"Rome Total War Gold Edition"
"Shogun: Total War" is one of my all time favorite PC games. The sequel, "Medieval:TW" is another matter. Medieval was an example of more actually being less. It had a bigger map and tons of units but the gameplay was very tedious and boring.
Turn-based strategy games that I can play with my friends is one of my favorite genres. Which is to say that my biggest complaint with Medieval was that the game did not include multiplayer so I couldn't play it with friends. I swore never to buy another Creative Assembly game until they added true multiplayer. (To be precise, the game had multiplayer for the combat but not the strategy map. By only supporting half of the game, they dont support multiplayer in my book.)
I held to my pledge for a few years but eventually broke down and bought Rome:Total War even though it STILL doesn't have real multiplayer. (What can I say, there just arent enough strategy games. Civ4 is great but it isn't really a war game. And the reviews for Rome were glowing.)
I have enjoyed the game but it still feels like kind of a grind. They have made huge changes to the campaign play which I like a lot, but I feel like I put hours into the game and never get closer to winning. Eventually my armies have gotten so large, with so many units, I once again feel it is tedious. I have to capture (and manage) 50 cities? Come on...
Maybe the NEXT Create Assembly game will be as good as Shogun but I am not holding my breath. The market clearly rewards "bigger" as better so I would expect Medieval: Total War 2 to be more of the same.
