I absolutely love the HOMM series...but I have to say that unless you are buying this game out of historical interest in the development of this series, hold off for HOMM2. This game was a huge advance over the original King's Bounty, but it was with HOMM2 that it all came together in a game that will be playable and fun decades from now.
This installment is tedious in comparison and might scare newcomers away...plus, $9.99 is really too much.
I'll happily pay that for the later games in the series, but not this one.