Posted August 21, 2009
Excellent! Heroes of Might and Magic 2. As I described in my Heroes of Might and Magic 1 review, the stumbling blocks of the original are only really visible in retrospect, but after playing the second you’ll quickly notice the improvements. But first to gameplay. If you’re familiar with the gameplay of the Heroes of Might and Magic series, feel free to skip ahead a bit.
The game, like all of them, focuses on the battles between several empires controlled primarily from several large towns and cities. Of course, securing these towns and using them to fuel your war machine will require more than patience and good will, and you will need to move out of your comfortable walls with the help of powerful Heroes leading, preferably, large armies of soldiers to press past neutral creatures to capture mines and production facilities, artefacts and, ultimately, the towns of your enemies. Unless you are playing a specific scenario, where a specific target on the map may serve as objective, the game normally ends once you have eliminated all comers, which is done by seizing and holding their towns and cities. If an opponent loses both their towns and Heroes, or does not hold a town for a solid week, they are thrown from the game.
The creatures and heroes in the game are divided into six factions, seven if you include the neutrals, two more than in the previous game. This game introduces the Wizard and Necromancer factions, as well as the Knight, Barbarian, Sorceress and Warlock factions with whom you may already be familiar, though the creatures they command have been shifted about, updated, and/or given new powers. For the first time in the series, the game has made an effort towards actual, serious game balance. As is to be expected, each faction has its own strengths and weaknesses. Beyond the minor abilities held by faction Heroes, the faction creatures generally hold a tactical theme. The Knight faction, as always, is cheap enough to be hired in bulk, but is comparably lower-rung. The new factions join the strategic twists, especially the Necromancer faction, which can draw on defeated enemies to build an army of low-level Skeletons.
One of the primary and most earth-shaking additions to the game is the addition of Skills. Like in most of the post-Heroes 2 games, this system has a simple but ingenious system to encourage a diverse set of skills on each Hero, ever game. In short: whenever a Hero gains a level from combat or from the map, not only will they gain statistics, but they will be presented with two skills randomly selected from the full list. Each faction is somewhat biased towards certain skills, while others are less disposed. The skill of Necromancy is a prime example – for Necromancers, it is their most common skill, while only Warlocks have even remote odds of finding it (indeed, it is so useless on top that it’s no surprise the later games curbed nonsense like that by cutting some skills from the list entirely for certain Heroes). Every skill, remarkably, holds a great deal of potential, even in this relatively primordial stage, and each skill (unlike, especially, Heroes 5) is divided into three tiers, so there is as much a reason to concentrate one’s levels as there is to expand.
Combat, like in the other games, is easy to get a grasp on. Every unit in your army is grouped into stacks, so one character might represent upwards of thousands or as few as one. These characters manoeuvre past randomized terrain on invisible hexes, trying to attack one another. Attacking at closer range is the function of most units, some of which can also fly to close gaps quickly, but this is a dangerous process as the enemy gains the ability to counterattack once per unit per turn. Dealing cleverly with these Reactions is a major part of the strategy, but even an amateur player can gain an easy advantage over the Reactions by using missile troops. These troops, in turn, can be countered simply by attacking them at close range, at which point most of them will be reduced to attacking at half strength and only at their attacker. Add to this the presence of the Heroes themselves. The stats of the Heroes are added to that of their troops, which can turn a stack of one hundred pathetic peasants with only 1 point of attack each into a nightmarish stack of one hundred peasants with 20 each.
The Heroes can also influence the battle through the use of spells learned on the map or in Mage Guilds, once per turn in tangent with one of their own units. Not only does this add to strategy (getting the fastest soldier lets you cast the first spell, while Blinding the last can keep your opponent from casting at all) but the spells take the form of powerful buffs and dangerous direct-damage spells. However, these spells have been curbed since the last instalment. The Wisdom skill is crucial for spellcasting, as it is required to cast 3rd and stronger level spells, and the old restriction, where Knights and Barbarians do not have spell books by default, stands, and while these can still be purchased, their continued absence seems like more of misbalance since the number of magic-using factions versus the might-factions now numbers 4-2. Later games would take a variety of measures towards correcting this, but for now the deficiency stands as one of Heroes 2’s few.
