Skyrim leaves the lasting impression that it truly will be a game that doesn’t end, a never ending story if you will, and it creates the sort of vibrant world that you know will continue to exist even after you have decided to no longer take part in its wondrous offerings of freedom and fantasy.
The most surreal thing about playing such an expansive and sprawling world is the fact that whwhile playing it, I truly wanted to get lost in this realm of Tamriel, whether it was pacing through the snow in Winterhold or standing atop the waterfall-laden city of Markarth, there is such an endless amount of sight-seeing and exploration to be had in this game before you even consider the stories being told.
Without delving too much into the main quest, simply because there are that many side missions and stories that it seems unfair to dwell, your character is in fact a Dragonborn, and of course dragons seem to have returned to Skyrim for unknown reasons, and you are tasked with finding out the nature of their visit, but also try and heal relations between The Imperials and the Stormcloak rebellion. But of course our own Dragonborn must deal with everything else that he is being tasked with around this fast land.
Whether you are learning a ‘Dragon Shout” or simply taking out your sword for close combat, the opportunities are endless as to what can be achieved in the remarkable game.
As our hero is tasked with these shouts, which enable him to reach into the very soul of the dragons and basically use their powers, clear the sky of a storm, create a thunderstorm, breathe fire or even call a fallen soldier to your aid, these are all options, and that is only shouts, not magic. Magic can be used through Ice, Lightning or even Fire, whether your’e simply wanting to inflame a wolf who is giving you grief or go to extreme lengths and try to take down a dragon, the supernatural means are all on offer.
The customisation of your character is indeed endless, after picking from a vast array of races, you can begin upgrading your character with anything you can get your hands on.
Walk around in a simple rag if you want to, or why not join the Thieves Guild, work your way up and possess the fantastic Nightingale armour, or even steal the clothing from an Imperial guard, along with his gold, a key to his chest or even a house.
But why stop there? Why not buy your very own property? Kit it out with whatever is on offer and even store all your baggage that you don’t want to sell or get rid of but simply cannot carry it anymore. The game truly offers another life for you to take control of and do as you see fit.
But of course a game this vast and sprawling doesn’t come without its own baggage, and unfortunately this fifth entry into the Elder Scrolls universe is not without its problems. In terms of gameplay, the movement itself of NPCs and yourself still aren’t on par with games of the same generation, and the combat is in the most sincere way, woeful. Bethesda still cannot seem to incorporate a workable and enjoyable style of hand to hand combat without it looking tired and annoying, shields and swords are heavily upgradeable, but I found myself managing to come into possession of a wonderful sword, but equipping it to one hand with a fireball spell on the other, the motion of fighting is still very dark-age looking and should be given more time to improve upon. The game does also come with gltiches a plenty, and while some are just plain hilarious (getting thrown 100 feet in the air simply by falling from my horse) most are frustrating to the point of having to restart the console or last save game.
But these little inklings aside, Skyrim itself is just bursting with untainted beauty. Staring out at the glaciers in the distance, sure just go for a walk to them and bathe in the environment around you, there is the best chance that you will encounter a side mission that just might sound interesting, retrieve a book from a derelict cave or go and do the bidding of a god. When this much detail goes into a game, it would just be insulting not to give it a try, with epic needing to be used in every sentence about this wonderful fantasy, it truly is one of the best games to ever grace a console, and will be enough to keep many occupied for a long time to come.… Expand

Probably the best money I have ever spent on entertainment/relaxation. This game incorporates so many different elements and investments of time that it suited any mood I was in. Whether ready for a long involved quest with story, discovery and challenge, or just a 15-20 minute easy adventure this is the perfect game.
The enormous scope of variety and discovery makes this game never get old.

However! Even though I gave the GAME itself 10 points, the Playstation version should probably only get a 7 due to the number of bugs and amount of time sitting around waiting for loading. But I didn't have it in me to give it a lower score.… Expand

Post Patch 1.9 Review
The stability bugs experienced by Skyrim players since launch are well documents so I thought I would make my first review a look at Skyrim with the cure-all patch 1.9 installed.
Unfortunately, Stability is still an issue. I have found as many instances of the game hanging at loading screens and in transitionary areas of the map as I had previously. The frame-rate seems to suffer in the same places too; particularly when large amounts of bodies are present on screen. For instance, after escaping the prison at the very beginning of the game, the game judders significantly as you journey to Riverwood, perhaps in response to the high concentration of plush and exotic plant life littering the landscape. Similarly a room of skeletons near the end of a certain underwater fort causes awful slowdown.

Graphically, the seam-joining bugs that appeared a year ago are still present. Heads and necks do not meet up on 63% of the NPCs. This started to occur when a previous update changed the way Weight modelled the character, for now there are only four settings in character creation which give the player character a 'joined up' look. As all the NPCs are created from the same templates, they do not benefit from the inspection you can give to your own avatar prior to launching the game. Failing to pick one of the four safe weights and the result is at best a flickering around the neckline, and at worst a void into which the far-distance background can be seen. There are also colour mismatches between head and body; equally immersion-breaking for those with full colour vision, I'm sure.

Quest bugs are still present too. For instance, being sent to Yngol Barrow for the Helm of Winterhold will still remove the Helm of Yngol and cause the dungeon to be un-clearable; I've become accustomed to quest bugs foibles to the degree that I usually avoid them without thinking, yet I am still tripped by the likes of that above. Blood on the Ice is still buggy and I start every new game by travelling to Windhelm and waiting for the quest to start, then waiting longer to finish it; and all because some random NPC is not marked essential and a dragon or vampire attack will start a butterfly effect which will rob me of my favourite house some hours down the line.

The inclusion of the Legendary difficulty setting finally settles the argument about playing on Master being for the hardcore players only. Legendary is impossible to play on from the start of the campaign, I started this way and was two-shotted by the first soldier I encountered.
However, on a much more advanced save, I was able to thrive on Legendary. In that save, I'd maxed all my equipment and the game was no longer challenging. I'd played on Master throughout the game and struggled through the early parts until I could make the game easy. After 30 hours of play I was then able to play as if I was still on Adept difficulty; what is the point of that, really? The inclusion of Legendary smacks of only one thing, poor balancing, and only useful to min/maxers who broke the game by becoming too powerful. Moreover, game balancing should be the domain of the developer, not something to outsource to the player. I don't want to ask myself "how often should I die?" For me, balancing makes the difference between a game being 'a virtual interactive world' and 'a competitive and fun form of recreation'.

Lastly, I know a lot of people were upset about the removal of a certain glitch which enabled players to reach the level cap in half an hour; I can say categorically that with the introduction of Legendary Skills, levelling is even easier. Certain oft-overlooked skills like Pickpocket level up very quickly but the real boon comes in the form of the spell Harmony which, when used in combination with enchanted gear, can be chain-cast in busy areas to level up once every 30 seconds. I reached a character level of 164 before the novelty wore off and I realised I had broken my game.

Game save file sizes continue to balloon. This can be somewhat combatted by cleaning 'safe' dungeons of clutter by storing it on bodies, but this tactic is both time consuming and annoying. It also necessitates heavy use of the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages to determine the 'safe' locations; and there are many. Doing so will reduce save file sizes and help with lag, as will clearing quests. It is manageable, yet is not what I wanted to do in my spare time.

In summary, while patch 1.9 is a step up regarding some game breaking mechanics, the experience remains largely unchanged. It is not possible to gaily wander through the game without consequence on stability, frame-rate, quest completion or balance.
That aside, Skyrim itself has proven to endure and remains one of the most beautifully crafted game worlds I've ever seen and I feel an almost paternal love for it, despite it's many issues. That I am the 1819th user to voice their opinions on the matter stands testament to its greatness.… Expand

They should call it SKYBUG!!not skyrim. even after almost 2 years they release a patch (2.09) that from the first minute bugged my gameplay. Bethesda is just pathetic...will definately NOT get any DLC nor any future game unless they prove me wrong in the future. Just pathetic...

