I eyeballed this game for awhile, having played GC 1&2. But I was reluctant to make the investment for two reasons: my processor is barely above minimum (I have a Core 2 Quad at 2.33 Ghz) and I'd read that this was just a rehash of GC2. After purchasing and playing I was pleasantly surprised that neither of those seems to be the case. The game uses about 50% of my CPU and 80% of my RAM (8GB) but it runs pretty smooth. But what really impresses me is the ambience of the game. To me, even though it is essentially the same as GC2, the feel seems different...more epic somehow. Maybe this was just because I expected it to lag and it didn't. At any rate I'm pleased with the purchase. So far I enjoy it more than GC2.