Total War: Shogun 2

[BlackMamba]

Will post a more comprehensive initial post later, but in the meantime... is this a GotY candidate?

Getting my copy in the mail today

Reviews
PC Gamer (92%)
Shogun 2 demonstrates an admirable re-setting of Total War’s sights. It’s a tighter, more focused experience than the continental sprawl of Empire and Napoleon, sacrifices none of their intricacy, and brings improved AI to the battlefield. In the final count, it’s consistently thrilling, grand in scope, surprisingly atmospheric, and bloody hard to put down.

Strategy Informer (9.2/10)
The Total War Community, especially in recent years, has become a bit hard to please. We're confident though that this will meet most of your expectations. Given the nature of the franchise, don't expect a ton of depth on the scale that Paradox manages, but there's enough here to play around with. This is the most fully featured Total War to date, and a great homage to the game that launched the series. There's more we haven't talked about, but if we told you everything about the game then there wouldn't be any surprises left would there? If you pre-ordered Shogun 2, good for you, if you didn't, this will be well worth your money, even on launch day.

Eurogamer (9/10)
Those expecting revelatory improvements in areas like AI may be mildly disappointed by Shogun 2. Those after a sumptious, weekend-whittling strategy epic heaving with flavour and challenge can reach for their uchi-bukuro with confidence. This is a corker.

Gamespy (4/5)
Overall, Shogun 2 is a vast improvement from recent Total War missteps, and revitalizes the glory of the original Shogun, while adding so much new and interesting content that you might not even remember said original. And this one, finally, does right by newcomers, making things as easy and as polished as a game of StarCraft II. If you don't dig Shogun 2, then just go ahead and get out of the genre altogether. I hear Maple Story still needs players...