This game is hands down amazing. Visually stunning, an enormous amount of quests and missions to do. There was a day where I did nothing but wander around in the woods and find locations. I play a lot of games, i have an xbox gamer-score around 40K and level 16 in PS3 trophies. I played this game and only this game for nearly four months. Amazing in every capacity. Ignore the high amount of negative comments on this game, a lot of people were just upset because one of the early patches for the game actually made it worse. Guess what it's a massive game, with tons of stuff going on and tons of things to do, there are going to be issues with any game of this scope.… Expand

0. It's broken. IT DOES NOT WORK. The game breaks itself more every patch and nothing seems to get fixed. The combat is boring and repetitive, and that is 50% of the game right there. Skills are all but useless, magic and shouts render everything just plain brokenly easy, there is no specialization, the story could have been great but was poorly executed, the voice actors were awful, the civil war aspect was so shallow and boring that it should have been removed, there is no character development being as dialogue is basically "yes/no" and "good/also good". there was NO choice in the story, crafting and alchemy were there only for the sake of existing, and the game crashed frequently.
Overall, two words describe this game: broken, and stupid. It is broken, the game is both buggy and poorly designed at best. Also, it has no depth. Your character is a cardboard cut out, the story is rushed through, it is FAR too easy, and for some reason carries none of the great changes made in Fallout 3 and New Vegas from Oblivion. This game is awful, do not even pirate this game (if you maybe want the PC version), it is not worth the hard drive space.… Expand

Skyrim has gathered a wealth of acclaim since it was released. Acclaim that would lead a gamer to believe this game is as close to perfect as it can get. It clearly is not.
The main plot of Skyrim can be summed up in three words; 'You kill dragons'. That's it. The game makes a damn fine effort to cover up this most lackluster plot by putting a plethora of side quests and explorable areas into the game. They seem neat at first, but quickly become 'run through dungeon, grab items, use shortcut at the end to exit.' There are a few unique ones that really held my attention but the majority bored me.
The game play is mediocre at best. Though it promises to be varied by offering a few different approaches, it quickly becomes an annoyance. It only becomes interesting once you get to a high level and enemies become more resistant to your best skills. But then, this is after at least twenty hours of playing and what's the point of levelling up if enemies counter skills you focus on.
The soundtrack was largely forgettable and the voice acting is laughable.
Everything feels so rigid in Skyrim. I am constantly reminded I am playing a game, by completely uninteresting NPCs with the same VO, lackluster gameplay and glitches. Skyrim isn't the worst game, far from it in fact. It's an average game filled with average content that begs your attention but ultimately fails to hold it.… Expand

The greatest game I have ever played! This is video gaming at its finest. There is so much you can do in this game. I've played it for a total of about 150 hours and I still haven't done everything. Combine that with awesome character customization, many fantastic side quests, an amazing main quest, and a massive, beautiful world, Skyrim is the pinnacle of gaming! I can't wait for more Elder Scrolls games!… Expand

The amount of detail in this game is incredible! I cannot describe how much detail there is in this game. There must be easily over one hundred books in this game, all that can be read and placed on bookshelves in your home. The painstaking attention to detail is nothing short of phenomenal. Couple this with a beautiful and open overworld, countless ways to customize your character and an exciting battle system and you have one of the greatest games ever created. The soundtrack to this game is sublime; very atmospheric and in places heart wrenching and hauntingly beautiful, the soundtrack alone is a reason to get this game. It fits in with the fantasy land of Skyrim like a glove to a hand, and really makes the game feel so open and as if the world around you lives and breathes and has a story of its own. I bought the game about one week after release and yes, for the first few months, the game was plagued by some horrendous bugs that really brought the experience down. But these have since been resolved, and you would only be cutting off your nose to spite your face if you didn't get this game due to past issues. Also the full DLC is now available on the PS3 (which I have yet to play can't wait) so please, if you are a fan of fantasy RPG's and incredible adventure, treat yourself to Skyrim. You won't be disappointed.… Expand

The PS3 version of this game should be reviewed on 2 different aspects:

The game itself: deserves nothing less of an 8. It's a huuuuuge game and does a very good job at keeping that adventure itch going on. Gameplay wise it good but it's nothing amazing, other games have done it better and it kind of lacks depth. The skill trees however are incredible, and all other RPGs should take notes about how to do a leveling scheme properly; it compensates the lack of depth with an abundance of skills, making you a highly specialized killing machine in the end without compromising your sense of freedom (kudos on this one). Magic implementation is another highpoint, the way you can mix spells in your hands is incredibly fluid and gives you a lot of satisfaction. The lowpoints: design is repetitive to hell, and once you've seen your first drough dungeon you've seen them all. It teases an abundance of hundreds of dungeons but in the end you only have 4 skins: drough dungeon, dwarves dungeon, caves, sanctuaries........... and of course a lot of castles and outdoors combat. Third person view is awful too, it's uncomfortable and you'll be forced to stay in first person through most of the game.

The tecnical issues: minus 2 points (and I'm being generous). Issues have already been expressed in detail by other users. Patches have improved these issues, but it still isn't enough specially if you plan to make a +100 hour investment in the game. It was never such a letdown for me since I stopped playing at +90 hours out of boredom, and I tolerate tecnical issues pretty well. But bare in mind that if you're sensitive to such troubles, the score may sink further even to a 2-3.

Overall a good game is a good game, and you should at least give it a shot… Expand

The game was all right, but after a while I felt that the game began to become irritating to play. The worst part about the game is all of the major bugs and glitches that are littered within Skyrim.

Great game but very buggy. Rating suffers. If it works, great. Can't give it a good rating because it should've never been released with so many problems.

It's so ridiculous that this game could possibly receive any high scores on the ps3 version. The game could be the best game ever invented but what good does that do you when bugs prevent you from even playing the game as intended? This game loses at least 3 points on the numerous bugs/freezes/lag problems preventing you from playing the game in the first place alone. I can not possibly rate the game higher than a 7 on that. Just so you know, I am not a TES fanboy so I can give you a more objective view on what you old bitter vets just need to face the reality on....I'm just going to say what you guys won't admit....combat in Morrowind, Oblivion, and now Skyrim is still the same awkward, clunky, piece of garbage and needs to be completely scratched imo. Yes the exploration in this game is absolutely AMAZING!! I give this a game 5 points just for the vast beautiful world you get to explore. Immersion is definitely one of the main strong suits for this game. I really feel like I'm a part of this world. But again, the combat system ruins the game even though the bugs/gliches/freezes do a good job of that to begin with. I know all the bitter vets will turn their noses up and cry like little babies but can you imagine a combat system similar to a Kingdoms of Amalur but in the world of TES?! I would go ahead and throw all my money at Bethesda right now lol Just quit giving us unfinished work! I put over 100 hours into this game, but let's be honest, at LEAST 50 hours of that was in menus changing spells/weapons/potions etc or looking at the map, or the worst....on a loading screen...
This game gets the rating it gets because the immersion and exploration are worth buying the game for alone. I would just recommend playing an archer only so the combat won't feel so awkward.… Expand

Game is extremely AWESOME but in ps3 Skyrim have bugs freeze problems and other technical problems.
And Guild quests are boring than Oblivion.And Skyrim quests are more shorter than Oblivion quests but Skyrim is never bore the player.I advice you if you are RPG player BUY SKYRIM

5.8?! o_O What is wrong with you people?! I completely finished this game, totally, 100%, nothing more to do. 467 hours in. So much to do in this game! Wow! And you do all that you want and you can be the character you want. Waiting for the DLCs... By the way, my game never crashed! Unlike Fallout 3 which crashed every 30 minutes during 150 hours. :S

The characters, the stories, the customization, the world, make this beautiful RPG one that is hard to get tired of.

Skyrim is amazing. It's the best RPG-game ever made. There are lots of lags, bugs and glitches, but the game is amazing overall, so who cares? There is HUGE room for improvement, but it is still incredibly addicting. The battles could be far better, the story could be better, the graphics could be better. EVERYTHING COULD BE BETTER!!! But it is still one of the best games I've ever played ;D

Oh, and 1 last thing. Don't listen to the guys talking about the game. Updates have been released and most of the they are talking about have been fixed. Anyways... great game 9/10!… Expand

Skyrim was fun for the first 10 or so hours but after that, I was bored. And that's bad for an 100+ hour game. The story is pretty good, however it's not the best or near it. The combat is really boring as all you are doing is pressing 1 or 2 buttons and doing the exact same thing, the entire time, eg. slash, slash, block, slash, drink healing potion, slash, slash etc... But the game is above average considering the quality content (large world for exploration, variety of enemies and equipment, amount of missions and side quests, character development and leveling up, marriage, joining guilds etc..) And for those first 10- 20 hours, the game is pretty damn fun. So if your at home with a lot of time to spare, Skyrim's your game.… Expand

I'll be brief. An amazingly addictive game, and I have not seen any of the legendary glitches ... yet. That said it is a game that constantly calls you back for more.

the story its cool but when you start playing it you get stuck, they dont help you, like most of the gamers hate the long quests like if you are on x place the quest says you need to go to y place or like a place 500miles away from you.

