Heroes of Might and Magic® 3: Complete

I won't buy GoG HoMM 3 for the simple reason that I am a lucky owner of one of the original limited edition HoMM Collection box, however if you haven't got your hands on this game I can only recommend you to grab it right now. HoMM 3 is a timeless favorite when it comes to turn based strategy games. To this day no contender has been able to hold its own against this game, including its own successors HoMM 4 to 6. HoMM3 still remains THE masterpiece and you could say it has almost not aged: - the campaigns are lengthy and challenging - the many factions (8) are rather balanced and offer a variety of gameplays that can suit all player preferences (yet Rampart forever !) - the RPG elements (heroes class, talents and artifacts) are well thought and bring a good deal of strategic options (although I can think of 2-3 heroes talents and spells that are clearly better) - maps are well designed and shows a great deal of attention to lots of tiny details - the graphics are lush and still gorgeous so many years later - the soundtrack will send chills down your spine - turn by turn game. RTS will never beat this when it comes to carefully planning and executing your strategy I can't count the number of hours I spent and still spend in this game, and the maybe even greater number of hours I spent switching place if front of the computer and fighting over heated games in hot seat mode back in the time with family.

I have it in physic format just next to my desk. It was one of the first games I buyed for PC (Although I started in 2012 and this game is really old). I bought it with the 1st, the 2nd and the 4th one, and I also have the 5th one, so you must believe me when I say that the third one is the best one. That game also change my way of playing, I started to spend more hours playing HoM&M than any other type of game (hours and hours every summer), because it is really adictive, and you will always want to play another turn more. Now talking about the game itself... It is a turn-based strategy game, you can play with different civilizations, which are group of creatures that live in the same type of city. Every civilization has some similar creatures, like a cheap one, one that fights with magic, one that throws objects or shoot to the enemy, one that flies, a really exensive one that is really good, etc. In every map you can control some cities (and you can build structures on it), gather resources, capture resource-farms (gold mines, quarrys, wood-cutters...) and explore and fight all over the map. It is really awesome, and graphics are not a problem, because 2D-graphics never get old! It is graphically beautiful and sounds are good too. You will enjoy it, provided that you don't hate turn-based games.

This is probably one of the best rpg, strategy, turn-based, adventure games ever created. It has scenarios for people who want a lot of challenge and for those who wish to have a more laid back experience. It has 8 factions to play and one weird one they added in an expansion, these are : Castle, Rampart, Tower, Stronghold, Fortress, Dungeon, Inferno, Necropolis, and the added Conflux. The game takes base on a world map were you control heroes and towns. A hero can move every day and combat enemy units to collect resources and artifacts which can be equipped and the resources can be spent on either special buildings you can find on the map such as the tree of knowledge that costs 2000 gold or 10 gems to level up a hero, or it can be spent on upgrading your towns to provide new units and to upgrade units into their second "form". Each town has a mages guild which can be upgraded up to level 5 and it provides heroes with the required experience and traits spells. Along with resource you also gain levels which give you access to new traits sem-randomly. Castle are the human faction with griffons, knights and angels who excel at fighting Inferno's Devils. Rampart are the nature loving creatures such as elves, dwarves, unicorns and Green dragons. Tower are the wizards race as they gain 1 more spell per level of mages guild and they get units from gremlins, genies to titans. Stronghold is the orcish race with units such as goblins, ogres, rocs, and behemoths. Dungeon as the name describes are the underground creatures such troglydites, Blackdragons and they include medusas who can turn enemies to stone. Inferno are the demons who have units from hellhounds and genies to devils. Necropolis are the undead and they have the ability to bring back the dead after the battle as skeletons. Their units range from zombies to black knights and bone dragons. Conflux is a messed up faction that has all the elemental units which used to be neutral units with pixies and a phoenix.

I play Heroes III from 1999 to this day, I own Heroes games from 1 to 5 on DVD's, but when I saw this on GOG I couldn't help myself and buy it again! :D Is just THAT good! I am not going to write a full review here; the fact that it was noted 9.1 on Gamespot at the time of apparition and 9.3 on Metacritic, say it all. And from then, it just keeps improving! On my view, this version of Heroes is by far, the best in the entire series, even more if you add to it the latest expansion called Horn of the Abyss (HotA - updated at version 1.4.0 on 2 January 2016 at the time I write this review). Also, this game is fully compatible with the HD patch (HoMM3 HD 4.100 RC5 released 2016.01.02). HoMM3 HD patch improve gameplay and let you change the original 800x600 resolution to any other resolution up to 4k (easy to find if you google for “HoMM3 HD”). About Heroes III HD Edition made by Ubisoft and sold on Steam, I have only one thought: "worthless". Why? Because even if their team improved texture clarity, the size of the play window is painfully small. In this regard, in my opinion, the HOMM3 HD Patch is a thousand times better, as it lets you to “zoom out” as much you want to the limit of your monitor's max resolution. The other reasons I think Heroes III HD Edition made by Ubisoft is worthless includes, but are not limited to: not compatible with HotA, it only have Restoration of Erathia, so is only ¼ of the game, cost much, Steam, Ubisoft. All Heroes III expansions to this date, that respect the original game are: 1. Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia (included on HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC® 3: COMPLETE) 2. Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade (included on HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC® 3: COMPLETE) 3. Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death (included on HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC® 3: COMPLETE) 4. Heroes of Might and Magic III: Horn of the Abyss (easy to find if you google for “Horn of the Abyss”)

HoMM3 turns 20 this year and it's still amazing. I put countless hours into it and playing HoMM3 on LAN with my girlfriend is still our favourite pastime for a lazy weekend evening. For me this game is like a chess with random board, so I'm sure I will play HoMM3 for years to come. Unofficial HD mod is recommended for higher resolutions and minor gameplay improvements (i.e. auto-combat) without breaking the original feeling.