In its current state I give MTW2 a 7.5 out of 10 which, by my standards, is very good.

Pros:

- Immersion - MTW2 scores huge on the immersion scale. The ambience/immersion factor that was sorely missing from RTW is back with a vengeance. Absolutely love the plethora of audio cues and the long overdue reintroduction of video cutscenes to the TW series.

- Tactical AI - After playing a number of custom battles where missile troops were minimized or equalized in order to prevent the passive AI bug from ruining the experience it is painfully obvious that the tactical AI has been drastically improved over previous TW titles. I was extremely pleased that I had to throw the bad habits I developed from RTW:BI's battles out the window. I was astounded to see the AI handle its cavalry and missile units so effectively! I really can't wait for the upcoming patch to fix the passive AI bug.

- Strategic AI - Still needs work but overall it is much more sensible than RTW:BI. Greater consolidation of AI armies on the campaign map and I haven't spotted those pitifully understrength family member led armies roaming the countryside. Now unless I'm suffering from delusions the AI seems to be more effective at utilizing strategic chokepoints and other defensive terrain to its advantage. More often than not I have noticed hostile/neutral AI armies backing out of range when my superior strength armies were in the area. Noticed a French army opt to sit on a bridgehead near a Portuguese citadel for several turns rather than risk combat with a nearby Portuguese army that would have certainly defeated it in open terrain (yes, France and Portugal were at war at the time).

- Missions - Excellent implementation and I love the fact that you can get missions from a variety of organizations. I also love the variety of awards. Far superior to the Senate mission system in RTW.

- Popely Potpourri - Love the Pope, College of Cardinals, Crusades and all the religious & political intrigue that goes along with it. Really well done.

- Sensible AI generals - No more suicidal general charges! Hurray!

- System Performance - Even on my creaky Athlon XP 2400+/Radeon 9800 Pro/1gig RAM/120gig 7200rpm HD system MTW2 runs surprisingly well. Sure I had to turn stuff down but not nearly as much as I thought I would (the demo ran like frozen crap compared to the release version).

Cons:

- Passive AI bug - I am currently playing a campaign as the English and thanks to this bug I've won numerous battles and sieges where I should have had a much more difficult time. Unfortunately thanks to this bug I no longer have the motivation to continue my English campaign until the patch comes out.

- Strategic AI silliness - The strategic AI is far superior to that in RTW:BI but it's still a bit dodgy. I still see the AI sending understrength armies to besiege my cities loaded with superior numbers of troops. On the other hand I haven't seen a single AI army dumb enough to take on an overwhelmingly superior army in open combat... WTF? What's worse is the barbarian horde AI seems to be totally fudged because since the Mongols have appeared they've done jack squat. My memory is a bit hazy right now but I don't think the Mongols have managed to take a single province in the 30-40 turns since they appeared.

- Peasants - The old AI Peasant spamming from MTW is back! Not nearly as bad as it once was but it's still disappointing to see the AI blow cash on these units when it could be purchasing more useful units instead.

- Piety - The appalling low Piety levels (and lack of improvement in Piety) for family members, even those in cities with advanced religious buildings and Theologian Guilds, leads me to believe the Traits system is a bit broken. If it were working properly people wouldn't be so angry over the Inquisitor issue.

- View Settlement Option - This option is curiously absent from MTW2. Considering how much effort was put into MTW2's graphics I really want this option back. I really want to see some of my larger cities and castles in all their 3D glory.

- Muslim 'dullards' - The Moors and Egypt seem to get the short end of the stick in terms of being 'fleshed out'. The Moors with their bland unit roster seem to suffer the most. I think the Almohad faction from MTW was more interesting than the Moors in MTW2.

The great thing about MTW2 is aside from the nasty Passive AI bug it is extremely solid. Comparatively speaking RTW was in virtual shambles when it was released. Should the upcoming patch effectively address the passive AI bug as well as other obvious issues I will gladly bump my score up to an 8.5 or possibly 9.

MTW2 is shaping up to be the best TW title in the series. One thing for sure is that MTW2 has set the bar awfully high for the next TW title.