In a nutshell:
One of the most respected Western role-playing games of all time is back with huge improvements in graphics and accessibility, including a completely real-time combat system and the largest, most detailed game world ever seen. Phew.

The lowdown:
Although previous Elder Scrolls games have enjoyed something of a like it or loathe it reputation, this latest sequel has the means to appeal to everyone thanks to one simple improvement: its incredible new graphics. Unlike many role-playing games it is viewed from a first person perspective, with a game world portrayed in a staggering amount of detail, and realistic psychics and characters that genuinely seem to be going on about their own separate lives. The game's real appeal though lies in the huge freedom: play it exactly how you want.

Most exciting moment:
Using the new combat engine to fight off dozens of enemies, then stealing one of their mounts and riding off into the sunset.

Since you ask:
Emperor Uriel Septim VII is voiced by Star Trek and X-Men luminary Patrick Stewart, but all the characters in the game have full spoken voiceovers instead of just onscreen text. This is the next generation, you know.

The bottom line:
One of the most realistic and accessible role-playing games ever made.
Harrison Dent

this game is great it has tuns of things to do it seems endless you could just be wandering around enjoying the beutiful scenery then out of knowere a strange man comes up to you with some weird quest to do like save her daughter its a very good game

I`d been led to believe that this was THE RPG and having really enjoyed the Witcher I thought I`d give this a go, but its so bland and boring with cats and goblins wearing dresses. The characters all have this vaguely american/Shakesperian accents and just don`t feel real. The main character seems to float around the ground. The guards are always arresting you and there only seems to be one quest unless I`m missing something.You can adjust the games difficulty whenever you meet anything difficult. I just can`t understand why its so popular

I often play RPGs and was a massive fan of Morrowind, however this failed to maintain the depth which you experienced in Morrowind, producing an RPG that is brilliant as a hack n' slash, or to all of those who are new to RPGs, but does not provide a satisfying experience to all those who really want to role-play and experience their character. The world is large and beautiful, but lacks variety, maintaining several terrains, a mountain, often rocky with one relatively difficult path up, fields, you will see this the most, lots of grass and plants, then the odd dungeon here and there, and lakes, that speaks for itself, large areas of water with a shoreline. This really is all you see, apart from cities, which actually show reasonable variety. The quests are plentiful, and have many nice stories, however often involve the same idea, of kill someone or pickpocket something etc. because of this the game gets repetitive quickly, and due to a linear story throughout doesn't offer much chance of variety. Even though I have said this the game is still very fun, the dungeons can be brilliantly entertaining, and the combat is rather nice, however I would always think of it more as a first person action game than an rpg. However this does not make it bad, it is fun, and offers a lot of gameplay. I highly reccomend this game, but do not expect an amazingly deep game unless you purchase the shivering isles expansion pack.

Firstly, having read other reviews here, and played Morrowind, I was disappointed with the idea of the levelling system. So before I even started I got the Oscuro mod (OOO) which does away with auto-levelling enemies/goodies. I haven't played without it, but I can honestly say I haven't noticed a significant difference in levelling to Morrowind.

Secondly, if you fancy a walk in the lake district, but don't have the time and are concerned about the consequences of slashing real people with a sword (a berghaus just doesn't compete with leather armour) then I highly recommend this game. The landscape rendering is just breathtaking on a decent PC and you may just spend most of your time admiring the view and picking the lovely flowers (just watch out for wolves).

This game is the escapist's dream.

If you buy only one RPG buy this one. It is simply amazing. I've played Morrowind, most of the Final Fantasy and D&D based rpgs, so RPG games would be up there as my favourite genre of games and this game would be top of my RPG list, which is saying something.
The graphics are beautiful and sometimes i find myself standing on the edge of a lake looking at the sun set or standing atop the ruins of a castle looking down on the surroundings. The gameplay is so fun and addictive. It's the most unlinear game i've played. Basically the game makes you do one dungeon at the start and then after that you can do whatever you want. I mean that. You don't even have to touch the main storyline 200 hours into the game if you don't want to.
This game uses the "create your own destiny" attitude that Deus Ex started and really goes to town. You can be anybody you want to be. You can go straight into the main quest if you want or else explore the massive world first any way you want just following up on overheard conversations or exploring dungeons for treasure.
Now i've read people complaining about the leveling system in the game and whilst i agree that somethings have been lost using this, this is the main reason the game is so non-linear and realistic so i wouldn't change it for anything. There's so many surprises and excellent quests everywhere and you can find them at your own pace. It's all about choice. The one problem i had was the lack of different weapons. While there are plenty of weapons in the game there wasn't enough types for me ie glass/ ebony etc Which brings me onto another important point to the game.
The modding community in this game is amazing. The modding system is much better and user friendly than Morrowind was so mods are alot more appealing. I'm currently using around 50 different mods in my game at the moment which greatly enhances gameplay. These aren't mods to fix problems just mods to change things to how you like it. I mentioned that there wasn't enough weapons for me, no problem i downloaded real weapons mods now have 100+ weapons to choose from at the same stats as the original ones and it doesn't make the game easier or more difficult in any way. There are official expansions and add-ons to download too to get even more out of the game.
This isn't a game to spend months on this is a game that you may spend years on, it's that good.