Just wondering... for those who have played most or all of the Total War series... what do you think is the best one ever made and why?

(as I download Shogun 2 in the background, lol.)

The only ones I play are Empire TW and Napoleon. I will be passing on Shogun even though that is an excellent price.

I'm currently waiting on Hearts of Iron 3 Collection to be reduced - if that goes on sale for $9.99 I'm all over it!

Tough one. Heavily modded ETW & NTW would be mine for the latest 3. Still have RTW & MTW2 with mods on as well. Ironically, I think Shogun 2 is the "best" from a technical standpoint, most polished, yet it is my least favorite. I do enjoy it, but Japanese feudal warfare never particularly interested me. Just preference.

Napoleon Total War, IMO (though I actually prefer ETW, for its global coverage and colonial wars).

Thanks Kramer for the heads up! Downloading now!

I miss the pre-battle speeches of RTW and how they reflected the characteristics of the general... Quite funny in many instances .

Hard to choose between them, obviously they keep getting nicer to look at. I liked the innovations introduced by ETW; haven't played shogun 2.

Probably not the best judging from technical aspects but my favourite of the series is "by far":
-> Rome Total War

The historical setting is my favourite (Roman Empire expansion) and IMO it was one of the less "bugged" games of these series.

Absolute best: The original Medieval Total War hands down for the sheer number of units/options available.

#2: A tie between RTW and MTW2. Both still had a fairly large selection of units, but we started seeing a dumbing down of the genre here.

#3: The first Shogun Total War. A limited unit pool and limited options, but it was the opener for the series.

#4: Shogun 2. Not bad, but more suited for "new players". Easy as pie to beat, very run-of-the-mill troops following the same basic "rock, paper, scissors" approach that every other RTS does.

#5: ETW: Love the period, enjoyed the game for a few hours, then uninstalled it.

I think Rome and Medieval 2.

First off, I've played Shogun 1, Rome, Medieval 2, and Empire, so can't speak about the others.

I'd rank them in order:
Medieval 2
Rome (although very close between these top two)
Empire
Shogun 1

Medieval 2 and Rome have a great mixture of graphics quality, campaign options, battle feel, and mod-ability. Plus, the eras are very interesting.

Empire *should* have been awesome, but it just didn't grab me. Possibly it was because most of the battles, to me, consisted of lining up my troops, letting the enemy approach, and watching. I'll try it again soon, and might find more of interest.

Shogun one was great, but I just feel that the later games have added much more.