Generally, most Viking themed games can often feel like nothing special and the the snowy landscape with the occasional Norse style wooden buildings decorated with the same runes and texture designs can get boring like stale bread. I'm happy to say that's not the case with Skyrim...

Being a fan of the Elder Scrolls series, Norse vikings, epic battles, and all that jazz, I was anxiously waiting for Nov. 11th to come around so I can buy this one. So, what's there to say? Well...

The graphics are stunning and beautiful, they feel much grittier and more detailed than Skyrim's predecessor, Oblivion, which also has beautiful graphics but just seems more cartoonish compared to Skyrim.

See what I mean? Nice graphics but much more bright and colorful. Moving on... The battles can be ferocious and can become challenging as you fight Giants, Trolls, Dragons, Giant Spiders, Bears... Oh my! And much MUCH more! It is during the end of these battles when the animation goes into slow motion and I see my blade delve into my enemies flesh for that fatal blow that makes me wanna shout and declare, "I... Am... Beowulf!"

Combat and graphics aren't the only things that I enjoy of the game, there's also the variety of apparel and a ton of side jobs you can do that are equally enjoyable from splitting firewood, blacksmithing, crafting potions and enchantments, and just simple good old fashioned bounty hunting.

"Hadoken! Street Fighters, eat your bloody hearts out."
- Dragonborn

 Now... I have to get negative. There's a ton of bugs. I've heard a few people with the PC version mention the game crashes before the menu even comes up. I have the PS3 version myself and have seen the water textures disappear making rivers look as invisible as the sky, I've seen texture graphics in the middle of open fields lose their graphic detail, I've even seen dead bodies and objects float strangely into the air... Perhaps the Gods of Skyrim say "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, he/she'll look great on my mantle."

They took a few things out from Oblivion including character classes which determine what skills your character are naturally better at from the start of the game, technically the birthsigns from the previous Elder Scrolls games are still here but instead of starting the game with the constellation's unique powers/abilities, you actually have to go explore and find these stones that give you these powers. Even still, some of the abilities have been changed. They also removed the speed skill (Which determined the character's movement and combat speed in Morrowind and Oblivion) as well as the acrobatics skill (Which determines how high you can jump and the height of falls you can survive).

"I don't care what you're job was in whatever country you came from. In Skyrim you start out crappy at every thing, and run as fast and jump as high as everyone else. It's the law!"
- Dick Tator, Jarl of Doucheland

Overall, it's hard to outweigh the good fun stuff with the bad stuff. Sure there are bugs but that's what patches and updates are for. Granted they took away athletics and acrobatic skills and sometimes battles can seem TOO challenging but there's new way past cool features like forging your own armor from metal you mine and leather you craft from dead animal hides, wielding a weapon in each hand and going all Conan The Barbarian on bandit skulls, giving your created character more personality by making an eye blind and providing some nice scars, facial hair, and/or warpaint. Not to mention my personal favorites, shooting lightning spells from both hands and muttering crap about "the dark side" or conjuring ghost wolves and sexy flame chicks to fight by your side if you feel outnumbered by enemies.

Frankly I say this game takes fun gameplay up the dial and all the way to 11, but... I have to be fair, so that's why I say Skyrim gets 5 out of 5 Nord Thane badasses. I'm gonna go play it some more now...