I'm glad I waited a year to buy and play this game, as it appears I'm not dealing with any of the bugs so many people have complained of. It's a great game in many respects. Beautiful graphics, great soundtrack, immersive storyline, and very involved experience and item creation system. The only complaint I have is many of the quests are pretty much exactly the same with different dialogue: something happens, you have to go get something, it's in a dungeon filled with zombies. It can make parts of the game a bit tedious. But it's still one of those games that you can sit down and play all day, then think about it all next day while you're at work. That has to count for something.… Expand

Oh, Bethesda, Bethesda. Where do I begin. You'll notice that despite your probable inference to the opening sentence, I rated the game a solid 8/10. So, why the negativity you may ask? Well, it's pretty simple. I am doing this review for the PS3 port. Yes, I thought it would be a great idea to buy this for the Playstation 3. Don't ask me why when I know that more and more developers, (U.S. developers anyway), seem to be on the tit of the Micro$oft power house known as the XBOX 360. The expansions are one issue I don't believe is entirely fair to mention seeing as how those are usually reviewable as a separate entity. My main problem is with the software to hardware adaptation. Skyrim seems to cooperate with the cell broadband processor as well as a man on death row cooperates with the guard taking him to the chair, or table depending on which era you're from. Anyway, the game itself is very entertaining barring a few repetitive dungeons and despite the lack of effort put into the PS3 version, the graphics are very pleasing to the eye.

In closing I believe it may be best to, if one has the means but this copy for either the 360 or PC. As much as I love my PS3, I'm sort of regretting not buying the PC version......8/10, thanks.… Expand

Honestly, I had never heard of the Elder Scrolls, until I had played Skyrim and when I finally purchased the play and played it I was struck was buyer's remorse roughly the size of the National Debt. I mean, WOW! Five years of work and I can't play for more than an hour without my frigging character turning blue. What was Bethesda doing all that time, huh? Sure, they released patches for the game, but a studios objective when making a video game is to insure that the game itself is actually FINISHED!!!. Then the DLC came out and the PS3 crowd got snubbed on that as well. Bethesda, please pay attention to the middle finger I have erected towards your headquarters. It very unlikely that I will purchase the next Elder Scrolls game.… Expand

This game was fun to start out with, but not great in the long run. You go through in this amazing, expansive world, collecting gear, doing various quest lines, and then you realize: This game is too big. I mean seriously, it is fun, but if you do not have insane amounts of time on your hands, you will not have an amazing experience. Don't get me wrong... the game is great, but Bethesda's issue of not fixing bugs that they know exist are yet another reason to not love this game. Dungeons get repetitive, etc.… Expand

Yeah it's true... this game had a lot of GLITCHES. But the solved them all!! Don't worry about the those 1744 reviews :D yeah don't worry about them. They have updated the PS3 version and yeah it took a while but it's finally over.

I had the game months ago and sold it to Gamestop but now the graphics are stunning compared with the old graphics I saw months ago... for real. This is a good game. It's big. Don't spit on it.… Expand

There isn't much to say,its one of the most wonderful game in history,and all the credit goes to "Bethesa",THEY are the best videogames company in my opinion,they produced such good games like Fallout,Dishonored,Wet and more...

I was extremely excited for Skyrim and it is one of the very few games I have ever bought on day 1. However, while Skyrim many be an incredible game on other platforms, the simple fact that Bethesda released Skyrim on PS3 is a joke, but not funny. Skyrim is a hopeless mess. It is extremely buggy (glitches that prevent players from completing or even starting quests are absurdly common), but for such an amazing base game, I would overlook those bugs. However, it also freezes constantly. The larger my save file got, the more it frequently it froze. Just when I was completely into playing Skyrim, when it was fast becoming one of my favorite video games of all time, the freezing got so bad that I had to stop playing. Some days, it would be freezing up once every five minutes, and that is not an exaggeration. I had to save constantly to keep from losing progress, and I wound up spending 40% of my time with Skyrim actually playing the game, and 60% of my time with Skyrim rebooting my PS3 after it froze, saving to avoid losing too much progress, or watching loading screens. Which brings me to another problem. Loading screens in Skyrim pop up very frequently and are unacceptably long, far longer than loading screens in previous Bethesda PS3 games like Fallout 3, leading me to believe long loading screens are not the result of Bethesda being unable to fix the problem, but rather the result of them being too lazy to do so. Skyrim should have been delayed. Sure, everyone who was going to buy the PS3 version, myself included, would have complained about it, but at the end of the day, we would have realized that if Bethesda delayed Skyrim, they did it because they had more work to do and the delay would make the final product better. Instead of delaying Skyrim, Bethesda shipped an incomplete, shoddy mess of a game. And then, did they do what they did with Fallout: New Vegas- patch it into a playable state? No. They released a few patches that fixed a few of the countless glitches and dealt with the lag, but they did nothing about the constant freezing, the absurd loading times, or the vast majority of the glitches. Now, the number of patches Bethesda releases has tapered off dramatically. Why? Maybe because Bethesda cares less about working on fixing their broken product and more about milking more profits from DLC, which PS3 owners didn't get. We missed Dawnguard and Hearthfire completely. We're getting Dragonborn, but, frankly, I am not that excited. All Dragonborn is is Bethesda trying to get PS3 owners to pay more money to get more shoddy product. Also, every Bethesda employee working on Skyrim DLC is an employee who should be working on game patches instead. Glitches, freezes, no DLC- Skyrim on the PS3 is a gamer nightmare.… Expand

What an awesome game. Too bad it breaks my heart to give it a bad score like this, but with the crappy frame rates and the inability of Bethesda to release DLC's for this platform while signing a drug deal with the XBox 360 to get them first leaves a bad taste as a PS3 owner.

Skyrim on ps3 has received harsh criticism due to bugs and lag but Bethesda fixed these problems and released patches by doing so the games visuals are groundbreaking and the quests and main story line is very addictive, it is not a perfect game though through the game there are minor bugs and sometimes low fps (lag) and before the patches made by bethesda the game was full of bugs and would freeze for many players but now many of these bugs are fixed and the game itself is much better and once you get started on this wild adventure of skyrim it's hard to stop!… Expand

Maxmark, I just want to say you are a completed dumb ass the reason your game is lagging is because your use a crappy PS3 so get a better one then try it you'll defiantly change your thinking I did after i got it. even knowing the campaign isn't that long it's still as good. So what I'm trying to get to is you need to get A BETTER PS3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This gmae is brilliant. It is epic,gorgeous and breathtaking. Its has a rich and detailed world. The quests are all unique and never get repetitive, but sometimes glitch so that they can never be complteded. The games main quest is very very short but the many sidequests make up fofr it. The combat is quite floaty and its easy to miss your target. Then there is the lag. I live in Kenya, which may be hard to believe. i dont have a wireless network, im using a modem to type this review. The lag makes the game almost unplayable especially in whiterun and windhelm. Skyrim glitches sometimes so that it can really tick you off. At one bit my companions attacked each other,or in another scenario people necessary for quests didn't exist. The game is great with great environments and innovative quest and loot, but some small problems stand out and prevent skyrim from achieving the illusive 10.… Expand

Probably one of the best 5 games of all time---even with the bugs and load time. Huge in scope and imagination. Can't say enough about it. The only real question is whether to go for 100% completion now that I'm already 181 hours in.

I dont understand all the negative reviews? Everything they say is wrong? I loved this game, it isn't buggy AT ALL, the graphics are AMAZING, The storyline is epic. i loved this game, and i certainly recommend it to everyone who likes RPG Games.

FUS RO DAH! i love the elderscrolls skyrim! it is one of the most fun, exiding, fantasy awesome free roming video games! i like that you can choose what to say to people to choose what you want to happen. its always really fun when you find a shout wall with a dragon gaurding it and imagine what the shout may be... collecting spells, weapons, armor, and shouts, is just 4 of many exiding, things to do in skyrim!… Expand

The gameplay is amazing: it's the best combination of adventure and RPG. The graphics, even if unrealistic, are truly beautiful. The storyline also brings epic moments. Overall, an amazing game (at least, for someone that have never played The Elder Scrolls before).

Strange, looking at the critic reviews this got it looked good then reading the user reviews on here it looked bad. So bought it anyway and loved it. It goes to show you cant go on what people read. Loads of bugs yes, but gameplay and variety really excelled on this game. This is one of the best games ive played, just before you buy a game watch video clips and dont go on what people say because i very nearly never bought this game. Enjoy… Expand

Looks gorgeous, full of detail, but it's so buggy & slow. Loading screens must've taken up half of the 100+ hours I put into this. Game-play that should be fun & enjoyable, becomes repetitive & monotonous. You spend most of the game going through boring tasks in order to level up your skills.

