I got the game physically from EB Games in Australia when they "leaked" it. Not a big deal for PC as you cannot play until steam unlocks.

Got home around 7pm 10/11 and went through the install. Seemed to be OK, but then didn't (something like steam wanted to download after installing the 6GB disc files). So I uninstalled and tried the steam download. Kicked off and I went to bed.

Woke up around 12:30am. The download was at 4% with days to go. My bandwidth can handle a 6GB download without a sweat so maybe their servers (or the local one) were clogged. Forget that! Went back to installing off the DVD. All went well this time and I got the "18 mins until you can play" countdown. Watched American Dad to wait (OT is it just me or can anyone decide if that show is good or bad? I am 4 and a half seasons in and still am not sure) I didn't exactly note the activation time, but it must have been very close to 1am Sydney time.

Clicked Options and maxed everything out. Clicked Play.

Load screens are lame. Bethesda logo animation and then a still image?!!! Come on. Not a big deal, but that IV fading to "OBLIVION" with that awesome music was brilliant every time you kicked off Oblivion.

OK, game begins. To avoid spoilers (which I did for the start) you get a nice intro/pick your character/begin real game sequence. I thought the character screen was fine. Played for 10 mins max with customisation and then didn't care as you never see yourself.

So into the main game. WOW!!!! Awesome. Lovely. Spectacular. The next 5 hours flew past until 6am when I got ready for work.

I understand how reviews overlook the bugs. ALL of the game to me was superb except for;

1. The menu. Bad. If you spend years on a game, please at least get an intern to make a nice PC menu?! Skip the 4 way cross thing and have multipe tabs (then you get quests and journal along the same interface). Scale it to fit any size screen. The mouse did work for me in the most. Only in conversations did it seem to click the wrong response. Not totally terrible after the first 5 hours, but it is clunky, and will no doubt start to annoy me every time I want to change spells or weapons.

2. This was a major dissapointment. We (PC players) NEED to see our character when changing gear (same as Oblivion). I realise this is a side effect of the console UI "port", but again, please please fix it. Go on, it cannot be that hard.

3. So far one bug. In the skaarsblah caverns. "Maybe you can use the XYZ to get out".. (trying not to spoil it for players who are not there) I fireballed the "sweet spot" and the game froze twice. This got me worried about having to restart. Actually I wouldn't have minded as I learned so much in those initial 4 hours or so. But anyway the third reload got it working and I was on my way again.

Those are the only 2 niggles so far. The menu will be a constant frustration. Maybe moders can fix it. As a fellow coder who tends to spend way to much time on GUIs and how they look I really hope Bethesda does a quick PC patch to get a decent menu system going. And yes, as another player noted, make it so we can sort equipment by weight/value/etc as in Oblivion.

What a game otherwise. I wasn't a huge Oblivion fan, but spent a good deal of time in the world. Skyrim is just wow in comparison. Those "little" touches are great. The first time you see Salmon swimming up river. The way the music is a true soundtrack that knows when to build up in the right moments. Visually it is great. I can see myself spending many more hours immersed in this world.

Please devs. Please, do the PC community a favour and do a quick fix for the menu. This is the major hassle in every review for the PC version I have seen. Basically they are all like mine. "This game is amazing, but the menu svcks!". Please. If I am going to be spending hundreds of hours in this world I need a smooth way to change weapons/spells/etc. Give us a hotkeys too. We have a keyboard and mouse. You guys obviously know that, so why give the PC such a bad UI?

So now I have an hour of work to go before returning to that glorious world.

So for the first 5 hours I would give it a 9.5/10. It really is that good. The way those 5 hours flew past shows how immersed I was. The UI issue is all that is stopping an 11/10.

Wonderful game. Buy it. Play it. Love it.

I didn't like the menu either. Or the lack of magic. It was good graphics and stuff but was different you know.

Yeah, menu is possibly the biggest problem of this game. But anyway, it's great. No, really. Great. Enjoy it.

For me the magic is good so far. I went pure mage and having dual wield flame in one hand, lightning in the other is nice. Feels so much more meaty than Oblivion's magic. So far (5 hours) it has been just the right difficulty. Died a few times, usually just survive harder encounters. Perfect balance.