I saw a review on the TV the other day, they kind of paid it out for a few weak points (AI and artillery damage mainly) , but overall they gave it the highest score out of all the games they rated.

I've played out all of the total war series prior to Empire and while at first glance I'm not sure if I'll like the whole Frederickan 'riflemen-in-a-line' type of tactics, I still highly highly recommend this series based on my previous experiences , as it just seems to get better and better as far as I've seen it and I'll undoubtedly still buy Empire and Napoleon in due course, just on the strength of that.