Might and Magic® 9

I even liked MM8, as uninspired as it was. MM9 was awful. The story lost the whole interesting sci-fi vs. fantasy history of the series, the combat was annoying, and the engine horrible. The character advancement had some vestiges of what it used to be. But in general, it deserves the scorn it got. A pity to see a brilliant CRPG franchise go out with such a whimper....

When 3DO went under and sold it's stuff to UBIsoft, they released 2 games. MM9, and Homm4. Homm4 while different form other homms is still a great game. MM9 on the other hand is soo bad That I refuse to acknolwedge it as part of the series and consider my MIght and Magic collection complete without it! There are a number of reasons why. Far too much of this games style was sacrificed for a poorly implemented 3d version. The perfected paperdoll used in MM6-8 was discarded for a paperdoll system that has been in place since the amiga! And the game just simply lacked the charm to be expected of a might and magic game! For lore lovers not all is lost, there is nothing learned in this game that you can not learn in Homm4, as it takes place after MM9 and refers to its events.

I am a huge fan of the Might & Magic series. Played them all to death. (Currently replaying M&M 6, 7 and 8 for the 15th, 18th, and 21st times, respectively.) The only one of the entire series that is a total let-down is this one. I made the mistake of buying it when it came out, thinking that it would be a great experience. Wrong! The 3D is terrible and you have to walk EVERYWHERE. There are no coaches, you cannot Fly, you can take a boat, but it's limited. The graphics for somethings are lovely, but for the creatures, it's... well... abysmal. They should have gone with what they had going and updated the 2D graphics instead of attempting 3D with this horrible mess. It is, by far, the most boring game I have ever played. Truly bad. The enemies don't re-spawn for ages, so you are forced to trek forever an a week to reach new places, just to gain new levels. Lord help you if you're in a section past your skill level, because you'll be wiped out faster than you can ask what happened. Badly organized, rushed through production, no decent storyline, quests you really don't care about.... I could go on, but why? The only people I would recommend this game to are those who absolutely MUST have every single M&M game for their collection.... but I warn those people: this is awful. I wish someone had warned me. Even as I write this, I shudder as I recall the first town and the first quest you get in the nearby countryside. Worst game ever!

If you are going to play a Might and Magic: #3, 6-7 are all worth your time. #1, 2, 4, 5 and 8 are good to play afterwards, but not as good as the others. M&M9 is as much a M&M game as Heroes of Might and Magic is. Really, it's such a different beast and NOT in a good way. Where as HoMM changed the formula and made an entertaining new experience, M&M9 fails in every regard. Please purchase M&M 1-8, but forget this one.

The new engine is okay, but they threw away so many good things from the previous games. You just know it's going to be bad when you see the weakest, laziest opening movie in recent memory. Rather than open maps, every location is connected by ravines. The whole storyline is crammed down your throat during the first encounter. Character creation is supposedly streamlined, but you'll spend half your time trying to fulfill senseless leveling quests because your characters are largely impotent without them. By the time I finished them, I didn't care either.