Stunning. From the first scene to the very last. The game is so expansive You don't need to play the main quest. You don't even need to play ANY quests. The graphics and sound are exquisite . The magic system is awesome and the world is very believable. If I had to pick out negatives. I'd say the combat system ( especially when using weapons) is clunky. The menu system is not as fluid as it could be. If they had employed the hot key system that Fallout had then It would have been a lot simpler and useable. The main menu system in regard to levelling up IS useful and visually absorbing however. The game difficulty is a strange one. At first I found it too hard , now most encounters are far too easy. Yes I could raise the difficulty , but that would mean the one or two characters that I do meet who are very powerful would seem unbalanced. Dragons are not nearly as powerful as I had anticipated. I do have a team of four however and my character levelled up greatly in his wanderings before I even started the main missions. Perhaps to my detriment as I now find even bosses to be a two second affair.… Expand

Skyrim is one of the most amazing games I have ever played. Perhaps the main history isn´t interesting enough, but if you play the alter-missions mixed with the main history, this game becomes very enjoyable. The bugs and the glitches happen usually in this game, but instead of hate the game becouse of that, I really enjoy and laugh a lot with some of them ( Like a dragon flying in cyrcles, or things like that ). In conclusion:
The best: Beautiful graphics, hours and hours and hours of gaming, great music and the best RPG game in 2011.
The worst: Some bugs, main history a bit boring.… Expand

I got this game in January after the main patches had been released and have never seen any bugs. This game is fantastic. I've played it for over 200 hours! Which is quite unlike me. So much to do, the world seems huge at first, but you soon get used to it. I have a small army fighting for me now, with a follower, battle dog, horse, quest character and 2 zombies at my command. I'm currently hunting for the dragon priest masks.… Expand

Great graphics and atmosphere, INCREDIBLE sound (music), one of the bigger maps to explore, maybe the biggest, ...BUT:

POOR exciting. After playing some hours, I began to feel bored. Why so many dragons and why so easy to kill? Why a tigger is a harder enemy than a dragon?

Skyrim is an amazing game.

As with most Bethesda releases there are multiple flaws that, to some, will amount to an unplayable game, but if you can look past superficialities and some serious but infrequent faults then it's one of the biggest, deepest and most rewarding games ever released.

The environment is winter-esque in nature meaning that there's a lot of white and grey interspersed with pale green and muddy brown. The textures of the world are ugly on the PS3 version with a repetitive texture mapping system being used on some of the larger plains, however the fog-shrouded mountains are magnificent and at any time in Skyrim when a blizzard hits as you plow onwards to your destination then the graphics crank up from good to awesome.

The scale of the world is staggering, there are of course limits to where you can travel to but the playground is so immense that you'd have to be deliberately trying to test the limits in order to encounter any barriers.
The towns and settlements are beautifully thought out and almost themed in nature, varying from a mountain-side city to a cluster of homes planted around a swamp, the Jarl's that oversee the towns give a nice sense of identity to the inter-Skyrim populations.

There is a breadth of variety in the missions and two main plot threads (a 2-side civil war and a resurgence of ancient dragons) that occur, the massive technical scope of the game means that continuity and natural consequences are sacrificed so comrades who've fought by your side dozens of times and haled you as a hero in the scripted sequences either threaten, ignore or casually comment on the weather when you encounter them after the set missions and this can seem to lessen the sense of accomplishment after you tie up a plot thread.

Players can duel wield a short sword and shield, hold a single great sword or have magic in one or both hands or a sword in one and magic in the other.
The enemies range irritatingly from blade-fodder to mega-balls hard cases meaning that sometimes you can embark on a mission only to discover you're not at a high enough level to handle the legion of barbarians that charge you whilst your trying to retrieve a book or steal a coronet.
Worse is when you attack, deliberately or by accident, anyone in a town or court - this leads to an army of yelping glitchy morons all attacking you at once and shouting incoherent non-sense whilst you can't help but laugh at the ridiculous farce erupting around you. Skyrim is a great game and a brilliant technical achievement but there are flaws, in fairness they are more to do with the limitations of current hardware over sloppiness on behalf of the devs, that being said there are reports of the system crashing, file saves corrupting and missions being incompletable due to scripted events not occuring - I've never encountered any such problems however.
If you are a forgiving gamer, but Skyrim, if you like a pristine COD experience then don't bother.… Expand

Mix the animations of Fallout 3 (2008), the Engine of Oblivion (2007), a big world full of uninteresting stuff to do and with no impact in the game's universe and you get Skyrim.

I would give 1 for the Soundtrack, but the Bugs represent such a disrespect for the gamer (that many people seem to forget that it's a consumer afterall).
In my very first attempt to play it i've got really upset. After i've pimped up my character and chosen it's race, he's conducted to a death penalty. While i'm waiting for my head to sliced a dragon appears, and everyone runs... and i'm waiting to get control of the character, and i've waited almost 10 minutes. Even if the Dragon was cliping it wings in front of me giving me a hope that it's suppose to be like that, i just gave up after 10m.

After 1 year ladies and germs, the PS3 version still faces issues.

Game of the Year of 2008 perhaps... but never in 2011... not in my book (Fallout won in 2008 with better design and a plot much more interesting than Skyrim). But well... it seems that are a lot of guys that need to live a second life to compensate their lack of skills in other social departments. And i'm possibly one of those dudes, but please feed me something good. The RPG genre evolved with the concept of Skyrim, but the execution doesn't live up to the expectations and it's a shame.

Neverthless... it's GOTY of 2008, so it should be mandatory for any real gamer to try it.
I know i will... in 2013, when the number of bugs are reduced to 162.… Expand

This was one of the best games I have ever played. The graphics are great, the story keeps you involved, and the game play is superb. Yes there were a few bugs once your saved data reached over 6MB, but I honestly didn't experience any during my play through. A must have for all gamers, RPG fans or not.

It doesn't deserve the negative ratings it has got, sure there are some bugs, but, don't hinder gameplay in the slightest I find, some are even funny. I love Bethesda games :) I don't play on 'easy' moderate difficulty is always best, haha, then hardest :)

Honestly, the best game I have ever played. The main plot is hugely creative, and you do not have to follow on that plot if you do not want to. The graphics are phenomenally beautiful, and you feel as if you are in the action. The glitches are sometimes funny, and I have to deal with such little glitches. Superb game.

I do not understand the bad reviews on this game. This game is amazing. For all you oblivion, fallout fans u must get this game and play it!!!!!!!!!!!

Another Bethesda game that looks and feels amazing. While the game is great, and I'm still playing it almost a year after buying it it is missing many things I enjoyed from it's previous entries. No more crafting your own spells, and no more casting spells while keeping a sword and shield equipped are both things that annoy me personally, and I don't really follow the line of reasoning they used to explain it.
Also, the game is still buggy from time to time after several patches. Sometimes (about twice a play through for me) scripts will break locking you out of progressing a mission, fortunately, there is enough to do that you could get locked out of a dozen or so missions and still have tons to do. Still, the game received several graphic updates with the expansion, whether or not you purchased it, as well as some new models. With this kind of support, and with the expansiveness of the game, I feel that this game should be a purchase for any rpg gamers.… Expand

I will never again trust user reviews on Metacritic. Some of the guys here are idiots. The technical problems have been patched ffs! Skyrim is an amazing game that you never want to quit! There is so much to do and you can immerse yourself in it for hours upon hours! One of the best open-world RPG's ever, simply put.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Meta Critic Review for The Elders scrolls of Skyrim:

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Scrolls V: Skyrim (Mostly called Skyrim) is an action/role playing open world video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth installment in The Elder Scrolls action role-playing video game series, following The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. Skyrim was released on November 11, 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360. Skyrim's main story revolves around the player character's efforts to defeat Alduin, the firstborn of Tamriel's primary deity Akatosh. Alduin is prophesied to destroy the world. Set two hundred years after Oblivion, the game takes place in the fictional province of Skyrim, upon the continent of Tamriel, and the planet of Nirn. Skyrim is in the midst of a civil war after the High King fell in a duel against the leader of the Stormcloaks rebel group. The open world game play of the Elder Scrolls series returns in Skyrim; the player can explore the land at will and ignore or postpone the main quest indefinitely.
The nonlinear game play traditional in the Elder Scrolls series is incorporated in Skyrim. The player can explore the open world of Skyrim on foot or on horse and fast-travel to cities, towns, and dungeons after they have been discovered. Quests are given to the player by non-player characters (NPCs) in the world, and through the Radiant Story system, the quests can be dynamically altered to accommodate for player actions which may influence the quest's characters and objectives. The Radiant Story then further directs the player's interaction with the world by setting unexplored dungeons as quest locations. When not completing quests, the player can interact with NPCs through conversation, and they may request favors or training in skills from the player. In addition to scripted quests certain ones will be dynamically generated, providing a limitless number to the player. Some NPCs can become companions to the player to aid in combat. The player may choose to join factions, which are organized groups of NPCs such as the Dark Brotherhood, a band of assassins. Each of the factions has a headquarters, and they have their own quest paths which the player can progress through. The economy of cities and towns can be stimulated by completing jobs such as Skyrim on the Elder Scrolls map farming and mining, or spending large amounts of gold in the stores. Alternatively, the economy may be harmed by forging business ledgers and robbing the safes of stores. When exploring the game world, the player may encounter wildlife. Many wilderness monsters are immediately hostile towards the player and thus can be slain. The inclusion of Dragons in Skyrim affords a major influence on both story and game play.

