Skyrim has all the key elements to immerse a player deep within its bowels.
The plot bases on two main wars going on in skyrim. First of all the Stormcloaks are rebelling against the empire because they are feeling that their culture is being destroyed by the empire. But what the civilians of skyrim are really worried about is the return of the dragons. Also other factions return like The Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, The Companions and The College of Winterhold. These are all very unique and have immensely deep storylines.
There are some notable gameplay improvements like dual wielding spells and weapons and a refined levelling up system. The levelling system has made the game much more different and satisfies the player more. It works like this. You have a set of skills like Archery, Alchemy and such. In order to level up you need to use these skills to individually level up these skills while at the same time levelling your character. You also have a skill tree in each of these skills. These perks are fairly useful in your journey and will surely boost your character's strength.
The menus have also been refined, they are given a more polished look but they can get tedious at time because of the lack of a sort option for your inventory. The game looks superb, even though character models look a bit stiff and the animations are a bit stupid at times, you have to keep in mind that it is a very big land with lots of things to render. The skybox looks amazing and the environment is believable and beautiful at the same time. It runs at a stable FPS but frame rate dips are very common usually at large battles. Also after a certain amount of time played on one save file skyrim will suffer some lag issues as reported by many players.
Skyrim packs hundreds of hours of content. There are tons of quests to do, lots of weapons to collect and so much more. First of all the main quest. This quest follows the return of the dragons. It's interesting enough to continue through but lots of players forget about it because of all the interesting other side quests. The main quest can take you about 20 hours or so to play through and offer a satisfying ending. Faction quests return and they are still fun as hell. These are all very story driven and pack lots of hours of entertainment. There are ton of side quests to do ranging from a simple delivery mission or a strange encounter with a daedra.
New to the franchise are miscellaneous quests. These are all filed under the misc tab in the quest log. These can be little things like fetch an item or kill a dragon but can lead to something important that will have its own quest.
The AI is still pretty mediocre as it always has been in the franchise. Followers may get stuck in random things or don't move out of your way. The Enemy AI can be bugged at times at just do random things or not move at all. Skyrim has it's fair share of bugs to complain about. Quests can be bugged and unable to progress further. These glitches can really hurt the player's progress but Bethesda are patching up the game bit by bit. The NPC's also are a bit clunky and can get glitched up at times, but still they work pretty good.
Skyrim is a gigantic game that has so much to offer, you will be playing for days on end and probably crush your social life all together. It has it's fair share of shortcomings but these are few and with all the fun you'd be having you won't notice them at all.
The Good :
-Gigantic world with tons of content.
-Dual wield system makes combat more fun.
-Side quests are very interesting.
-Swords and equipment look very detailed.
-Great voice acting.
The Bad :
-Can get buggy at times.
-NPC's can get clunky at times.
-Combat is still a bit shallow.