Heroes of Might and Magic®

I discovered HoMM1 when I was 25 or so. I had a Compaq DX2/66 CPU (pre-Pentium days) Love it the minute I starting playing it! Yes...It not as good as HoMM2 or 3, but it still holds it own. Picked up an Asus Eee 1005HAB netbook @ BB for $249.99 & it had Windows 7 Starter installed. I was going to install WINXP instead so I could play my older games, then I found GOG (thank god!)) Runs like a champ even with my crappy Intel GMA950 intergrated video. I have played countless hours of HoMM1 & I'm so happy that I canstill play it in Windows 7!!!! Nice job GOG! No crashes, dropouts, no issues! I do think that HoMM1 should be $5.99 vs. $9.99 IMHO, but I caved-in. You can find extra single player maps on the web. HoMM1 will always have a special place in my gaming world! Good stuff!

The fact that this game (naturally) lacks the complexity of its sequels is actually a pro, because as I mentioned before it can used as an intro to the series and it's generally a better option if you are looking for a quick match. Another pro (IMHO) is that the sprites are bigger thus adding to the "classic-ness" of the game. Having said that, this game doesn't feature the replayability of its sequels as the campaign is largely plot-less with simple "do this, then do that" objectives without any characters or flavor text involved whatsoever, plus some missions are bugged and/or don't provide much info about their respective objectives. Lastly, the latter missions become increasingly difficult up to the point where they become annoying. TL:DR I recommend this game: 1) As an intro for a series newbie. 2) For a quick campaign. 3) For historical reasons (checking out the roots of one of the greatest turn-based game series).

Despite its age, the game was easy enough to figure out and I never felt too lost while playing. The simplicity of this game makes it a decent introduction to Heroes of Might and Magic. Although it is very much a product of its time in regards to its audio and graphics, this was hardly a deal breaker and I still found myself playing this game pretty often.

The game has great cartoonish graphics, decent and sometimes suprisingly good music, engaging gameplay and lots of differences in tactics compared to the other games in HOMM series. This is why it is going to take time to figure out what works the best and dive into one of the campaigns. If God wills, maybe I'll show this to my kids some day. Thanks to the authors of the game and to every fan that helped the community to crystallize.

I heard this was the worst in the series, so I decided to start with it. That way I can appreciate all the improvements along the series and enjoy the game at face value, not compared to the others that came after. It says I have 1700 characters left to use, so maybe I will go in depth a little. The game is very basic in terms of gameplay. Although there are some 'strategic' things you can do, like not moving your melee units to allow your ranged units to poke down the enemy before they engage you, it is all very simple (this particular strategy is actually outlined in the manuel). Once you know what to do, it is as some have pointed out, a bit tedius. But since this was my first heroes game, I had no idea what I was doing and I loved it. At least for the first 5 campaigns, having the game be 8 scenarios long does drag on a bit (especially if you are a vereran of the HOMM series). Something you may not know, and which will make the game much less tedius, is that the optimum strategy and most fun is to speedrun it. Don't try and kill all the enemies or grow a massive army, just amas enough resources in order to beat that scenario. Not only does this make the game shorter and less tedius, but the game's "score" is actually how many in game days it takes to complete the campaign. So you are expected to at least try and speedrun the game, as intended by the developers. A lot of stuff just isnt explained in game unless you read the manuel. So its up to you if you want to try and learn the game as you play, or spend some time reading the 60+ page manuel. Idk if you can message people, but if you can, feel free to message me any questions you have about the game if you are confused or get stuck. Best of luck on your journey, -Mr. Green Man the Barbarian