Medieval II: Total War

Pros:
-Unbelievably Realistic
-Very High Graphics
-Very good for studying Medieval Warfare
-Very good for experimenting what happens when you have alot of cannons vs...Cons:
-Too Realistic and Strategic for some..?
-Very Long
-Quite Repetitive
-Time-consuming
-Space-hog! (5-7GIGS! Not including the expansion pack, Kingdoms. If you did, 14-15GIGS! That's almost as big as MW2!)
- Very long time to download

Storyline
Medieval II:Total War (M2TW) has no storyline. It does not really need a Storyline anyway. But to give it a sense of storyline... you start the tutorial, or first level, in the Battle of Hastings, the history changing battle that shaped the course of Europe of the ages. Then as history goes, you win and continue to conquer England from the Saxons. Then from there on you can continue the game by starting a new campaign as England. You can also choose other empires to play as, and then CONQUER EUROPE AND BEYOND!! Too bad history books have already spoiled the ending of the game.

Gameplay
Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay. You just cannot get anything more realistic that M2TW's inbattle gameplay. Instead of AOK (Age of Empires II:Age of Kings) with one unit that has a health bar, you have squads of men, weakest with the most, strongest with the least. You also have morale levels, tiredness levels, courage levels and formations. There is even a terrain advantage! Different units have different specialties. Artillery/Siege Weaponry are only good against buildings. Unless you have cannons (Bombards, Great Bombards, etc.) they are OK against INFANTRY. However, their accuracy is way off, which is why they should be left dealing with buildings and walls. Units also have special abilities. Some infantry and able to perform special formations which have better effects during certain situations. Some pikemen/spearmen are able to create a wall of spears. Missle units (Siege Weapons/Artillery/Missile Infantry) have the choice of normal effective projectiles designed to deal maximum damage, or flaming/exploding projectiles designed to cause the enemy to rout and flee. The only cavalry units that have a special ability are archers on horseback, where they circle and shoot.

To win battles in M2TW, you have to take full advantage of the battle. It is a true medieval wartime simulation, besides the fact you can't die. You have archers infront of a line of infantry men to deal maximum casualties before the enemy reaches you, spearmen/pikemen to take care of enemy cavalry, some units to defend your flanks and cavalry to chase down siege weapons/artillery/missle units before they deal any large casualties to your army. In battles, you also have to use your units wisely and tactically. This is not like DoW2 where you just put them behind some good cover and let them go, you must command them step by step, where to go, who to attack, when to retreat, what to use, what to do, etc. You also have the option of flanking maneuvres. Send some cavalry to your foes side or back and charge their lines by surprise or sheer power and force to break the line for your infantry to take care of the rest. Also you can use bait to draw enemy units after your bait, bringing them to a trap. Just take M2TW as a Real Medieval Wartime Simulator, and all will be fine. Don't forget to charge, retreat and repeat. If you feel the need to speed things up, you have the option of Normal (1x), 2x or 6x, and pause (0x).

Now M2TW is not just about the battles. Empire management is also seriously impressive. You manage tax rates, what towns/castles are building, attacks, defends, training units, destroying riots, diplomacy, and the most important thing of the game, relations with the Pope. If you have been excommunicated from the Catholic Church, you are in some deep ....lot of trouble. At times you may receive missions from the Pope or your council where you may be called to join a Crusade, blockade a port, take over a city, assasinate a target or cease hostilities. Without this, you would only have half the experiences of Total War. This gives you the full, complete and most awesome experience, ever.

Graphics
M2TW Graphics are too good for my iMac, which is better than most of your computers. I have everything set on LOW because the graphics are too hardcore. To get the full graphic experience of a real medieval warfare simulator, you would need a top-of-the-range PC. Now even at low the graphics are pleasing. I have to say it is better than DoW2, Red Alert 3 and AoE3. Here, bodies don't just sink into the ground of dissapear. They stay there. Until the battle is over. You see every single arrow home in on their targets. You see the flaming arrows and other projectiles fling through the air with precision. You see the smoke that rises from artillery after it has fired a round. You see every man's face if you zoom into the heat of the battle. It just has incredible graphics. Just incredible. Being a fan of games with extremely good graphics, this game has the best graphics so far. I'd like to compare the 'Highest' graphics settings with other graphical games such as DoWII and RA3.

Sound
Yay! Remember I said realistic? Well, to give you a taste of this realistic sound, imagine an flaming arrow flying through the air. Now imagine 60 flaming arrows flying through the air. Now imagine you have 4 x 60 flaming arrows flying through the air. I've never heard anything like it. Also, when you send in your infantry and cavalry, you can hear their grunts and yells as they fight in some hardcore hand-to-hand combat, in the heat of battle. Even the voices are medieval (Old English). The voices also match what empire they come from. E.g. England-English Accent. Holy Roman Empire-German Accent. Venice-Italian Accent. A Muslim Empire-Arabic Accent.
The sound and music in menus aren't quite that charming though, just some horns and drums and when you click something a deep and loud Boom.But it's not like that matters. Another great thing is, nearly all squads have their own unique voices.

Final Comments
What can i say. It is a great game. The Pros outweigh the Cons 10x. It's simply awesome. I would defintely have paid my money for this game because of the sheer awesomeness (but I am who I am). I have to say, Medieval II: Total War is the best and most Realistic Real Time Strategy game I have ever played in my extensive RTS gaming world. If I was bothered, I would have put every single detail of the game into this review, but duty calls (sleep). I would really like to see the multiplayer madness in this game with a 2v2 battle. The strategies involved. God. I swear I feel like a General. Oh wait I am EDIT: Can't wait for Imperium: Total War! Ship Battles!

9.5/10 - Reason: Space Hog and too good for average computers.

I must say, having played both games, if you set DoWII and Total War to the highest available setting Dawn of War II wins out slightly, but only because the terrain graphics and textures are superior. I must admit that the graphics on both games are still amazing.

A word of advice-cut down on Uber. It actually means "over" in german. Though if you say Overly instead of Over it'll actually work for some of what you said.

Sorry. Fixed.