Heroes of Might and Magic® 3: Complete

Homm 1 und 2 habe ich bisher nicht gespielt, Homm 3 dagegen über 1000 Stunden. Ein Wahnsinn, aber einer der sehr viel Spaß gemacht hat und immer in Erinnerung bleiben wird. Homm 7 ist inzwischen aktuell und macht auch viel Spaß, die Teile 4-6 konnten mich leider nicht so sehr überzeugen. Die beiden Addons von Homm 3 runden das Ganze ab und es gibt unendlich viele Karten im Netz. Meine Lieblingskarten sind aber immer noch Thousand Island und Meeting in Muzgob.

This is probably one of the best rpg, strategy, turn-based, adventure games ever created. It has scenarios for people who want a lot of challenge and for those who wish to have a more laid back experience. It has 8 factions to play and one weird one they added in an expansion, these are : Castle, Rampart, Tower, Stronghold, Fortress, Dungeon, Inferno, Necropolis, and the added Conflux. The game takes base on a world map were you control heroes and towns. A hero can move every day and combat enemy units to collect resources and artifacts which can be equipped and the resources can be spent on either special buildings you can find on the map such as the tree of knowledge that costs 2000 gold or 10 gems to level up a hero, or it can be spent on upgrading your towns to provide new units and to upgrade units into their second "form". Each town has a mages guild which can be upgraded up to level 5 and it provides heroes with the required experience and traits spells. Along with resource you also gain levels which give you access to new traits sem-randomly. Castle are the human faction with griffons, knights and angels who excel at fighting Inferno's Devils. Rampart are the nature loving creatures such as elves, dwarves, unicorns and Green dragons. Tower are the wizards race as they gain 1 more spell per level of mages guild and they get units from gremlins, genies to titans. Stronghold is the orcish race with units such as goblins, ogres, rocs, and behemoths. Dungeon as the name describes are the underground creatures such troglydites, Blackdragons and they include medusas who can turn enemies to stone. Inferno are the demons who have units from hellhounds and genies to devils. Necropolis are the undead and they have the ability to bring back the dead after the battle as skeletons. Their units range from zombies to black knights and bone dragons. Conflux is a messed up faction that has all the elemental units which used to be neutral units with pixies and a phoenix.

I play Heroes III from 1999 to this day, I own Heroes games from 1 to 5 on DVD's, but when I saw this on GOG I couldn't help myself and buy it again! :D Is just THAT good! I am not going to write a full review here; the fact that it was noted 9.1 on Gamespot at the time of apparition and 9.3 on Metacritic, say it all. And from then, it just keeps improving! On my view, this version of Heroes is by far, the best in the entire series, even more if you add to it the latest expansion called Horn of the Abyss (HotA - updated at version 1.4.0 on 2 January 2016 at the time I write this review). Also, this game is fully compatible with the HD patch (HoMM3 HD 4.100 RC5 released 2016.01.02). HoMM3 HD patch improve gameplay and let you change the original 800x600 resolution to any other resolution up to 4k (easy to find if you google for “HoMM3 HD”). About Heroes III HD Edition made by Ubisoft and sold on Steam, I have only one thought: "worthless". Why? Because even if their team improved texture clarity, the size of the play window is painfully small. In this regard, in my opinion, the HOMM3 HD Patch is a thousand times better, as it lets you to “zoom out” as much you want to the limit of your monitor's max resolution. The other reasons I think Heroes III HD Edition made by Ubisoft is worthless includes, but are not limited to: not compatible with HotA, it only have Restoration of Erathia, so is only ¼ of the game, cost much, Steam, Ubisoft. All Heroes III expansions to this date, that respect the original game are: 1. Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia (included on HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC® 3: COMPLETE) 2. Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade (included on HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC® 3: COMPLETE) 3. Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death (included on HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC® 3: COMPLETE) 4. Heroes of Might and Magic III: Horn of the Abyss (easy to find if you google for “Horn of the Abyss”)

HoMM3 turns 20 this year and it's still amazing. I put countless hours into it and playing HoMM3 on LAN with my girlfriend is still our favourite pastime for a lazy weekend evening. For me this game is like a chess with random board, so I'm sure I will play HoMM3 for years to come. Unofficial HD mod is recommended for higher resolutions and minor gameplay improvements (i.e. auto-combat) without breaking the original feeling.

This game has stood the test of time. It's not only one of the best strategy games of all time, but one of the best games of all time as well. It's aged like a fine wine and competes and edges out many modern day strategy games.