Skyrim delivers an epic RPG experience

Standing in the Throat of the World, looking up the tallest mountain in all of Skyrim, I am assaulted by frost trolls. As I take down one after the other with both magic and mace, a dragon swoops in, lands next to me, grabs me with its teeth and tosses my body aside, where my carcass will surely freeze. In this death, I could not be more pleased.

As you may have heard, on Nov. 11, Bethesda Game Studios released the anticipated "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.

"Elder Scrolls" is known for its massive open worlds to explore and more traditional RPG elements than many modern role-playing games. There are dungeons aplenty, randomized treasure finds and an epic story that strings it all together.

Skyrim delivers all that we have come to expect from the "Elder Scrolls" series and much more.

You begin your journey on the way to an execution. Yours to be exact. You aren't killed, obviously, but during this opening sequence, you are able to create your character.

Unlike other games that involve character creation, you don't decide all your future strengths and weaknesses. You just decide how they look. Each character race, of which there are 10, has certain starting skills, but over the course of the game, you can choose to play any way.

Your skills are set depending on how you play. There are 18 individual skills, ranging from destruction magic to smithing. If you enjoy having an axe in one hand and your shield in the other, you will become more proficient in one-handed weaponry and blocking.

As you level up your individual skills, you will eventually gain an overall level. When this happens, you will be able to upgrade your health, magic or stamina and receive a perk point. These perk points can be used to enhance your skills, like gaining the ability to dual-cast spells.

This system of leveling alleviates much of the anxiety that comes with choosing which skills to increase. You are never left wishing you could restart your play-through just to level your character in a different way.

During your play you will encounter lots of dragons. After slaying your first dragon, you absorb its soul. Not everyone can absorb a dragon soul, but you do because you are Dragonborn. In fact, you are the last known Dragonborn in all of Tamriel, the fictional continent on which the province of Skyrim exists.

Figuring out what that means, and understanding why dragons are making their return to Skyrim is what drives the story forward.

There are four guilds you may join: the Companions, the Thieves' guild, the Dark Brotherhood and the College of Winterhold, which teaches magic. Each has its own series of quests to perform. You can join one, none or all four.

While you're exploring Skyrim, you will come across various dungeons. Dungeons are always filled with tough enemies that eventually lead you to a sub-boss. And in every dungeon there is treasure.

Acquiring treasure is a large part of the draw in Skyrim. You have the ability to search anything, be it barrels or closets, and you will always find something useful.

It is often in the dungeons that the best weapons and armor lay. In tribute to the never-ending looting spree that is Skyrim, I named my character Werezat Lootat.

This constant flow of treasure, combined with a leveling system that is consistently rewarding you, gives players a sense of satisfaction that makes the game difficult to put down.

Skyrim does have its flaws, but with a game of this size, it is to be expected. There is slight texture pop-in and glitches of all sorts. For instance, I was riding my horse up a mountain and I bucked, sending my horse and me flying off the mountain, resulting in our deaths. The glitches and graphical pop-in instances aren't significant, however.

The staggering amount of quests, seemingly endless dungeons, random encounters with dragons and various other activities make Skyrim an absolute joy to play.  

Be prepared to spend a good 60 hours exploring Skyrim. Actually playing the game may take longer.

5 slain dragons out of 5