Buyer Beware
"more flashy and with a better presentation, and dumbed it down a LOT, woulda been much better" This game isn't made for morons. It is made for the hardcore strategy folks who want to spend several days on one game. My friend and I have a co-op game that has been going for about 3 months and we still love it. Although the graphics aren't terrific, it doesn't need to be. The art is decent and good enough to get the point across that your American howitzers are different from Chinese or French Arty. As for sound, the music is repetitive, but luckly you can turn turn it off in the menu, maybe have a boombox playing your favorite music in the background.
Commonly overlooked in this game is the map maker, where you can create your own maps and layouts.
As for difficulty, the first mission and manual are a big help to this extremely difficult and complex game. So, if you are a PC strategy gamer or a fan of table-top games like Axis and Allies, then there is no reason you shouldn't give this cheap game a try.