Heroes of Might and Magic® 4: Complete

-Contains one of the most well written stories in the series. -Heroes can move on their own without any troops -Contains a variety of skills that, when combined, can augment your hero (eg Combat + Tactics = General, +1 morale to all creatures) -No creature upgrades eliminate needs for heroes to return to castle just to get an upgrade on existing units -Creatures can have choice of attack/movement/spells (eg Harpies can be ordered to just "attack" instead of "attack & return", Water elementals can cast spells such as Ice Bolt) -3DO's last involvement with the HoMM series Overall a very satisfying experience, game is highly recommended to all HoMM series lovers. I completed the whole campaign 10+ years ago and this time am looking to redo all of it by purchasing this complete series.

Well, I have to say... I have been waiting, and GOG really delivered. I have a CD copy of this game, but I like it so much (like the rest of the HoMM series), that I just went out of my way to get it. This game is for strategy nuts! The game is quite good, but most would point out that there is no multiplayer. For me, that is perfect, as I tend to not worry so much about multiplayer,thus the 5th star. i especially enjoy 2 of the major game mechanics in the game. The Heroes system is the first, where the hero can change classes and gain special abilities. This can be seen as a great thing and a poor point as well. I find it annoying that when I have a hero set up in a particular way, just a minor change can affect his/her class, then I have to start all over again. This is a great thing as well, because I can find out about other classes and what they are like. For example, the guildmaster can stun their opponents. The second is that creatures can move around the gameboard without any need for a hero. This is a vast improvement, because it means that heroes and creatures that do not see eye to eye (morale drops) do not involve having to go all the way back to the nearest town/castle to offload them. Instead, they can be offloaded there and then and sent somewhere else. I also like how they allowed you to store creatures in mines. It helps a lot and reduces party numbers. Unfortunately, this is where it hurts, the fact that NWC didn't allow you to have more than 8 parties at the same time. Even so, I still enjoy this game just for the HoMM experience. I have to admit, though. I have been a huge fan of HoMM since I was 8, so there is a fair whack of bias. Overall, I really enjoy playing this game, and that it is now available on GOG means that I no longer need to worry about my CDs scratching in my system again. I recommend this version to all players of the fantasy/strategy genre, and to GOG, although it is highly unlikely, bring on HoMMV and Might and Magic: Heroes VI!

I will skip game advantages, and focus on shortcomings / unpopular design decisions. Top unpopular design decision is battlefield and how movement is handled, so it's basically impossible to perfectly control it. Also with some game knowledge heroes can fairly easily get extremely powerful so army tends to be less important than in previous titles. One of biggest shortcomings for singleplayer is fairly dumb AI - it can be challenging on properly designed map, or when you try to give AI better vision via extra objects near AI, tune AI priorites of some objects in map editor etc. General shortcoming for both singleplayer and multiplayer is no random map generator and no legacy modding scene so there is no advanced "HD mod" for H4 like it was done for H3. That means lack of QoL fixes and multiplayer extra features like simultaneous turns. One upside is that very recently (miracle happened wow) H4 got some modding attention, and patch to Albyx mod just got released. I did not try it yet but it apparently drastically improves AI. And it's possible to run that AI overhaul without rest of mod content if somebody doesn't like custom balance fixes etc.

This game is personally my favourite of the series, although I get the complaints about it's balance problems. Heroes actively participating in combat is one of the things it does right when it comes to gameplay, but the economy system and some of the factions are just outright better than others. The music and story are top-notch in the basegame.

I'm going to disagree with most of the other reviews. Like most other reviewers, I did start out with an earlier game in the series -- I had HOMM3 in a jewel case over ten years ago, and I spent many hours playing it. I purchased all of the separate Heroes Chronicles games and played them, and finally, later on, I purchased Heroes III Complete. Sure, it's perhaps a more polished game, and the unofficial WoG expansion makes it even better, but the ability of the hero to take part in combat just boosts the fun factor right past the previous entry. It might not be "pure HOMM" gameplay since sufficiently high-level heroes can single-handedly defeat several black dragons, but blasting through a full army of creatures with a single heavy hitter melee character and a single magic user is supremely satisfying. Magic that summons/raises/creates illusions of creature stacks can easily turn the tide of battle. It's always amusing to win when the high-level scouting skill claims you'll be handily defeated. As a result Chaos magic is probably weaker in this game compared to other games, but it still contains the always-enjoyable direct damage spells.