Heroes of Might and Magic® 4: Complete

as i wrote. its a really fun game but i cant download the game after i bought it.

I dumped more hours into this game than I will admit considering it is widely regarded as inferior to HoMMII and HoMMIII. When I saw the opportunity to pick up the complete edition here for $10, I jumped on the deal. The game is unchanged. However, the file here on gog DOES NOT RUN correctly in windows 8.1 despite all the technical fixes the support team requested I try. They had me jumping through hoops downloading zip files and reinstalling things just to run a game. My time spent on that alone was not worth the $10. To clarify, the game runs, IF you are willing to tolerate framerate issues and game lag galore. The only fix to this issue that I found is to change the in-game settings to 600x800, lose the fullscreen functionality, disable gameplay animations, and lose a chunk of the viewable map. Who would be willing? The technical support specialist, while very kind, could not provide a fix for the framerate and lag issues in fullscreen mode. For those who are considering this game in the series and purchasing from gog.com: Game itself: 4/5* - Good. Different from II and III, but not all bad. There is a lot of unwarranted negativity surrounding this game because it was not a carbon copy of III. Necro is still the most OP class, but I welcomed the overall variation. gog.com support: 2.5/5* - While very kind and responsive, the support specialist assigned to my case sent me a laundry list of things to try just to run the game. It's a $10 game. That's not worth the headache. Either it runs or it does not. gog, take note. gog.com game file for windows 8.1 ONLY: 1/5* - To gog's credit, the game does run, albeit without full functionality. Not acceptable. I should not have to sacrifice features to play the game. Final summary: if you like HoMM, try this game at this price, but NOT on windows 8.1. You will surely be disappointed with the performance. gog.com stands behind their money back guarantee.

HOMM 4 was completely revamped from HOMM 3. I'm not usually one to dislike change but, a little too much was changed losing those things that everyone loved from HOMM 3. The same concept is there... but expect a whole new different game.

The phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" may be a bit of a cliche, but it could well have been the missing subtitle of HoMM 4. This game is a rather awkward attempt to give the series a fresh start after the nearly-perfect third game. The gameplay has been revamped in a few major ways. The battlefield is now isometric, heroes participate in the battles, creatures can wander, and you can use caravans to bring more units in without having to use a hero. That is all great, but both Age of Wonders and Disciples did a much better job of modifying classic HoMM gameplay than NWO could manage. The original creators simply couldn't top their own creation and ended up destroying it. Overall the game is relatively fun, but there is honestly no reason to invest time in it when there are so many better options out there. I would rate that aspect of HoMM 4 6/10. One of the elements that made the previous HoMM games not just fun, but charming was the visual style and in the case of HoMM 3 - the beautiful maps, towns, and strikingly rendered creatures, as well as the perfectly visualized and organized interface. All that is completely gone from the fourth installment of the series. The overall visuals look almost amateurish. All backgrounds are extremely plain and uninteresting, the towns are just as badly rendered and uninspired, while the interface is tasteless and very hard to look at with its bright yellows, lack of contrast, and poor choice of fonts. The creatures are also devoid of all the character they had in the first three games. Overall I would rate the visual appeal 1/10. Complete disaster and after more than a decade it is very difficult to accept how this game looks, while HoMM 3 still pleases the eye every time. In the end HoMM 4 is a game that has a tiny group of dedicated fans, but most people have either continued to play the amazing HoMM 2 and 3 (and the similar HoMM 5-7) or moved on to other series of turn-based fantasy strategy games.

5 star reviewers are smoking some really good crack. This game is the worst in the series. Arguably, only heroes 7 was worse than this. Let's start with the positives, which are very little: - Best campaign story-telling in the series - in the base game, expansion campaigns are a joke - Advanced hero classes were a nice idea, although pretty unbalanced Now let's go into the negatives... - You can now split units into standalone armies. Idea stolen from Age of Wonders, but it plays horribly here. You can pretty much scout the whole map on day 1 with 1-stacks of tier 1 units. Terribly design. - Fog of war is annoying. Units appearing/disappearing, makes you want to abuse the above mechanic even more. - Battle grid is HORRIBLE. You can never know if a unit will reach you or not. You can never know if your unit will fit in a tight space or not. Misclicks are also severely punished, as units can travel across multiple turns now. - History in battles is gone. - Heroes no longer have "spell power". Instead, ever spell either lasts 3 turns, or for the whole battle. - Skill system is really bad. It takes way too many levels, each skill/subskill having 5 levels instead of 3. - Tavern feels bad. You can now choose heroes, and every hero has exactly the same secondary skills. Makes them really lose their identity. - Prison system is bad. You can never truly "kill" heroes, you just keep them in your prison and hope your town doesn't get taken. - No creature upgrades. Instead, you can choose between two creatures every time you build your town. In theory, a nice idea, but it just means you always choose the same creature, as they're horribly balanced. - Town Hall-type buildings were severely nerfed. Now they grant up to maximum 1000 gold, and they cost a LOT. - Heroes are overpowered. You can literally kill lots of behemoths with your hero only in the later stages of the game. Don't waste your time with this game.