Might and Magic® 6-pack Limited Edition

Buy this, or I will fight you!

Unfortunately this version here on GoG.com does not run on my Windows 8 system. I tried various troubleshootings/settings and patches but unfortunately none of them works. So well unplayable game 1/10.

Apart from M&M 6 (Mandate of Heavens), all of those games run thanks to DosBox. Turns out that with a tablet, mouse movement is absolute and not relative. libSDL which drive DosBox cannot cope with absolute movement, so you will not be able to play in fullscreen on your tablet. Even if you resize your screen to sort of match that of the game, it barely works. In short, M&M 1-5 cannot be played on a tablet. M&M 6 can.

The MIGHT & MAGIC series has had some ups and downs. While none of them are impressive from a technical point, I loved the combat system of parts 3-5 before they completely ruined it with the successors. MIGHT & MAGIC 1 & 2 are rather mediocre, I give them both a 2.5 out of 5 MIGHT & MAGIC 3, 4 & 5 is where the series really shines. Not graphically though, the world and its inhabitants are way too colorful for my taste, the animations are atrocious and the monsters you fight range from laughable to cute. Seriously, they look like you could name them Fluffy or Cuddle-Buddy, that is before they hit you, because holy moly, do they pack a punch. The sounds are equally unimpressive - with parts 4 & 5 featuring some(!) of the main dialogues being spoken - corny over-acting here, but otherwise it's bare minimum effort here. As for the controls, they are a bit complicated and take some getting used to, with inventory management being the worst offender here. Otherwise MIGHT & MAGIC 3-5 feature a complete 3D open world with towns, dungeons and encounters, way before ELDER SCROLLS ARENA hit the shelves. The games a round based throughout, meaning movement of one square is one turn - enemy movement works the same, so there are no smooth enemy animations. This allows for an excellent combat system (turn-based of course) with the option to use ranged weapons from a distance before switching to melee while the enemies catch up. Parts 4 & 5 forge a big game world together (World of Xeen) that you can experience seemlessly. M&M III is the most difficult game in the series. I give MIGHT & MAGIC 3 a 4 out of 5, M&M 4 a 4 out of 5, M&M 5 a 4 out of 5 and WORLD OF XEEN (4&5 combined) a 5 out of 5. MIGHT & MAGIC 6 however changed the series for the worse. It messed up the combat system (real time, with optional, poorly implemented turn-based option) that completely ruins the experience. Hence I award MIGHT & MAGIC 6: THE MANDATE OF HEAVEN a rockbottom 1 out of 5!

Expect: Tedious and harsh hack-n-slash, above par for the time period Expect: To spend hours pouring over maps and manuals Don't Expect: Any driving story Don't Expect: MM1,2 to age well, even slightly.