Total War: Warhammer

Let's get one thing straight: This is one of the most impressive strategy games around, but it's also frustrating, brain taxing, and exhaustive with a high level of complexity. It's difficulty is definitely more of an acquired taste and not for everyone. That being said, it's also one of those games that rewards patience and gives you a real sense of accomplishment when you score a victory. You'll never feel like you or your opponent lucked your way through a battle. Instead, whether you win or lose, it's all because of your quick thinking, your skill, and, most likely, the hours you spent learning all the nuances of battle.

As far as the presentation goes, it's sort of a mixed bag. The cinematics look great, and if you zoom in on the action during battles, you'll be treated to a harsh and brutal look at fantasy combat. The problem is, there's no way to adequately manage all your troops from the front lines. Instead, you'll spend most of your time using a much broader viewpoint, which makes things look more like battle for domination between two or more ant colonies. And as much focus as there seems to be on the action, it's everything leading up to the battle where the focus really lies. That means resource management, heavy text, tweaking stats and abilities, and the like. The actual battles are just where everything you've done before comes together. It can be a slow, plodding process, but if you have the motivation to stick with it and the patience to learn, there's a surprising amount of content to enjoy.