Heroes of Might and Magic® 5: Bundle

I've spend a ton of hours in this game. With all it's flaws, it still remains one of the best heroes games ever. Topped only by Heroes 3, this entry provides a fun an enjoyable experience for all heroes fans. Can't do anything but recommend.

I'm 49 years old, I have gamed since playing Joust on the Atari, and HoMM5 is second only to the original X-COM games in my personal best of all times list.Yes, the graphics weren't state of the art, even at the time of release, but in my Nvidia 8600 GT that I used at the time they were fluid and looked gorgeous. Among the many, many factors in favor of buying it: Many factions, the long campaign and the many languages offered. The original manual was barely ok, but the community created the most amazingly detailed and beautiful manuals I have ever seen, google for them, they even come in many languages. Now, even in the easiest difficulty setting, the game can be very unforgiving in latest stages: I still remember how getting out of the underground world seemed an insurmountable task for me, even with frequent savings (darn dragons, the enemy had so many). All in all, it's a great value for any kind of money. I recommend buying it.

The Heroes of Might and Magic games are an acclaimed combination of RPG and turn-based strategy. There is some light base management, and they generally revolve around building an army, exploring the countryside, and leveling up your hero(es). There are different town types (wizards, necromancers, etc.) that offer different kinds of troops. If you're only going to buy or play one Heroes of Might and Magic game, it should be this one. I say that even though the graphics of 3 are more timeless (and in my opinion, better), and 2 is undoubtedly the most charming of the series. It's hard to go back to them after playing this one. In many ways this game is similar to 3: The towns and troops (besides for the expansions) are almost identical. However, just about everything was tweaked and enhanced to make it more enjoyable. The heroes can all have unique abilities that greatly affect your tactics. The towns are more balanced (Inferno isn't terrible anymore). The heroes have much more interesting skill trees to follow through. Magic is actually useful in combat, even the damaging spells. And finally, the campaign is fantastic. The story is typical video-game quality, bombastic and silly, but the actual missions are very well designed, and they make you play to the strengths of your assigned heroes, all of whom are unique to the campaign and have some fun abilities. My favorite is the demon who boosts the initiative of his forces - it led to some nail-biting battles that I shouldn't have won, but did. I could never bring myself to get into a campaign in Heroes 3, but I played all through this one and had a blast. And that's not even getting into the expansions, which introduce all new races and mechanics, such as Rage and Runes. In short - if you've played HoMM 3 and liked it, try this. If you are new to the series, this is the best, deepest one available.

At least after HoMM IV xD It's a classic by now and Tribes of the East version brings some fantastic features. Although it was painful to find out my old game discs physically broke. Still bying the game on sale nn GoG is great by now. Especially becaouse of modding scene. I highly suggest trying HoMM 5.5 on ModDB with it. It brings some awesome QoL, visual, gameplay changes, features and really brings HoMM5 to modern standards.

This probably is an unpopular opinion, but I enjoy this more than HOMM III.