim just staring at the amazing scenery. There is so much improvement over the graphics in fallout and oblivion. In oblivion we had the horrible character models that looked like wax statues if anything, in skyrim the character models are amazing, races like the argonians or the orcs are massively different to their wax ancestors.
As for the environment it's amazing looking up at skyrims night sky is a beautiful sight with their version of the northern lights. Each city is designed brilliantly, from the cold harsh city of Windhelm to the ancient stone city of Markarth.

The story is as you would expect from a bethesda game, average if you really want a good story join one of skyrims guilds like the dark brotherhood or the thieves guild while the main questline is still very enjoyable the guild quests are just great. Most of the characters in the guilds have their own voice actors.
There are quite a few winks to the players of the previous elder scrolls games which are always nice to see.

Now the gameplay, well it's brilliant the new combat system is great allowing a huge number of different combinations do you want to dual wield two different spells or use a hammer and sword there are so many possibilities. Bethesda do a great job of allowing you to do everything in one playthrough, you don't have to be good with magic to join the mages guild and you don't have to be really sneaky to be an assassin.
The leveling system is great it is a combination of the leveling systems from oblivion and fallout, the skills level up as you use them and everytime you level up you get to choose a perk this allows you to become stronger in your favorite playstyle.
Fighting dragons can be incredibly fun with another great piece of music from Jeremy Soule playing in the background altough after a while they can become tedious.

Now onto the few problems with the game firstly the A.I it's absolutely terrible companions do nothing but get in the way and if i am sneaking i can shoot a person in the head with my arrow and the person sitting next to him will just continue to sit there still having a conversation with his dead friend. By the time my sneak skill was about 50 i could just walk right in front of people and they would not see me

The next problem is with some of the physics and animations, dragon fights can become very tedious when the dragon will only land on the side of a mountain, and although i will admit to using this to my advantage the horse physics can really break immersion when i am able to climb an almost vertical wall

The only other problem i have is i would sometimes get severe framerate lag to the point where i would have to stop playing for a while i am not sure if this is just a problem with the ps3.

in conclusion thanks to the immersive world, addictive gameplay, and amazing quests, you can soon forget about all the issues with the game, hours will pass without you noticing. Be a legendary hero destined for sovengarde or the worlds greatest thief swimming in millions of gold coins. Play however you want in the Elder Scrolls Skyrim!

Graphics:10/10
Gameplay:9/10
Music/sound effects:10/10
story:8/10
lasting appeal:10/10
Overall:9/10