Now THIS is what I am talking about. Get your money's worth!!!
You want a game that you will get your money out of? Go for the Total War series. Best dollar per hour spend rate you've ever seen.
The action is fast an furious and the lulls in action since previous titles have decreased (mostly due to run speeds going rather rediculously high.) The tech tree is interesting and I dearly love how you can flesh out your experience on your generals, assassins, holy men, and spies.
It's making the gameplay deeper that I like without adding a headache. The CA magic is in the levels of complexity that they flawlessley and easily present. Like an onion the layers only add to the whole.
The speaches are back and the art is phenomenal. Depth is there as are details that CA never fails to deliver on... (Empire compaints aside...)
The only thing I wish CA would do is to perhaps move things into a new direction...say WWI or China's unification under emperor Chin...or perhaps some fantastic scenario.
Non-PC gamers with a good PC...this is what we PC gamers (and Mac gamers) are ALL ABOUT. Give it a try!!!