Epic Series part!

Right at the front away, it is the absolute best part of the series! After the disappointment of Rome 2, I would not have expected.
But let's start slowly.

Atmosphere:
This is as authentic as ever in Total War. The music, characters, game world, battlefields and game mechanics draw a really into the gloomy Atmosphäredes game.

Campaign:
Here CA has slammed really. So many things there are to do on the campaign map and especially all these things are important and vital to the progress of the campaign. The balance of power, political actions and allocation of offices now play a more important role and have greater impact. The diplomacy has been significantly improved. Fractions actions understandable and always according to their own interests, which are now clearly recognizable for the player, because you now more learns of his opposite number in the diplomacy window. Alliances are extremely important!
You have to pay attention to a lot more things than it was in Rome 2, fertility, terrain, seasons, integrity of the armies, loyalty of the generals and statesmen and even more.
There are many more buildings than in Rome2 that even substantial differ but can also be combined better.
The campaign AI reacts really well. In my Franks campaign I often attacked Roman settlements, but a holding areas was almost impossible, because the AI ​​was so smart to armies in the hinterland ready to keep intruders and clenched to oppose. Often I feared for my armies if they could escape the forced march even without confrontation. Was a great experience that I had never so in TW.
All in all, the campaign game very well done and especially challenging (you should already play on hard) and significantly more complex than in any other section titles to date.
However, it is also much more accessible because the game everything better explained with understandable tooltips. (I now finally know what authority, cunning and dedication bring in characters: D) "? OK, and from whom I do next floored" It is no longer in Rome 2 or earlier where you'd think that but it is now more "OK, what do I do about the situation under control and to get to reach my goal?"

Campaign> absolute class!

Battles:
The battles KI, while still not the brightest but nevertheless responded appropriately and sometimes even unexpectedly good.
It happened to me that I have pushed ahead in a battle in which I was the aggressor my Onager with incendiary bullets to a forest fire to get stuck in the I suspected the enemy. However, the enemy broke suddenly out of its hidden position and was almost my Onager off before I could send my spearmen forward while attacking at the same time with his cavalry my own cavalry on the flanks and hit on the run.
At the command post I remember still, as I at first was really flabbergasted. Unfortunately, these are only rare flashes of KI.
However, the battles, especially the siege battles are very bombastic. To put an enemy village on fire and then fight through the ruins around them is then to plunder a very fun thing: D The battles take longer now than they did in Rome2. You have more time to maneuver and the opponent flees not already before attacking on the flank, but throws a counter reserves.
Battles> Good and especially fun

For multiplayer I can not say anything because I do not play to eh.

A few negative things there anyway of course:
- Partly missing translations in German, especially in the Encyclopedia
- The hardware requirements are very high
- The migration periods of KI are longer than in Rome2 (but she do so now even better moves ^^)
- The unit grid could be somewhat larger.
- DLC from the very first day.

As a conclusion, one can say it is an extremely worthy continuation of the series!
It has become much better in all areas than its predecessor and I recommend it to anyone, even those who have stopped by Rome2 to look at this game.
As a connoisseur of the series has been playing Medieval-1, I can recommend it unreservedly! It is fun!

MFG