In regards to Heroes 2’s graphics, the game has in some ways not improved from Heroes 1, especially with its reuse of the ever-present Hero sprites, but the new art style in use in the towns is a particular joy, with its less cartoonish, more realistic style with an emphasis on subtlety. The Necromancer town is a particular high point in my personal opinion, but there’s far more to be said about the more complete art upgrade in the third game, and as such the art can be considered one of the game’s weakest points, but only slightly.
There is not much to say about the Price of Loyalty expansion pack, as the pack lacks any remarkable pieces but do not underestimate its inclusion, as the minor additions are virtually essential. There are new single-player campaigns, maps and minor bits of content. Some of the crucial updates include an alternate for the Necromancer’s lack-of-Tavern that made the faction slightly weaker than the others, and the Champion upgraded unit for the Knight faction. The inclusion of a Ghost-hiring building was probably a mistake – it’s worth noting that Ghosts, as they have stood since Heroes 1 with their ability to “absorb” dead opponents as Ghosts, are removed permanently in Heroes 3, and letting a player control them causes new problems in balance Price of Loyalty had otherwise fixed.
Heroes of Might and Magic is a wonderful series in that every fan seems to find their favourite game at a different level. For me the winning game has always been this one, #2, but for many the favourite is the third, and from an analytical position the bonuses and improvements justify the title. As such, I have no problem rewarding Heroes 2 a perfect score while still giving Heroes 3 a higher recommendation, but I will gladly add that I will happily recommend that fans of the genre buy both games, especially if they have tried or enjoyed any other Heroes of Might and Magic game, King’s Bounty or the Disciples series. The games are full to the brim with a seemingly inexhaustible value that will keep you entertained for years. If you have never tried Heroes of Might and Magic at any level, give this game a strong consideration, as it’s one of the greatest resource-based strategy games ever created.
The game, like all of them, focuses on the battles between several empires controlled primarily from several large towns and cities. Of course, securing these towns and using them to fuel your war machine will require more than patience and good will, and you will need to move out of your comfortable walls with the help of powerful Heroes leading, preferably, large armies of soldiers to press past neutral creatures to capture mines and production facilities, artefacts and, ultimately, the towns of your enemies. Unless you are playing a specific scenario, where a specific target on the map may serve as objective, the game normally ends once you have eliminated all comers, which is done by seizing and holding their towns and cities. If an opponent loses both their towns and Heroes, or does not hold a town for a solid week, they are thrown from the game.
The creatures and heroes in the game are divided into six factions, seven if you include the neutrals, two more than in the previous game. This game introduces the Wizard and Necromancer factions, as well as the Knight, Barbarian, Sorceress and Warlock factions with whom you may already be familiar, though the creatures they command have been shifted about, updated, and/or given new powers. For the first time in the series, the game has made an effort towards actual, serious game balance. As is to be expected, each faction has its own strengths and weaknesses. Beyond the minor abilities held by faction Heroes, the faction creatures generally hold a tactical theme. The Knight faction, as always, is cheap enough to be hired in bulk, but is comparably lower-rung. The new factions join the strategic twists, especially the Necromancer faction, which can draw on defeated enemies to build an army of low-level Skeletons.
