I played da demo nad found it pretty interesting. the concept of home city was pretty good. the graphics are pretty and i especially like the water and tree's behaviour along with terrains , the gameplay is addictive. I must say, though i'am not convinced with the medieval tracks. After hearing some from Rise of Nations. But it suits the period 1500 - 1850. So no complains. I have played many strategy games(AOE Series Demos) and this indeed is very good.
It ran smoothly at 1280x1024 high gfx in my sys:-
p4 3.0 ghz 2 GB ram, Geforce fx 6800 gt(256)
I wud give it 8.75/10
PS: Forgot to mention:
Ensemble has copied the scout special abilities from ROn to explorer in this game. I also don't know abt the price.