I had a review of Empire:Total War...

...but the dodgy power here in the building caused my rig to reset.

As a result, I lost it all, and am loathe to retype it all again, lets the power strike it down.

Again.

So, here is the quick, quick summary:

+ Awesome Introduction Campaign
+ Grand Campaign is Challenging and Diverse
+ Musket-based combat is horrifying and challenging

- Massive Naval Battles are a pain in the ass to control
-- AI doesn't appear to have a good handle on how fleet actions occurred in that age
- Requires a fairly beefy system to run

So, in all, I highly recommend it if you need a strategy fix. Pick it up, you won't be disappointed!