Heroes of Might and Magic®

A flawless classic - seriously i never thought i would get this addicted! This is one of the originals and the AI is outstanding as a challenger - i think this is what makes it so good. The AI never dilly dallys, is always wily, and just when you think you have it cornered it will find some way to slip by and take an undefended city of yours. on just the second, level even when i was dominating, it was finding ways to turn the tide if i wasnt as prepared to go after it with everything i had - one powerful enemy had a single dragon and combined with an armageddon spell was grabbing my cities to my utter disbelief just when i thought i had the upper hand. The enemy knows to try and get whatever special artifacts too so as to really get powered up and will not easily let go of these

We originally got this in a set called the Blitz pack that came with some other games -probably shortly after HOMM came out in 1995. It came on a special hot pink colored disc, and just the color of the disc alone was enough to get a little girl like me excited. Honestly, I was so little, I was maybe three or four years old, but my goodness, this game had a huge impact on me, back on my family's old PowerMac. The bright colors, all the unique fantasy creatures, the little things all over the map. I couldn't play well at all- I had to turn the computers on Dunce difficulty and I'd still lose. It'd frustrate me, and I was so little I could hardly read the text on the screen. But even so, it was a pivotal experience to me. The fact that I could try roping family members into playing hotseat with me was even better. We lost our PowerMac and my beloved pink disc, but thank goodness, there was the Heroes of Might and Magic Compendium. I have loved that copy of Heroes since I got it when I was about nine years old. I've never gotten sick of these games. I have played this game probably thousands of times growing up, played every map, downloaded user made maps, created random maps, made my own unbalanced maps, played the campaign, ect. I can beat it on impossible mode and I've even beaten the Jolly Roger... but still, it's so charming to me. I've seen everything it has to offer, but still... those bright colors and all the familiar characters are awash with some of my fondest memories. I have felt much sorrow that I couldn't get it to work on newer PCs, getting the dreaded error messages every time, even with DOSBOX... I always just hook up my old windows XP to play a round of hotseat with my brother. (I was playing with him yesterday, even! Now, in 2022, with my old well used copy of the Compendium.) But now I can play it on every PC, thanks to GOG!

I played HoMM 2 and 3 religiously, so I was intrigued with the opportunity to play the founding title. However, HoMM 1 got old fast. It lacked the impeccable finish of the sequels and showed its age. I could not play very far into the game without getting bored and thinking continuously about small things that the sequels simply do better. Truly a great game in its day, but not in the same lofty category as 2 and 3. My main gripe: enemies on the battlefield 'exploding' into a generic red mist as opposed to having individual death animations. Seems minor, but it was pretty annoying, especially when coupled with the small scale of the battlefield.

This one is a tough title to review. It pales in comparison to the sequels to follow, but when it all comes down to it I probably put more time into this one than any of the others. I still remember that even back when it was first released thinking that the graphics were clunky and weird, but I played the demo for hours and hours, and then bought a copy (DOS). Then bought another copy for Windows because I loved it so much. It was just a great game! I can't say I'd recommend it over any of the others in the series, but I can recommend it from a completionist standpoint. It still holds up, and is fun in its own right. It would've been nice to get a copy of the original King's Bounty that came with some copies of this game, but that would just be a nice bonus.

Still great game. Addictive. Beautiful music and old school bitmap graphic. It will never get old. Four star because later HOMMs are even better. It would be great that heroes keep XP (at least) when starting new scenario. And, as I played campaign, I noticed that computer cheat slightly. Last scenario is very hard. I am not a great strategist, so I cheated in last scenario to be able to finish the game. Hot seat is much fun, as I remember when I played with friends back in 1996. Buy this game!