So the next game in the series was released nearly a year ago, so where does it stand in the ratings currently, well in my opinion it should stay at 75/100 just for PS3. Yes Bethesda has managed to fix most of its bugs but where is the DLC for it? Dawnguard has been on X-box and pc for more than 4 months now and all Bethesda can say is … Expand

Now that I have over 50 hours gameplay, I feel that I can finally write a balanced review. I was surprised to read about the lag issues from other reviewers, as I can honestly say that I've never had an issue. Occasionally the game freezes on a loading screen, and requires a reboot, but I can live with that. What really irks me though is the fact that the game seems to have gone backwards since Oblivion - OK, there are some improvements, like the menu system and the battle mechanics, but by and large most aspects of the game are worse - in a word, the game is dull. For starters, the environment is very grey - I would often play Oblivion and just wander around, drinking in the scenery and chancing upon a quest/cave etc. Not so with Skyrim, where everything is a mix of grey and white (although, to be fair, walking through a blizzard is well done). The quests are also very boring and repetitive, and the main quest is ridiculously short - and the final boss is so easy to defeat! "Go kill this bandit leader", "find my lost sword", "kill that vampire" - whatever happened to the variety of Obivion? Anyone remember the Sanguine Rose quest, that made all the guests at a banquet lose their clothes? Or the quest where you get stuck in a watercolour picture? There's precious little of that here.
I've played it to death, but only because my OCD tendencies have made me, and in truth I'm looking forward to drawing a line under this one.… Expand

Fun and addictive, awesome and amazing....until you start hearing the same voice actor for the gazzillion time, to kill Blood dragons and die to no-point super overpowered random bandits, killing your own allies over and over with no posibility to revive them and to finally save for that sweet extra strong equipment and still getting killed in 3 hits.

Lag, Freezes,you never get the feeling of getting stronger and the PC version getting mods and tons of support, is making Skyrim for the Ps3 an useless junk.… Expand

Except for some annoying bugs, is a masterpiece. Everything about the game play is perfect, missions, combat, upgrading weapons and armors.

I love this game.

I would have given it a score 9.7.

Very overrated. It's a technical masterpiece, there's a seemingly never-ending stream of stuff to do, the world is huge and looks good and the random events are fun to play around with. It sounds like an instant 10/10 on paper, but is any of that actually fun to play? For a bit. The combat is so stiff, it's absolutely no fun. You can't possibly move out of the way of most attacks and the same goes for your opponent when they're in the line of fire of your attacks. Two characters strike each other, showing no recoil whatsoever and it comes down to which one drops first due to being higher level. The leveling system is actually pretty unique and fun to tweak, but this is definitely one of those games that feels like you're level grinding to win fights rather then using actual skill. There is plenty of lore, but it's not presented in an interesting way. The voice acting is so dull and lifeless and why would I want to read digital short stories to discover the mythos of this world? If I felt like reading a good medieval-esque fiction I would pick up my copy of Lord of the Rings or the Game of Thrones series, not read hundreds of boring short stories in Skyrim. And the glitches on the Playstation version of the game are just unforgivable. I heard the game doesn't even run 100% on Xbox. This games just not good enough to dredge through the technical problems. It definitely has it's positive points: Huge world with beautiful graphics and unscripted occurrences and a fun leveling up system, but Fall Out 3 is definitely the better of the open-world RPGs this generation. I'd even make the argument that Dragon's Dogma is more fun. So many other games deserved Game of the Year nominations over this in 2011. In 2011 alone I had more fun with Uncharted 3, Gears of War 3, Infamous 2, Portal 2, Batman Arkham City, Saints Row the Third, Rayman Origins, Pokemon Black, Super Mario 3D Land, Resistance 3, Little Big Planet 2, Dead Space 2 and Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword then I did with Skyrim.… Expand

When the game was launched there were too many glitches and bugs, all Bethesda ports to PS3 were like that, so that's why I am writing a review now, right now, there are no more bugs or glitches in the game or if there is some its really not affecting gameplay anymore, you can play the game, enjoy it and you will not be disappointed, the game is a blast, story, gameplay, design, visual and audio is impeccable, you can chose the difficulty on the run like the other Bethesda games what's great, best RPG made so far for PS3. By now August 2012 a must buy.… Expand

Skyrim in my opinion deserves a 10/10, in terms of story, gameplay, the world and quests in general among many other things that are described in much better detail in other reviews, if it wasn't for the lag issues that seem to be mostly exclusive to the PS3 version of the game.

The game runs fine for the first few hours of playing it, but then it turns into a slideshow at worst, and a stuttering mess at best, with the framerate also never really reaching the 30fps that the other platforms do. (The most recent patch for Skyrim, 1.5 at the time of writing in the UK, helps a bit, but the lag issue is still there. )

What went wrong? Oblivion ran fine on PS3, the PS3 version of that game was made by 4J Studios, maybe Bethesda should have had them make the PS3 version of Skyrim instead, as Bethesda just doesn't seem to be very good at making games for the PS3, even though the console has been around for years and they should have figured it out by now. Another thing that doesn't exactly help is that Bethesda lied about the PS3 version of the game before launch, claiming that it was running on a new game engine and that the PS3 version would be equal to the PC and Xbox 360 versions, after launch players found out the hard way that both of these things weren't actually true. http://www.officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk/review/skyrim-ps3-review/ (a review from Official PlayStation Magazine UK, explaining why it should be the game of the year but isn't because of the lag issues that make the game unplayable)

http://youtu.be/HH_2Oq87TAQ (Two videos from CVG showing what the lag looks like when it
http://youtu.be/RaeU3DvW5-o (happens on the PS3 version of Skyrim)

http://youtu.be/cUoDfO1pWto (Another video showing what the lag looks like it its worst)

If that wasn't bad enough, PS3 players have to wait even longer for the PS3 version of the Dawnguard expansion pack, which was released on Xbox 360 on the 26th of June, with the PC version being released on the 2nd of August. It seems that PS3 players will have to wait for weeks/months/until 2020 as Bethesda haven't said anything other than that the PS3 version of Dawnguard has performance issues and will be delayed until....well, they haven't said. If they had made sure the main game worked in the first place before releasing it then they wouldn't have this mess to deal with....… Expand

So, I own the PS3 version, its amazing. You probably know all about this game by now, the reviews are grouped into three categories, I LOVE IT(positive), I HATE IT WHEN THEY RELEASE A GAME WITH BUGS, and I HATE IT WHEN THEY TAKE TIME TO FIX THE BUGS BEFORE THEY RELEASE THE DLC.

Good god people.. Pick a side, Bethesda is taking time to fix THE PS3 PLAYERS MAJOR GRIPE against this game by taking the time to make sure Dawnguard is released with as few bugs as possible..
No surprise, this still isn't good enough for the mighty ps3 players… Expand

A massive game with lots of content, stunning visuals.. Okay now that I've gotten the good stuff out of the way, lets talk about the bad.. Crafting: developing alchemy, blacksmithing, enchanting, takes forever, and makes your character excessively overpowered even on master difficulty, maxing these out will waste many hours of you life with no real reward.. Quest that are the same **** repeatedly: I'll keep this short but sweet, walk here get that, bring it back, now do it again 45 times for the thieves guild.. Enter this cave with the same layout and enemy's as the last one, get this, kill that, come back, repeat for the whole game.. Frame rate: if your playing pre patch you'll notice occasional frame rate drops to 3 to 4 frames per second, unacceptable for a game that was in development for so long.. dialogue: I took an arrow to the knee x1000.. Curved Swords, they Had CURVED SWORDS!! x1500, prepare to hear the same **** over and over and over.. And yet I still put 300 hours into this game, besides all of it's horrible flaws it was sill a pretty solid game, not worth it's initial $89 (AUS) release price, I'd suggest getting it if it ever ends up in the $40 or less game bin.… Expand

It's a mesmerizing game that draws you into a finely crafted fictional space packed with content... Skyrim is one of the best role-playing games yet produced. The sheer size of the adventure...is mind-blowing. But this game aint perfect it has lags, freezes and other flaws.

