Also, does it work right out of the gate with zero tinkering?

If you're into Heroes in general, it's a pretty decent entry in the series. It's like Heroes III but somewhat streamlined, though not without some neat new ideas. The GOG version does from personal experience, but this is PC gaming. Of course you'll often have to tinker with games because of their age and/or your OS/hardware configuration.

Not as good as 2 or 3, but pretty decent. I enjoyed it.

My biggest complaint was that the campaign had way too many "baseless" RPGesque levels (explore with a hero and do quests) instead of standard strategy levels (capture towns, flag mines, build armies).

Thanks guys. At 2.99 on sale I grabbed it. Figured that's worth it :)

It's the best in the series. It has Homm 3's level of depth with the feel of the second game.
Great game, imo the best in the series for gameplay. I've never been too crazy about the campaigns and lore so can't tell if it's better or worse but the campaigns are enjoyable and multiplayer/custom maps are great fun.

Cool thanks.