Beautiful, enthralling, addictive. An excellent game! There were some things i didn't like, or missed, though.
The reason I didn't enjoy it as much as other GS reviewers, I think, is because I quickly grew tired of what I like to believe was a boring and uninspired story. The dialogue was uninteresting and I didn't like the jokes, not my kind of humor. I guess I should have taken more time, and learn to like the story slowly. Instead, I have ended up skipping all dialogue and story.
I enjoyed "the additions" like the chest of rage, where you can summon creatures with abilities as you build up rage through battles, or the fact that you don't have your own castle. The RPG elements are great and your leadership level prevents you from buying an unbeatable army even though you have the money, a smart feature. There is a randomness to the game's artifacts and troops, so each time you play a new game, the experience will change.
I found the game quite hard, which was very pleasing. The quests were quite diversified, when you keep in mind what the game is based upon. You have to move the camera a lot, as not to get attacked and defeated by a strong opponent you don't see, but it works very well.
The art is incredible, lots of details. It is very colorful and looks like a fairy tale. You could say you were in a child's dreams. Spell effects are also great.
The game tends to get repetitive, as you will be fighting an huge amount of battles. But that is to be expected. I did miss the "auto-combat" button a lot though.
The quest and map information should have been a little better. You can, however, put your own notes on the map, a feature i used to the fullest.
The sound effects are ok and the music was a little less than ok. I also experienced one bug, where a quest couldn't be finished as the game always crash upon interacting with a certain character. This was the only one however, and I didn't really mmind.
In conclusion, this is a excellent game, with fantastic artwork and addictive gameplay. But my liking to the story and humor was non-existent, and i was missing a few features. But again, yes, it is an excellent game.