I brought The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim a little bit later than most others, in May earlier this year. Just over two months later and I just completed the main storyline. Admittedly, I am a bit of a slowpoke when it comes to playing video games, especially games with worlds as large as Skyrim. I enjoy simply wondering around, looking at the mostly beautiful environment. Any game with a game world as large as Skyrim is going to encounter some bugs here and there. However, the amount of bugs and how often they appear is disappointing, to say the least. I find that you can easily ignore these small bugs though, because of how utterly well built most of the game is. The quests are huge in number, with the main quest taking around 20-25 hours to complete, longer if you like to dawdle like me. The side quests are plentiful and keep the game going hours after you completed the main quest line. Also, the length of quests varies greatly, which gives a sense of time to the game. The different 'groups' that you can join are very fun. For example, for those of you who haven't ever played an Elder Scrolls game, you can join one group and complete their storyline and then move onto the next group. Overall, I have greatly enjoyed playing Skyrim, and while there are some nasty bugs and often mild-serious lag problems, it is still a fantastic game which, at least, deserves a long rent.… Expand

This game easily deserved a 9 more likely a 10, but unfortunatley I encountered some bugs and glitches. Starting off with the loading screen which on Playstation 3 either takes no time at all (when a model and description are not shown) or takes 15 seconds and sometimes but rarely freezes up. The next one never gets old yup getting stuck between rocks. You have not saved you're running through almost done a quest and bam! You got yourself stuck in between the cracks of multiple rocks. Fortunately that's all I can think of to be bad… Expand

This game is still being played, however on a pc not the ps3 due to lack of support. It is still playable, but there are several broken quests that cannot be completed. This game is so huge it should be rated on a scale of 0..15 not 10. I would still give it a 15 out of 15 because of the sheer beauty of the game on the PS3. it plays a bit soft though, I'm playing at the highest level and am challenged somewhat but not the Demons Souls level of challenge.… Expand

I haven't been able to stop playing it ever since I got it. It's amazing, easily one of the best games ever made. While there are some glitches and bugs that's something you should expect when playing a game this big.

I was going to give this game a 10/10, but then I remembered I had it on the pc, which is way better. I play this on the ps3 from time to time and it's a really good game.

Skyrim is definitely one of the best games I have ever played. The graphics are outstanding especially in large environments. When you go out for questing, the mountains in the distance are fully rendered and detailed. Third Person View is still a bit clunky, but the First Person View is where game play really shines. the only thing I feel that the developers could improve on would be making The Third Person View easier to control and add extra quotes too all the people in Skyrim especially guards, every time you go near them they say " A guard might get nervous, a man approaches with his weapon drawn".

Overall a gamer can surpass these minor flaws and truly love this game. There is soo much too do in the world of Skyrim, too much to even pick out, you will get lost in playing this game because of its realism, detailed large environment. When you see this game at a shop for 60 or 70 dollars you now know why...

9/10 - NoNamerGamer… Expand

meh, this wasn't a bad game, but the D A M N LOAD SCREENS took all the fun out of it. Seriously, when I'm exploring the vast lands of skyrim, I don't want to wait 30 seconds to 1 minute to enter a building....plus all the framerate and graphic glitches kept me from rating it higher. All this contributed to me getting bored of the game after a week and a half or so of playing it. This has since been fixed in various patches but I don't like the mentality of newer game devs "hey lets just release an unfinished product and make a patch for it later if they notice". It's just downright lazy.… Expand

DO NOT, under any circumstances buy this game for the PS3, unless it's $20 or below. This is the worst version out to date, and it's funny how these pig headed publishers/Bethesda still prices this game as the 360 version. This game is still plague with major problems even with the patch. There still sound bugs, freezing, getting stuck in walls, and cracks, flying animals, glitches, animation issues, must I go on? If your smart with your money, you'll wait for a dramatic price drop, or a complete edition for cheap, or just avoid this game on the PS3 all together. WTF are these main critics doing giving this a 9-10 for the PS3 version is beyond my understanding. Don't buy into the lies.… Expand

If you play this game before you play Oblivion, it's a ten. If you play Oblivion, Skyrim is as boring as hell. This game has fantastic graphics, of gray, gray and more gray. The quests are plentiful, but dull. Kill bandits, vampires, etc. but nothing intresting. In Oblivion, the vast variety of quests was amazing, from uncovering the secrets of a merchant with low prices, to the who dunnit style quest from the Dark Brotherhood. Skyrim as a better combat system, dazziling gray, and an addiction factor. The bugs don't bother me, but it's the fact that after I got the platinum trophy I felt like nothing had changed. You never make any progress, the plot is foolish, and the gimick of dragons added nothing to the gameplay. This is coming from someone who invested 500 hours into Skyrim, then played Oblivion, I wish I never played oblivion, if I hadn't I could still love Skyrim.… Expand

I don't understand why there are so many bad reviews. Maybe because haven't played any Elder Scrolls games prior to Skyrim, I'm not able to compare it, however, the apparent issue is probably that all the other reviews are just complaining about bugs. Also, there was some link set up on a popular website that was entitle "Post Problems about Skyrim Here", and, because of that, this page has probably attracted the attention of many people who are frustrated by the glitches and are unable to enjoy Skyrim to it's fullest. However, if you are able to play (with minor glitches at least, no doubt), Skyrim is a game with a beautiful environment that I found myself enjoying multiple playthroughs of more than any other game I've played. Although the game might be getting a little stale for me, I'm especially excited for the new DLC coming in September, called Dawnguard. All these factors added together gives this game a perfect 10.… Expand

Look, I know how to review a game. And it is obvious that some of these people don't. A half of the people who have reviewed this game have either got a vendetta against Besthesa, are CoD or Battlefield fanboys, or simply got extremely pissed off when their game froze at level 49. I want to be honest, because I am not going to con people in to getting this game. It is not perfect, but it definitely isn't as bad as most of the people on this list make it out to be. Skyrim is a diverse and brilliant as you could want, because it is rare (as in extremely rare) for a game to hit the 100% mark. This game doesn't deserve a score of 100%, but it doesn't deserve a 0%, a 30% or a 60% (and I know I am going to get some hate for this). A 75% would probably be acceptable, and even a 70% as long as the reasons were about the game, and not the reviewer's feelings against the game. The game world in this game is awesome, alive and large enough that you are playing a magical version of life itself, and you really feel like some of the people you are talking to are real people, and not just a bunch of pixels that spit out backstory. If you buy this game, you should love it, but people who say that this game is a 50% or 60% should know that this game just isn't for them, and people who gave it a 0% or a 10% are complete idiots.… Expand

I had the PS3 version before I bought the PC version. Now I can riff about all the bugs and crashes & technical issues in the game, but they have been stated enough. Because the fact of the matter is, even if Bethseda fixed all of those problems, the game is still a streamlined borefest. Read my PC review to find out why buying the PC version still didn't change my mind of how much of a dissapointment this game was. Even on the PC version with all of the best mods, I couldn't bring myself to play the game for more than 20 minutes before feeling like I wasting my time.… Expand

Now that most bugs have been fixed this game in really incredible. You can do about anything from being a murderer in the dark brotherhood to being the dragon born and saving the world. Is not getting a 10 from me because at the begging it had a lot of bugs.

I laugh at all the other reviews complaining about the glitches, bugs, frame rate issues. Oh, I would be upset too if my game glitched out without repair after spending countless hours on it. Fortunately, I picked up Skyrim after all the major issues were fixed by patches. Given this, I experienced no more bugs than any other game. As for the game itself, holy s**t how much can you fit in one game! I may have permanently damaged my health due to the sheer amount of hours I have spent sitting in one position, staring at the screen with controller in hand. Perhaps a little more character facial expression, movement, involvement or cinematics would have pushed Skyrim to a solid 10. They all seemed a little stiff except the annoying Cicero. By the way, being able to shout and call down a lightning storm, dragon, and blow away opponents off a cliff is pretty damn awesome.… Expand

The only real problem with this game is that it got so big that people who just don't understand what Bethesda or TES is all about started buying it. For anyone who has played the previous TES or Fallout games, this game is a dream come true. The world feels much more real than in Oblivion, with fantastic and varied environments and a story steeped in complex politics and allegiances. The combat system is incredibly refreshing, feeling fresh and responsive, with far more impact and weight than the previous games. Don't worry about bugs, they're a disgustingly exaggerated rarity and shouldn't hamper your experience at all. GO BUY THIS GAME!… Expand

