6.5/10

Definitely better then Rome, but I still get bothered by similar things in these two games.

Like someone mentioned below, certain design decisions are forever going to bother me. I miss the risk-style tile map and am still not convinced the new map adds any real gameplay value. The borders are too porous and aren't honored, and owners of large regions get screwed just trying to transport troops (think North Africa). The end game is unmanageable. Besides, the AI doesn't make as obvious mistakes on the tile maps.

The battles - amazing from what I've seen so far. Still not the epic hour long gore-fests from MTW, but better then Rome.

Not a *bad* game, kept me entertained for a good week so far.