well, instead of making my own reveiw, i'll just add to this one. that is, if you don't mind PW_DarkKnight
Graphic's, i would even give them a 10/10, at least on my comp, which is higher end. I have yet to see a RTS game that even comes close to these graphics. (i don't believe WC3's graphic's are even close, those were good a year or more ago when the game was supposed to come out, not now)
Sound. I can't comment too much on this because while i have had the alpha, and have the beta, not all the sounds were in the game in these stages. What i've heard i like. (basically just background music, battle sounds aren't included) The fact that it is in mp3 form appeals to me as well. I don't like haveing to use my cd all the time, because my Aoc cd is now so scratched from use that while it is still good enough to install, the music skips a lot when playing the game, so i end up taking it out, and then the game is less interesting when all you hear is silence and unit sounds.
Gameplay. I would also give it a 10/10. The variety in units, and graphic's of those units, really makes for an entertaining game, and like he said, it also has a nice interface. The one thing i didn't like initially is how you had to press a button to access the unit stances and formations, but now that i looked into what the hotkeys are, it nolonger bothers me. The Idle Villiger banner was a nice addition, because it makes it a lot easier to tell when you have idle villies or not. They also finally got rid of having to press "b" for build, then the hotkey for the building, something that is a small, but nice change.
Scenerio Editor. I can't really comment on this either. I never used the editor much in Aok, and have only looked at it once in Aom, it looks a little more complicated, but you seem to have much more control, and much more options.
Balance. Again i agree with the 10/10. This game so far has proved to be even more balanced than Aok, despite the fact that there is so much variance between cultures. Also units themselves are more balanced. The few units that don't fall quickly to anything, are hard to obtain in large numbers, and there is no unit that goes unused.
my average seems to be the impossible 100% but then i wasn't able to rate everything in the game, and often i was comparing to past RTS experiences.