Where do I begin, this game is one of the best if not THE best strategy game I have ever played. It is like Risk the boardgame on steriods. If you have a good computer you are in for a graphics treat, but even if you do not the gameplay is really what it is all about and once you start you'll not be stopping till you realise it's 3am and you've got school/work in the morning. There are a few minor glitches which will be ironed out over time with updates (there have already been one or two updates since release) but nothing too serious at this time. I've only found my main problem so far has been getting units to go over fences and one semi-floating house. But hey, pobody's nerfect. The new naval battles are visually pleasing and loads of fun once you get a good sized armada built up. I've had the game for a little under a week and i've only just managed to get into the final act 3 of the introductory campaign based around the United States of America's road to independence. I must also stress that the game is very tactical as far as games go and positioning and planning goes a long way towards winning. I myself managed to hold a fort with approximately 500 men against an invading army of almost 1,300 though plenty of luck must be attributed to that as well. There are plenty of other elements of the game to keep you going and all add to the experience including managing resources and taxes with the later being important as if you tax too much especially nobles they might decide to rise up against you though you can usually raise taxes for a few turns to fund raising a big army without any hassles. I've also still not managed to get to grips with getting through allies teritories as more often than not they will want to turn me down if I want to march an army through their teritory on my way to a destination even if I offer them good trade deals or the like. I have both Dawn Of War 2 and this game and while they are both a bit different especially with DOW2 being more small unit based now and almost RPG like, it hasn't even gotten a look in since I bought Empire: Total War. I'm not taking anything away from DOW2 either as it is a great game. But there is something about marching into battle with 1,500 plus infantry, cavalry and cannons in view that brings out the inner Napoleon in us all. I'd give this game 10 stars out of 5. Epic.

I have been a total war player since the release of medieval total war and this one is the best of all. Took me a while to get used to it as I have to change strategies with troops focusing on gun powder and with the introduction of naval battles. It is more exciting being able to see what you construct on the map and having more diplomatic options. Having to research your technology is also another fun new feature of the game. I definitely recommend this game to total war players and to players who have never tried the game. PC gamer gave it a solid 94% so I see the reason why not. Word of warning as you might need a decent machine to run this game smoothly. My graphics card is a NVDIA 9600 GT but the performance is not perfect. Possibly because I am a little fussy, putting everything on the highest setting.

An important peice of information for multiplayer in New Zealand is to find occupied servers you need to change Steams download server via going to File tab, settings tab and downloads. Select a countries server, such as UK & Ireland or Australia. Help forum for issues is at http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com.

Its a good game.