So I just discovered one of the most addicting games I have ever played. I bought Medieval II: Total War and Rome: Total War (both with their expansions) a few weeks ago and they are freaking amazing! I have always loved strategy games and rts's but the Total War series takes just about everything I could possible want and shoves it into one game!

Basically you take control of one faction (country), and set about conquering the world, or at least your portion of it. The Main Game/Campaign is made up of two parts, the campaign portion and the battle portion.

During the campaign portion you control your nation's cities, constructing different buildings that control the types of troops you can train, the happiness of that city's citizens due to factors such as law and order, health, entertainment (always good to build a brothel.....), and religion among other things. You also control your armies and "agents" which include diplomats, spys, assassins, and in some of the games religious figures such as priests. You also have generals who make up your family tree which can be expanded by marrying a general to one of your family's daughters (who then produce children who eventually come of age and contribute to your family) or by bribing another faction's general into joining your own. These Generals can both lead your forces into battle and act as governors in your cities which allows you to manually control the affairs of that city. The battle mode is fairly self explanatory and is itself divided into roughly two types, sieges and battles. It reminds me of an rts with a few extra helpings of tactical reality added on.

The complexity of these games makes for a realistic feeling that takes them to a level beyond most other games I've played. The turn based action also helps to make the game hard to stop playing. For the last few weeks I've been staying up until the break of dawn unable to pry myself away from my quest to conquer the globe and reveling in my enemies' destruction. The campaign length is far longer than any other game of its type that I have played, stretching from days to weeks of very dedicated play depending on the difficulty and nation that you choose. This is only expanded upon by the ability to get a totally different experience each play through whether you play a different faction or the same one each time.

My favorite Total War game so far between Medieval II and Rome as well as their expansions would have to be Rome, though this is mainly due to personal historical preference more than any drastic superiority over the others in gameplay.

I would heartily recommend the Total War series to any lover of strategy games or anyone who just wants practice taking over the world, like me. As long as you have the time to put into it they are worth every second. Just don't blame me if you spend every waking moment not at work or school (which may be quite a few more than you planned) glued to your computer screen (like you already didn't?).

Anyone else who has played them or heard about them feel free to chime in and let me know your opinion of them.