There are dozens of us that think this is a fantastic historical Total War! Dozens! And I'm one of them!

Its a little rough around the edges in spots (typos, config defaults, etc.), due to getting minimal post launch support as Creative Assembly contracted after layoffs. I like it a lot more than Total War: Troy and about the same as Total War: Three Kingdoms (3K).

Recommended on sale (I got it for $19 CDN). Amazing value.

Pros:
- The Resource system combined with Diplomacy makes for the most engaging diplomatic opportunities in a Total War game since 3K.

- In-depth campaign customization options, this is needed in all Total War games.

- The Dynasties update brings ancient Greece/Troy and Babylon into a vast campaign map.

- The Lethality (critical hit) system in battles

- The Outpost system adds a lot of variety to settlement planning. Turtle with tons of forts. Build buff superhighways across the gigantic campaign map.

- Unit weight class system, terrain system, and dynamic weather really shakes up a lot of the battles and helps make up for lower unit diversity.

- Stable and runs great (up to 240 fps in campaign map and 130 fps in battles)

Cons:
- Bronze Age is a long long time ago, not very much cultural connection to people/places for most players

- Very limited cavalry and no artillery. It was a simpler time.

- There were about one thousand times where I wanted the Trespass Warning system from Total War: Warhammer games, trying to police armies roving your lands

- 2 player co-op campaign limit (could have bumped it to 4-8, for a map this big).

I got this for free since i bought TW pharoh (which was a big disappointment hardly passing 20 hours on it) and this is definitely better as i've managed to play over 50 hours without it feeling like a burden, this is essentially total war pharaoh and troy smashed together which i am enjoying, not as much as tw Atilla or rome.

TLDR - two bad games together = alright game, buy on sale avoid Pharaoh and Troy just get this.

I genuinely think this is the best Total War game. I loved ME2 and Shogun 2, but I have no reason to keep either of them installed because I have this now.