The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, commonly referred to as Skyrim, has been a big hit on both the PC gaming scene and console. Skyrim is Bethesda’s newest title, the fifth game in the Elder Scrolls saga, which runs on Bethesda’s Creation Engine,

Skyrim has held the #1 Weekly Seller since it was released  November 11 on Steam, the primary source for PC gamers to download games and other gaming related software such as strategy guides, and it is likely to hold this position for the foreseeable future.

If you haven’t already bought Skyrim, and if you’re in a position in which both PC and console are viable platforms, get it on PC. On this system, Bethesda is able to roll out patches faster than on console; this may not matter if you are planning on buying Skyrim later in its life cycle, but if nothing else the graphics are superior on PC.

Skyrim is an RPG (role-playing game) set in a medieval world with dragons, elves, and the occasional cat or lizard-person. The plot is based on a war between a rebel group, known as the Stormcloaks, and the Imperials, the current rulers of Skyrim. In the game, you choose your side in the war; this is just one of many decisions you will have to make for your character. You must choose skill trees in which to invest your points, and this ultimately determines how your character fights and what he/she can do out of combat as well.

Some say that Skyrim is basically a first-person (from the view of your character’s eyes) version of the popular MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role-playing game) World of Warcraft. These people are, more or less, clueless. World of Warcraft is both fully real-time (no pausing) and based on inactive abilities, of which Skyrim has none. Of course, the big difference is that Skyrim definitely is not an MMO as it does not even support two-player cooperative.

Skyrim’s gameplay is superb. Although the game isn’t always filled with action and battle, when it is, the execution is flawless. The battles are both challenging and strategic. Unlike many RPG’s, this isn’t “Hack and Slash”. If one is in a battle with a troll near the beginning of the game, the logical course is to knock the troll back and stun him with a shout, then seize the opportunity to hit it with some long range magic rather than charging in a futile attempt to kill the troll with a sword.

Skyrim also features an in-game economy, in which you can buy and sell various inventory items, ranging from weapons and armor to flowers for soup. One can also purchase houses, prefered for storage, since unlike other options they do not delete your items over time.

On a negative note, there are glitches in random spots throughout the world, dragons not landing but instead hovering over you, and giants crashing down with clubs, knocking you thousands of feet into the air, culminating in your fall to a very infuriating death. Bethesda has already fixed some of these problems on PC, including dragons not landing, and is aware and working on patches for the others.

Skyrim is definitely worth the money as it provides hundreds of hours of gameplay. Skyrim has won the hearts and minds of gamers on all platforms.