Overall Score: 7.5 (9.0 once patched)

Graphics & Sound: 9.5/10
~Stunning use of modern hardware to improve with patches.
~Utilization of all terrain types on a battlefield map highlight the bests.
~Con: Soldiers appear shellacked at times.
~HDR lighting...drool. (As a TES: Oblivion fan, I <3 HDR)
~Sound: The crack of arquebusiers.* Enough said

Single player: 8.5/10 I tested on "normal" as the AI would show its true colours if you will (a minimum of cheating).
~Far more vigorous and enterprising AI than previous total war games, even at advanced difficulty levels.
~AI will travel far to attack you at a weak point.
~AI can launch a naval invasion and blockade your ports.
~Con: AI still spawns soldiers at this difficulty level
~Con: Auto-resolve is easy mode.**(a) Battles and sieges I would suffer heavy casualties fighting are reduced to minimal or sometimes zero (!!) casualties.
~Diplomacy - subscore 8.0 - While a MASSIVE innovation compared to previous games in the series, needs some fixing.
~If you are Shimazu or Chosokabe, finding that all of Honshu is allied and in love with each other is ahistorical, unrealistic, and renders diplomacy pointless.
~If an ally, vassal, or trading partner betrays you, you suffer a global penalty for dishonouring treaties. When this little annoyance takes you to -400 and renders you incapable of negotiation without a massive bribe, the diplomatic game is over.

Multiplayer: 7/10 Incredibly fun and innovative combat is ruined by glitched/weak interface, bugs, and balance.
I called round a friend's house and played with him as a team using "hammer-anvil" tactics.
~ Avatar conquest and teching up is well balanced. It's not too hard to access the various units, yet it's not so easy that there is no unit variety in combat.**(b)
~The match-making engine is terribly bugged and inefficient. It's in need of a patch...desperately.
~Crash to desktops. These are ridiculous. Each of us had 5 CTD's from somewhere in multiplayer (match making, end of battle, etc). These do not exist in single player menus or game modes.
~Balance issues
~When we are in the battle set-up menu and need to leave, there is not mechanism to do so. We have had to alt-F4 and restart - a tedious process after the 3rd time.

Balance and relevant AI: 6.5/10
** (a) - The AI tends to favour archers to the point of fielding 2/3 archer armies. These exact a great cost on a more balanced army, as a force of similar size using 1/4 to 1/3 archers is whittled away. The strength of archers on the battlefield, however, is not reflected in auto-resolve. When playing a VERY archer heave force (especially in sieges), I auto-resolve rather than play the battle for 3-5 times the casualties.

**(b) - This is not to say however that the variety of available units translates to player selection on the battlefield. Archery's power has not gone unnoticed in multiplayer, either. I guffaw when I see armies of 50-60% archers and the justification of their strength on these forums. Army composition should favour a balanced army of 1/3 cav, 1/3 inf, 1/3 archers, with slight leeway given cooperation with an ally and one's speciality.

*Minor bug-occasionally when near a matchlock unit, one does not hear the gunfire, even when the camera is a few feet/a metre from the unit.


Concluding thoughts: Overall, a far better release than Empire (5.5 for version 1.0 in my book) or Medieval II (remember the broken Varangians and Zweihanders?). However, there are still some significant issues, especially as one gets into multiplayer that cry out for patching. Given the ambitious leap versus previous games, this is understandable. With patches, this game will go to a 9.0.