Heroes of Might and Magic® 5: Bundle

As others have said Heroes 5 is hardly a good game, but it does not entirely feel like a heroes game either. The 3D is frankly kind of ugly, and the maps as one user puts it "feels small", especially compared to the scope of the earlier titles, where the vastness of the world was conveyed a lot better. The story is hammy as all heck this time around, with wierdly undetailed cutscenes that felt outdated even when it came out. By the looks of things, this applies to the expansion campaigns as well. If they ever get better I have no idea, as I very unproudly have to confess I never finished any one of the three on offer. Usually I like this sort of crazy bad stuff, but not when it takes up space in the franchise that gave us Heroes 3. Disregarding the wonky graphics and story, the gameplay is definately OK enough to enjoy. Especially the third game's very interesting upgrade system that lets you somewhat customize your armies (by one of two, rather than just the one upgrade tree). This can add to the mileage of your experience quite a lot. However. All this aside, mileage being the operative word of what ends up a sandbox title, Heroes games need a big healthy map-pool to really get into its own. Again, comparing 5 unfavorably to 3 is low, but the 100 (more?) maps available there has kept me coming back for over ten years now. Here, 5's meagre 10 (give or take) are a comparatively paltry display that severely lowers longevity and fun factor. Add to that however the reason why I felt compelled to write this review in the first place, and I am not sure I at all can recommend the game over others of its type: The game, even as it is considered 1 game and 2 expansions, are launched separately, with maps from previous expansions being unavailable to players when launching the final expansion, but earlier maps being unavailable to players who want to play with new factions or features. This effectively reduces the map pool to only Tribes of the east (final exp) maps. <:(

It is a very good game, the only shortcoming is that the game was published in Hungarian, but the game does not include the Hungarian language. The same is true with Heroes of Might and Magic 4 ....

So, I'm the one that was exposed to this franchise through HOMM IV, and I rather like that one. Then this game comes along, and what changes it has made all make me want to cough up blood: -Uglier visuals despite graphics upgrade from HOMM IV -Unnecessary upgrade for creatures -Less spells -Less flavor for factions and magic types -Hero no longer a unit on battlefield I could go on for a while. Incidentally, many of the changes I hate are what fans think this is supposed to be. If you are a fan, I guess you can feel free to ignore my review.

I rate it 5 because games are very good. GOG version is very bad though because it's all bundled up together in one package or whatever and when you install it it creates two items in your library instead of three for base game and two expansions. To launch hammers of fate you need to go to the menu and look through additional executables and launch Hammers of Fate that way. That sucks and I dont like that. Games are very good though. Best games in HOMM franchise.

We all know this gem, the game is absolutely amazing. But i bought it because there was "italian language" in the description, while in the installation files there isn't this option. A shame..