Well here is an attempt at explaining how it plays:
It is just like previous Tw's but they have added some very good additions and changes such as religon and the vatican, campaign characters (priests, princesses etc.), fortresses (Like cities only play out differently) and historic events (Gengis khan and the mongols, discovery of South America etc.) which all add so much more depth to the game. One thing highly improved on previous games is the AI, RTW was critised for this but in MTW2 it actually does tactics such as flanking. And obvious from the screenshots the graphics and scale are amazing in battle. Individual soldiers fight eachother and it actually looks like a medieval battle whereas RTW each soldier had the same animation and looked lifeless.
The rest you should find out yourself
but all I can say is.........get the game
it is truly worth being called 'Total War'.