One of the primary and most earth-shaking additions to the game is the addition of Skills. Like in most of the post-Heroes 2 games, this system has a simple but ingenious system to encourage a diverse set of skills on each Hero, ever game. In short: whenever a Hero gains a level from combat or from the map, not only will they gain statistics, but they will be presented with two skills randomly selected from the full list. Each faction is somewhat biased towards certain skills, while others are less disposed. The skill of Necromancy is a prime example – for Necromancers, it is their most common skill, while only Warlocks have even remote odds of finding it (indeed, it is so useless on top that it’s no surprise the later games curbed nonsense like that by cutting some skills from the list entirely for certain Heroes). Every skill, remarkably, holds a great deal of potential, even in this relatively primordial stage, and each skill (unlike, especially, Heroes 5) is divided into three tiers, so there is as much a reason to concentrate one’s levels as there is to expand.
Combat, like in the other games, is easy to get a grasp on. Every unit in your army is grouped into stacks, so one character might represent upwards of thousands or as few as one. These characters manoeuvre past randomized terrain on invisible hexes, trying to attack one another. Attacking at closer range is the function of most units, some of which can also fly to close gaps quickly, but this is a dangerous process as the enemy gains the ability to counterattack once per unit per turn. Dealing cleverly with these Reactions is a major part of the strategy, but even an amateur player can gain an easy advantage over the Reactions by using missile troops. These troops, in turn, can be countered simply by attacking them at close range, at which point most of them will be reduced to attacking at half strength and only at their attacker. Add to this the presence of the Heroes themselves. The stats of the Heroes are added to that of their troops, which can turn a stack of one hundred pathetic peasants with only 1 point of attack each into a nightmarish stack of one hundred peasants with 20 each.
The Heroes can also influence the battle through the use of spells learned on the map or in Mage Guilds, once per turn in tangent with one of their own units. Not only does this add to strategy (getting the fastest soldier lets you cast the first spell, while Blinding the last can keep your opponent from casting at all) but the spells take the form of powerful buffs and dangerous direct-damage spells. However, these spells have been curbed since the last instalment. The Wisdom skill is crucial for spellcasting, as it is required to cast 3rd and stronger level spells, and the old restriction, where Knights and Barbarians do not have spell books by default, stands, and while these can still be purchased, their continued absence seems like more of misbalance since the number of magic-using factions versus the might-factions now numbers 4-2. Later games would take a variety of measures towards correcting this, but for now the deficiency stands as one of Heroes 2’s few.
In regards to Heroes 2’s graphics, the game has in some ways not improved from Heroes 1, especially with its reuse of the ever-present Hero sprites, but the new art style in use in the towns is a particular joy, with its less cartoonish, more realistic style with an emphasis on subtlety. The Necromancer town is a particular high point in my personal opinion, but there’s far more to be said about the more complete art upgrade in the third game, and as such the art can be considered one of the game’s weakest points, but only slightly.
There is not much to say about the Price of Loyalty expansion pack, as the pack lacks any remarkable pieces but do not underestimate its inclusion, as the minor additions are virtually essential. There are new single-player campaigns, maps and minor bits of content. Some of the crucial updates include an alternate for the Necromancer’s lack-of-Tavern that made the faction slightly weaker than the others, and the Champion upgraded unit for the Knight faction. The inclusion of a Ghost-hiring building was probably a mistake – it’s worth noting that Ghosts, as they have stood since Heroes 1 with their ability to “absorb” dead opponents as Ghosts, are removed permanently in Heroes 3, and letting a player control them causes new problems in balance Price of Loyalty had otherwise fixed.
Heroes of Might and Magic is a wonderful series in that every fan seems to find their favourite game at a different level. For me the winning game has always been this one, #2, but for many the favourite is the third, and from an analytical position the bonuses and improvements justify the title. As such, I have no problem rewarding Heroes 2 a perfect score while still giving Heroes 3 a higher recommendation, but I will gladly add that I will happily recommend that fans of the genre buy both games, especially if they have tried or enjoyed any other Heroes of Might and Magic game, King’s Bounty or the Disciples series. The games are full to the brim with a seemingly inexhaustible value that will keep you entertained for years. If you have never tried Heroes of Might and Magic at any level, give this game a strong consideration, as it’s one of the greatest resource-based strategy games ever created.