Great game with minor, easily improved faults.
The game is open ended as they come, so if that is your thing, Mount and blade is great.
The reason I wont give it higher than a 9.0 is because the extreme open endedness will leave somthing to be craved for people who like a more linear storyline, or a more structured game.
The 6.0 that gamespot gave this game makes me wonder if they actually played this game. Granted, the graphics are dated, however solid gameplay trumps visuals every day of the week, and perspective buyers should not let the graphics or the horridly misleading gamespot rating keep them from enjoying this one of a kind game.