Skyrim was an amazing game, although it had its flaws. If you want to have a good story, then play it. Dragons aren't impossible to kill (in fact, there are many things that are harder like Dwemer Centurion Guardians). After all of the updating that the jackasses at Bethesda did, the game shouldn't crash (or it will only crash if you play it for 10 hours straight) so long as you turn one of your autosave options off (I turn off autosave on fast-travel because you fast travel a lot). The main CONS:
The Main Questline is really short, and you won't level a whole lot from doing it (I test the story lines with fresh characters and I only got to level 11 or so from just the main questline, and after you level enough, it becomes extremely slow leveling). The Stormcloak Rebellion part of the questline is also very short (although you might get to level 14).
The other questlines are actually moderately long and have you do different things other than kill this, report to him/her. The other questlines will actually level you quite a lot as well (and doing side-quests, although annoying, is better than the main questline for leveling). Aggro was fixed somewhat, although if you accidentally hit an NPC that isn't a companion you will get bounty, although if you accidentally hit a guard in the heat of combat it may or may not trigger assault charges. There also are a couple of quest bugs that can prevent you from completing quests, including some quest-givers that are not essential characters, so if a dragon or something slays them you are screwed, and every once and a while the dialogue won't trigger and you have to reload (I've had that happen three times in my however many days of gameplay hours).
PROS:
Rich story
The actualy 100% completion of the game takes quite a long time because other questing takes longer than main quests
There is a lot of lore, like in all Bethesda games
Skyrim is a hell of a lot more like Morrowind, and less like Oblivion
FPS doesn't have many problems after the series of updates
It is almost impossible to have a totally broken character because the spell-making system was removed, and everything now has negatives (like werewolves are extremely powerful, but they won't last long in full on combat with multiple enemies).
Dual wielding and Deadly reflex are automatically built into the game.
There aren't any negatives to races anymore (I.E. you can actually be a High Elf Warrior, and you aren't Epic Derpsauce)
Build your own class based on what you like (there is no longer a cookie-cutter build)
And if you are like me and love RPG's you go out of your way to immerse yourself by studying ruins and such haha.… Expand

The bugs have been largely excised so do yourself a favor and buy this game!!! No RPG will be able to touch this one for a long, long time. Skyrim deliveries on every level. After several months of play, I'm still discovering new things - just like Oblivion before it.

Do it. You won't be disappointed!

I thought it would be fair to rewrite my review since most of the problems have been fixed with Skyrim on the PS3. However people saying that this is the best game or best RPG they have ever played have obviously not played many games in their lives. Hell Oblivion was better than Skyrim. Skyrim as a game is overrated. It is still a good game, but why the hell do people like games where 80 percent of the open world has nothing. I can have more fun walking outside then wandering around in Skyrim for nothing. The main story was short aswell and all the tropies were easily obtained as to which a retard could get them.Skyrim is NOT the best rpg out there people. Chrono Trigger for SNES/PS1 were WAY better RPGS. What Skyrim did was take Oblivion and add a bit better graphics and strip the rest. I DID rate this game a 0 because broken games shouldn't get a higher score than a 0. Now i am rating it a 6 because of the patches. But I keep it a 6 because although for the most part the game is fixed, it still deserves a 6 because I am sick of having to play games for a year and beta test them until they release a patch for it. A game that needs big patches will never be a good game, here is why... if you pay 60 bucks for a game... out of the box it should work properly, if it crashes all the time, it's not a good game no mater how many patches that are released for it. The patch could be rated a 10 but the game is still a failure. Not only that but this game is boring as hell. Seems to me that every time they release a new elder scrolls they strip **** out of it. I remember in Elder Scrolls 3 you could fly around if you had a good spell to do it, they took that out in oblivion, and in Oblivion you could make your own spells and other things, and in Skyrim they took that out. They also took out the fighters guild and replaced it with something stupid called the companions... The game is also too easy, there's no challenge, but that is like all games today other than Demon/Dark Souls, they even made Ninja Gaiden easy as hell with Ninja Gaiden 3. This game is for Casual people that are not good at video games, that like to get trophies easily because they suck at games.... The good things about this game is that it's not Call of Duty which seems to me that all games are trying to be Call of Duty even when that game is for casuals as well. When are devs going to stop being greedy and cater to us hardcore gamers that actually made them who they are today? That is why I like Demon/Dark Souls. The devs didn't make a casual game they made a hardcore game. Dark Souls is better than Skyrim and Dark Souls is hard by todays standards, but I grew up with hard ass NES games like Ninja Gaiden 1,2,3 and Star Wars, hell even Mario Bros 3 was harder than the games we have today. To the people that are saying that games shouldn't be hard...well yes the should, do you go out and by a crossword puzzle and immediately look at the back and write the answers in? No, why would you buy the cross word if you were going to do that. That is exactly what games are doing today, they hold your hand through the entire thing, and people love it. The problem is, is that we have people who complain about games being too hard, and these people ruin games that are suppose to be hard. The only complaints I see on Dark Souls, is because the game is too hard, when in fact it's not too hard at all, it's just people are use to having there dogs play the game for them. I rather be challenged. If you haven't played demon/dark souls yet go play that instead. It will at least challenge you and I guarantee you'd spend more time with these games more so than Skyrim because with Skyrim I got every trophy in like 40 hours of game play. Dark Souls came out before Skyrim and I still enjoy Dark Souls and Skyrim has been sitting on my shelf since December 2011. The best part about Skyrim is iat the start where you see someone being beheaded... That is the best part, but i guess that was to lure gamers to believe that this game is going to be awesome which in fact it is not up to par. Shame on you Bethesda ( they made Waldo for the NES)LOL… Expand

CONCEPT-9, STORY & DIFFICULTY-5, GRAPHICS & ART DESIGN-9, SOUND-7, GAMEPLAY & CONTROLS-5, EXECUTION-1. SCORES BASED ON THE PS3 VERSION

Unfortunately, the fifth installment in the Elder Scroll series fails to live up to expectations. Whereas Morrowind and Oblivion had their own charm and character, Skyrim is a pastiche of some of what we have come to expect from the franchise, and some we have not. Many changes have been made to the gameplay mechanics and game design, some of which are fantastic, but some of which are questionably irritating. Let's begin with combat. This is where the game excels in relation to its predecessors. Never has it been so easy to hack and slash and spellcast your way through tamriel. Whats more is that you do it in style. Cinematic executions and finishing moves give flavour to the fight, and the new button layout gives the combat a more fluid feel. It's only downside is that it does get a little repetitive. And this is where the fun stops. The land of Skyrim is dull and listless when compared to that of Morrowind or Cyrodyll, and the quests within the world are also more boring than watching plants grow. The world is filled with uninspired characters, and if you're like me you'll end up hating both main warring factions and take to murdering them in their sleep. Entering the inventory or map screen completely destroys any immersion into the game world, as it looks like it was crafted at Ikea. If part of what you enjoy about RPG's is the feeling of being immersed amongst the virtually created fantasy world, including in those moments when you check your map to see where you are or check your inventory to manage weapons, then Skyrim is sure to disappoint. On the PS3 console you'll spend 30% of your time looking at loading screens, and 70% looking at either poorly textured snowy mountains, or extremely low frame rate slideshows of what i'm certain were supposed to be epic battles. And finally, the last and yet probably the most troubling feature of all. Dragons. When I think of dragons i think of fearsome creatures terrible to behold and powerful beyond reckoning. The dragons you get in skyrim however, are little more than cardboard cutouts. They look pretty, but that's about it. They are so easy to kill it almost makes you think twice about whether you are playing right or exploiting some kind of bug. Oh, and speaking of bugs.....you'll come across dragons who fly backwards, dragons who slow down to a crawl, dragons who cant seem to find you even though your standing right underneath them. The whole dragon concept is wasted in this game. Final Thoughts: This is an exasperating game. It is one that i looked forward to so earnestly and played with such disappointment that it almost made me cry. It earns a 4 because i was so worn out by its nauseating pace and uninspired mediocrity that i could think of any numbers higher than 4 to give it. PS3 users STAY AWAY!â… Expand

I love this game. The music is legendary and awesome. Graphics are some of the best of this generation. You have a vast world to explore, quests to find, do and reap the rewards off. This wouldn't only be addictive. It'll take your entire life away. There is an incomprehensible amount of things to do. Not only that but there is the main storyline, which lasts for 30-40 hours. And even after that there are hundred of quests and caves to clear up.I really like the combat, however seems hit and miss at times being like oblivion when I don't feel like I have actually hit the person. third-person though, has been improved, making playing third person in skyrim actually possible, unlike oblivion. The npcs in the game have been improved. They seem more realistic and the towns have more atmosphere to them. You can do a lot of things in the main towns like crafting, enchanting and improving weapons and armour. You buy and sell items you collected on your travels and obtain quests from people in the villages. You can also buy houses for a price. There is also a new and better levelling system that makes you gain xp from using your skills(one-handed, enchanting, smithing,etc.) up to when you level up and so on. The problems I had with the game was that there were a couple of quests that are glitched out and it detracts from the experience. Plus there is the big problem of lag in the game, and it spoils the combat and experience at times. Overall, if you are interested in a medieval adventure RPG I'd recommend you'd check this out.… Expand

Severely dated combat mechanics (and I by dated we're talking by about a decade) hamper this game so much that for all it's good points (namely nearly everything else) it's not enjoyable to play.

