Heroes of Might and Magic has always been a series I have loved. I first was addicted to it when HoMM 2 demo was released and have been a fan ever since. HoMM 5 is no exception. It has almost everything you would expect from the series. As this will be posted in the forums and not on the homepage, this will not be the usuall way I would write a review

I will skip the sound part of the review as it is pretty dismal and there is no real need to discuss it! The graphics have been much improved since the last installment of the series. All of it is in 3d and is very well done. The cities, heroes, characters, and basically everything is just very pretty. You almost could'nt ask for a better looking Heroes game. And since it is very pretty, your machine needs to be pretty decent to run it, especially when zooming out for a birds eye view.


Gameplay is what you would expect from a Heroes game but thats not a bad thing! Heroes is a TBS(Turn based strategy) game. Which basically means you take your turn and then your opponent takes theirs. There are a few different modes in H5. Campaign, Multiplayer, and single player. Each of which plays basically the same. If you are new to the series, I will give you an idea of how it works. Let's say you start a single player map just to get the feel of the game. You then pick a map, small, med, big, or very big. Personally, I don't think the very big maps are all that big! Now to choose what castle, color, hero, and bonus you want to play. This is a personal choice. Haven: from pesants to angels, Inferno: from imps to devils, Necropolis: from skeletons to bone dragons, Dungeon: from scout to black dragon, Academy: from gremlins to titans, and Sylvan: from pixie to emarald dragon. I did not list all the creatures in each city cause I don't feel like it! All of the creatures can be upgraded though. Say you have a skeleton, you can upgrade it to a skeleton archer. You get the point. I basically listed the lowest and highest creature in each city so you get an idea. Each city, creature, and hero has its own unique abilities that you will just have to play to see which one you like the best. Now on to the hero selection! You can do this randomly but, it is your best interest to check what the hero can do by right clicking his/her pic. So far my fav hero has been the one that has fire damage on her balista! I won't tell you which city she is in cause that would ruin it
After the hero is the bonus. This is cash, resources, or a small artifact. Again, this is a personal preference. Then, start the game!


So you have all of your choices made and now you are on a map. Well what do I do now, you might be wondering. Good thing for you, I am going to help ya! (could be a bad thing too depending on how you look at it) The cash and resources you start with are dependent on what difficulty setting you chose. Your hero can only move so far during the turn. So plan wisely. Having to back track sucks a tad. First thing to do: find wood and ore! These are needed in almost every building and you will run out fast if you do not have them! There are more resources such as gems and sulfur. These can be attained by capturing mines as well but, they are usually not as close to your city as wood and ore. Ok, I am getting off track here. This is not an faq. Inside every city is where you get to build up your monsters and city for that matter. It is very easy to navigate. On the bottom right is everything you need to get going. Build, upgrade, buy, etc... There is also a scroll thingie in the build menu. This is very helpful as it brings up all buildings and what is needed to get it. New ppl to the series will find this very helpful. Hell, I am a veteran of the game and it is helpful to me!


Aside from the creature dwellings you can build, there is also mage guild: this is where spells are learned for your hero, blacksmith: this is for balista, healing tent, and ammo carts, and there are some special things as well but, I won't ruin the surprise!


Another helpful hint is to get the capitol built quick as possible. This gives you 4k a day. It cost 10k but is well worth the investment. Also, upgrade to castle quickly as well. Not only does it provide defense, it doubles your base creature growth a week. Thats enough about building on to the world!


In fasion with the rts genre, there is a fog of war. On occasion there are trees that let you extend your view that will be helpful. Whilst running around, you will encounter neutral monsters and most likely they will be guarding something, beit a mine or treasure. Battles take you to another screen and this is where you get to unleash your fury! (or your happy thoughts if you are a tree huggin hippie!) As it is a turn based game, the creature with the fastest speed gets to go first. There is a handy little bar that appears at the bottom to tell you who is next. This comes in handy. Especially if you are fighting against shooters and you have none. Make sure to check if your creature has a special ability or spell it can use as this might come in handy as well. There will be a circle on the bottom right when the fight commences and the spell/special with be in the top left of the circle. For example, the pit fiend has melee but, he also has a spell. (which spell depends on if he is upgraded or not) The spell is fireball. It affects anything within nine squares of the target and will be stronger the more of them you have. He has a couple more spells but, we won't talk about them as I want you to get the game! Then you fight. At the end you gain exp. Which upgrades your hero. Heros are in the next section so keep reading! Oh! I forgot to mention that some maps do have an underground! This extends the world dramatically as it adds more places to explore.



Without heroes, it would be hard to call it Heroes of might and magic now wouldn't it? Heroes are what you control thru the world. As they gain exp, they naturally get stronger. (duh) When your hero progrsses to the next lvl, you have some options as to what he/she can learn. There is magic, light, dark, destructive, curses, etc.. There is also skills like logistics that let our hero move further and anoffspring of that, pathfinging. All kindsa good! Most skills, magic and such, have different lvls to them. The higher the skill the better they are. (duh again) As mentioned above somewhere, heroes have a special ability that they are good at. This is something you want to look at so when the time comes, you can upgrade something in that skill. Heroes also get to hold artifacts. We all know what these are. Armour, shields, weapons, etc., that make you stronger or weaker pending on what it does. When you beat another hero in combat, the said hero will appear in your tavern for you to purchase. (yes, I know I did not cover the tavern thing but, I dont feel like it) This is a very good thing! Lets say you are a lvl ten and you beat a lvl 15 cause the moron didnt have any creatures to back him up. You can them buy said hero in your tavern! Tis a pic of a mug on the bottom left in the city screen. Beats buying a lvl one eh?



Damn! Almost forgot multiplayer! Tis basically very simple. Hotseat(2 peeps on 1 puter), local network(self explanatory), and Ubi. The later is a problem as it seems to have some issues with lag. Heaven forbid they make a Heroes game that makes mp easy and fun! Playing H5 over Ubi is a lot like taking a splinter out, ya know ya should but, the pain of doing it just makes ya quiver. I wont go into detail about the mp as I only use mp mainly with hotseat and local.

There is a lot of stuff I did not cover in this review but, I didn't feel like it so :P I will just skip to the pros and cons now

Pros:
All kindsa pretty
Keeps the overall feel of the series
No damn starforce! (that is a biiiiiiiig plus)
A tad more difficult than previous titles
Did I mention all kindsa pretty?

Cons:
The maps are too small
when you scroll out, it takesa toll on your frame rate
It seems the same artifacts are all over the place! What the hell is the point?
Some artifacts do not tell you what they do. This is a bad thing. How the hell am I supposed to know if I want to use it or not if I dont know what it does!)
Camera is a little odd. Hero looks one way and when ya move the camera in the way you think it should go, it goes completely the oppisite! I find this reallly weird.
Not enough maps
No damn editor!
I probably have some more bitches but, I cant member off hand.


Heroes of Might and Magic 5 is a hell of a game despite my piss and moans. If you are familliar with the series than you will be right at home! Even though some ppl bitched about H4, which I thought was sweet. Especially since you did not need a hero to move your troops! Although the lack of content is disappointing, H5 is still a sweet game that should keep fans and non fans content until they release an editor!

Score: 9
I am leaving out the sound, graphics, gameplay, and mp scoring as it is just a fun game to play and that is the only thing that matters

__________________