Boring as an old tube sock - EEIII has fallen away like loose dirt in an earthquake.
NONE - just a boring, drawn out 3D version of Risk, basically - but at least Risk has a story. You (in the SP Campaign) are thrown out to a 3D view of the Earth and then just "start conquering". If you don't know this, you realize it in a few hours - along with the realization that you have just wasted a large block of time in monotony purgatory...
Graphics:
Nice, slightly above average - close-up view reveals characters are not very detailed, though. The world isn't what I would call "photo-realistic" by any sense of the world, but rather highly detailed illustration. It does, however, have a generic feel to it... you'll see.
AI:
Your "factions" are stupid. Sometimes they will go waaaaaay out of the way when there is a shorter, yet harder to traverse path right there! Sometimes they do it for unknown reasons. The PC opponent ALWAYS seems to find the most prudent path.
Gameplay:
Well, all you do is jump back and forth between skirmish and world view. You can only make adjustments and upgrades in world view, so if you mess up and go to skirmish your out of luck (restart at earlier save). The skirmish mode is interesting enough, and fast paced - but commerce, exploration, and the countless other parameters present in most RTS games - including EE III's pedecessors - were sadly either not there or severely crippled. They took most of the micro-management out, but in doing so, dumbed up the game as to take all of the challenge and fun out of it. On top of that. the rewards are very slim, and bsing dumped back into skirmish mode with an army back at "level 1" every time is not very satisfying.
There are only five epochs and three races - reams of complaints have already been lodged at that decision - less game of an already yawnfested endeveor...
Sound:
Good.
Summary - game is broken and boring. I'd avoid it or wait until they fix it.