Empire: Total War, a Real Time Strategy game, is awesome. That's the short review, but I'll continue to tell you about it. You are the commander of several units, some of which are American Colonists, and several European countries. There are three main campaigns, multiplayer, and several strategies to beat the game, it is also regarded as one of the best Real Time Strategy (RTS) games out there. I will try to do the game justice, but I'm afraid that I will make it look worse than it is, because I won't be able to describe it's awesomeness.

Graphics: At first, you are treated to great cut-scenes, which are rare in strategy games, and they are done very accurately. The detail in that is amazing, you also have good in-game graphics, which should be normal, but if you look at all the angles you can view the battlefront at, it's amazing. No other game lets you look at your troops at 360°. This makes Empire: Total War special. The detail is in everything, even water. You can fight naval battles, and the ships, the guns, everything is done great. The water is animated with realistic movements, which is hard to do at all, but they mastered it. To name the developers, which I assume no one knows, The Creative Assembly. They really amaze me with the detail in just the graphics! 
I give the graphics a 9/10, because the graphics are amazing, but they didn't blow me away. 

Side Note: This doesn't really fit into the graphics section. You have complete control of every angle the camera goes. You can turn, move forwards, backwards, up and down. This gives the game different views, which could turn the tide of the battle, if you use this correctly. This is also something unique to the Total War series.

Sound: The music is cool. It isn't original, but the music selections are great. The loading screen music fits the time period, which many games fail to accomplish. The music fades in the background once you begin to play, so I didn't really notice the music, I am concentrating on the battle too much. You have good sounds from the guns and canons. This may sound easy, but the sounds also fade as you move the camera away from the guys firing. There are also the voices of the people on the field, and their voices are done well! The voice acting is very good, especially for an RTS game.
I give the sounds a 10/10. I love the sounds in the game. 

Addictiveness: The game is really fun, not only because of the sound and graphics, but also the modes, and depth. I felt like playing and playing. I love the amount of detail they put in the game, which makes me love the game more. Each time I boot up the game, I'm excited. Before I start, I'm thrilled to pieces! The game is just made up of addictiveness!
There is not much to say here, so I'll save this for other categories. I give it a 9/10. 

Story: The game doesn't have a story, per say. It follows history. But it doesn't only follow events in history, around the 18th century, it has the historical accuracy, which is awesome. Few games are this accurate, but with it being an RTS that is based in a historical time period it should be a given that it's accurate. But, the cool thing is that it follows three separate story lines, each from a different country. This makes the game fun, you have several campaigns, each with a story.
I give the game a 1010 for story. It's historically accurate, what can I say? 

Gameplay/ Control: This part goes with the side note I made right after the graphics. You have full control over the camera, not just one angle. Once you figure out the angle you like to view things at, you can find the enemies positions, the good vantage points, everything. There is no "Fog of War" as they call it in RTS games. You have the usual "W, A, S, D" keys to move the camera. (Usually they are used to move you character.) You can also use the mouse to move the camera to different points on the map. (You can do this by moving the mouse to the top corner, or any other corner, of the map.) Once you get used to the camera moving, everything else is simple, and this makes the game one of the easiest to get used to. That is one reason I love the game!
I give the game a full 10/10, there is no lag, no frame-rate issues, everything is perfect. 

Depth: The game has so much to do. You have Multiplayer, which I have only seen in a few games. You also have the three campaigns, and the Battle recreations. (There are some battles you can play through.) This makes the game have several modes to play through. There are also several ways to beat each campaign, you can beat your enemies through Military superiority, Economics, Espionage, and Diplomacy. That makes the game really good, because there is a strategy for all players. I like the Espionage and Military force strategies, because it involves more battlefield commanding. There is so much to do in this game!
I give the game a 9/10. (I know, almost all categories have that rating.) 

Difficulty: This is hard to rate, especially since it's an RTS game. All strategy games really depends on if you go through the game, throwing all of your troops in, letting the enemy come to you, or if you like to find a good spot, hide some troops and flank them. I like to take all my troops and concentrate the troops on one unit, till they die, run away, or retreat. This works very well, so that is what I do. I love doing this, because it's effective, and this makes the game easier for me. The problems arrive when the enemies attack in large numbers, and this makes the game harder. I will rate it at an average score, because it really depends on how advanced your home city is before battle, how many troops you have, how good your tactics are.
I give the game an 8/10. 

Overall, this is an amazing game. You have several game modes, great graphics, amazing sounds, cool and accurate story, and many other things. I love the game! I hope that you all get the idea, of how awesome the game is! If you need to know more, just ask play4fun! Thank you for reading, and the final score is: 9.7/10.