Skyrim is one of the most over rated games of this generation.
The Combat system is basic and boring where casting the same spell over and over or spamming your sword can get you through most of the boring repetitive dungeons and fetch quests.After spending over 60-70 hours playing through this game you come to realise that none of the characters have any personality and almost all of them are easily forgettable. Many bugs and glitches plague the game and horrible PS3 performance after many hours despite many patches also brings down the game for the PS3 users.
Although Skyrim is mostly bad it does have a few redeeming qualities, the world is huge and the game can provide 100 hours of gameplay although boring can be a good time sink. The environment is quite beautiful at times.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The PS3 port is by far the worst and quite an embarrassment towards the processing power of the PS3, roughly up until February it would sometimes be unplayable due to lag .Patch 1.4 or 1.5 (sorry but I can't really remember which) did quite well on fixing this problem, although if I try to sprint in something like a cave I would get a little bit of cursor lag, but anyways the game itself... The first thing I noticed was that it slightly moved away from the RPG side and went onto a more combat based game, which was most likely to attract more people to the game, as probably in the older Elder Scrolls games it would have been a bit to complicated with the whole in depth character customisation for your average COD player. At first this slightly disappointed me as I loved the character customisation in Oblivion and Morrowind .Anyways the story was pretty good and it still has a little bit of replayabilty factor but not quite much to more RPG games like Fallout 3 and NV, the graphics wore not too spectacular in the sense of detail but it was more towards the artistic side of things, I'm well used to graphics similar to Skyim's but I am still quite blown away by some of the sights in Skyrim. Overall one of the best games I've played, but it would be nice if I could easily play it without the worry of lag.… Expand

Skyrim is the best game I have ever played. But it got a 9/10 because of the vast number of glitches, bugs and missing textures at certain points in the game.

I will not stand as the people **** talks skyrim! This is the best game i'v played. Believe me or not but this game turned me from a hater of skyrim to a lover of skyrim. I think people expect too much of skyrim. The game disinters did what they could.

Ohhee mah gawd! Dis gaeme is sawh klicthee like der r zo man3 bugz i ceant evne play da gam cuz it so bugge bad gam! dew note bi it!!!!!!!8 it so bad it dum zo bugge

Battle was clunky at best, just too many bugs for me to give it a better score. Exploring the huge map lost its appeal far too quickly. And I am a huge fan of the hack and slash genre.

This is hands down the best game I have ever played. The level of customization is absolutely astonishing, the world of Skyrim is unbelievably gorgeous and all of the bugs have been fixed since the last patch. Every now and again some thing will happen that makes no sense (my character was almost killed when a dead dragon fell out of the sky new Windhelm) but the problems are harmless glitches now, that don't require you to reset the whole system. If you're the cautious gamer that has waited this long before buying it, now is the time. This game is a triumph.… Expand

When i looked at other user reviews on Skyrim, i couldn't believe that so many people scored 0's. It doesn't make sense Skyrim has to be the most exciting game I've ever played. The graphics and detail to the game are unbelievable, there stunning. So readers don't listen to the people who think skyrim breaks all the time and gets boring because there just moaners who don't actually give this game a chance. Overall the best game i have ever played!!!!!… Expand

Isn't it about time everybody change their reviews? Since most of the problems have been patched. You've probably read/watched plenty of reviews already so I can't really tell you anything you haven't heard. I can tell you that most of it's true, you will not want to stop playing this. There is one compliant I have and that is your partners can die, I know in terms of gameplay this makes sense but it makes me not want to bring them along so I have to take care of them.… Expand

A very, very good game. Unfortunately, some also very heavy bugs brought some disappointment. Many patches helped out a lot but did not fix it to a 100% clear game.
Nevertheless: this is one o those outstanding rpg games we will remember a long time. And it is - at last - better than Oblivion and as good as Morrowind.

But, it definitely has too much loading-screens...

I bought skyrim when it came out & have had very little problems with the game. It has it's flaws but overall it's the most fun/ cherished game I have in my ps3 collection. When the flaws greatly out weigh the good stuff in the game that's when you have problems.. Luckily I never experienced any of that.

Complete BS on how Spike VGA's gave this game "GOTY" where it was broken on the PS3 version. I'm getting sick and tired of this company and their glitch fest's. Skyrim fans are just as bad as the Call of Duty fans..

Skyrim should have gotten a 9 or a 10 from me. I'm STILL playing it right now. However, the PS3 version was unacceptably flawed at release. It's making me reconsider ever pre-ordering from Bethesda again, which is a shame because now that the bugs are fixed, Skyrim is probably the best RPG I have every played.

I am no fanboy. All of the glitches, bugs, and lag and all of the flaws cannot keep this game down. In reality, no game flawless. Humans tend to make games with flaws, probably because they aren't perfect. This game is a masterpiece. It's the best in the series. From playing the previous games, mostly Oblivion on the Xbox 360, I have grown used to the lag and occasional freezing, but if you have the autosave feature turned on, you barely have to make up anything you have done between the most recent autosave and the time of the freezing. Simply turn off the console, and turn it back on. The cutscenes do need to improve greatly in the future, but the point of the games is gameplay. First off, you can customize your character deeply to your preferences. Up next is combat. Dual-wielding can be used for weapons and magic, adding much variety to the game, not to mention the Dragon Shouts. These make you a medieval Jedi, like Unrelenting Force, which can either make your enemies studder, or it can throw them off their feet. Also, finishing off enemies by performing finishing moves is just plain satisfying, having each weapon perform its own unique move. Plus, you can now sprint. After that, there is the Story. The dragons are a fun and new innovation in the series. The Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Mages Guild(known as the College of Winterhold) and the Fighter's Guild(known as The Companions) all return to the series to offer unique Quest lines. Finally, the graphics. Skyrim has the best graphics of the series, as it should. I know a lot of people are frustrated with all of the bugs, but looking past the bugs, this game is just great.… Expand

You can play and interpret it any way you want. This is Skyrim's ultimate joy. For me, the game is a nature simulator. There is nothing like wandering into the mountains to listen to the wind rustle amongst the trees, moon rising in the night sky, snow crunching under your weary feet. Somber music swells in the background from some unseen orchestra, and a deer scurries by delicately. Everything is serene and there is no reason to kill a thing. I… Expand

i love this game. there may be a small lagging matter to attend to but its still playable. what this game really needs is some dlc that would be the sh!t. play it and mw3 nonstop no matter what any body says ill defend this game till the end!

NOTE: This review is written after the FPS issue of the PS3 version of Skyrim was patched.
Huge, realistic and epic at the same time. That's what this game is. After you get out of the tutorial dungeon, you have the free will to do what you want. In every sense of the word. You are free to go where ever you want to, interact with almost everything in the world, gain reputation as a hero or a villain, join different factions, etc. Every NPC has his/her own scedule that they repeat every day. There are literally hundreds of places to discover, quests to complete, things to do and enemies to defeat. The AI is one of the best of this generation (although some weird things can - and will - happen). The graphics are very beautiful and you will never get tired of them. Same with the music. It's simply beautiful. The leveling system is great and hasn't anything to complain about. I'll say it now so you know it: you shouldn't buy Skyrim because of its main story. There is so much else in the game and in the end, the story's not that great compared to the other questlines. Also yo should know that this is a HUUUGE game and huge games tend to have lots of bugs. Not an exception in Skyrim. Don't worry, they're being constantly patched by Bethesda, so you won't have to suffer from them.… Expand

I'm redoing my review now for Skyrim on ps3 after a long 6month wait for a fix from Bethesda.so now that patch 1.5 is available I decided to retry Skyrim and give it one last shot.let me start out by saying that patch 1.4 was a good patch but patch 1.5 is the better patch, since now I'm able to play with less and I do mean much less problems than before...so far I haven't had any game crashes/freezes or frame-rate drops like I did with patch 1.4 things do seem much smoother now and working better overall.however this game still needs more fixes, and the damage has been done in terms of quality.besides that i'm happy thus far with Skyrim after patch 1.5.… Expand