Superb RTS game!
I played all the other versions but this one is just even better...way better.
Let me tell you:
Graphics:
Breathtaking graphics! Just right.
You can see every little detail, some wear other kinds of armor then the soldier next to them or their horses have different colours.
So they dont look all the same.
You can start in day/night/sunset/afternoon etc, great to see it.
Its nice to see the flameable arrows in the sky at night..You dont want to get hit by them.
The movies are also impressive. When you assign a mission to an assasin or scout a movie plays which can turn out good or bad.
GamePlay:
Very good and easy to learn...Theres a tutorial too. Though you need to give it some time to get skilled. But that makes its just interesting if you find out more and more.
Also, the soldiers all act different when in a large group. And some may show their anger to the enemy, or retreat. You never know.
But sometimes some soldiers are just waiting and standing there when the enemy is one feet near them cutting them to pieces..but you dont see that much when there are thousands of men fighting. Very impressive to see!
There is a huge campaign, Whole europe, asia to explore.
or you can do a skirmish game, in many different kinds of maps from desert to snow.
Also there are many different units and countries.
From peasants to knights, horses, even cannons, trebuchets with good sound that makes the camera shake. Nice effects. Animations are very well done.
You can send orders to all the soldiers, formations, behaviour etc.
Camera views:
The camera is real nice, you can go to ground level, turn 360 degrees.
Imagine you are standing in the grass near a thousand soldiers, archers, swordsman, knights, all ready for battle with the enemy infront of you. Then attack with a powerfull charge...This really gives you that feeling that you're in it.
Settings:
You need a good comp to play on the most high settings though.
I have AMD3800+ Manchester, ati1900xt, 2048MB memory and its possible to play all high, but when it gets to the thousands soldiers it gets a little bit slower...but still playable.
Even on low or medium settings you have great graphics and gameplay.
Ok i guess this is enough info for now :)
They really did a good job on this one...i say its absolutely worth that money if youre an RTS fan.