Very good so far, though I'm not sure if that's just because it's different. I love how open it is and the almost limitless possibilities that you have before you. The diplomacy system is great as well. I'm just playing on normal difficulty and it's not easy either. I've grown pretty large (as Genoa) and am trying to unite all of Italy, as well as conquering most of Central America, but I've lost two wars along the way. The first was right at the start of the game, when I lost my starting Crimean provinces which were too isolated to be able to support in a war. The second was an unintentional and very much unwanted war with France that happened when tiny Sardinia declared war on me and dragged France into it. I conquered Sardinia, but had to give France a province to get peace.

Right before I came to work, France declared war on me again and I'm probably going to get my butt whooped. They massively outnumber me and their units are of higher quality than mine. Fortunately, I managed to get an alliance with Castille recently and they have joined me in the war. Castille is about as strong as France, so my strategy is going to be to try and stay alive and hope that Castille will divert a lot of the French attention. It's going to be bloody, though, and I'll be very happy just to get a white peace.

So, yes... I like it.