This game comes from an era of great ambition in PC gaming, which was sadly undermined by the rise and rise of more simplistic console affairs. The Dungeon Keepers, Imperium Galacticas, and Battlezones all date from this gloried era of immersive Action-Strategy, which seems to have faded a little. This one combines the sense of power from a strategy game with the sense of chaos of an online shooter, and infuses it with the 'WTF' factor of suddenly being spun through the air by a giant tornado. In letting you do all these things, there are a few imperfections; I acknowledge some flaws in pathfinding for creatures, some oddities when encountering steep terrain, and skirmish AIs can be a bit rubbish on larger maps. However, I do not give 5 points to this lightly, taking into consideration the amount of time I have spent on this over the years (yes, I bought the original copy and it still works fine on XP to this day). There is also massive variety in gods, monsters, sending a divine 50ft cows flying into the sky to literally crush your enemies, and the best ever voice acting from a surprisingly star-studded cast (the god Stratos simply melts in your ears). Finally, while the graphics have dated a little, the DESIGNS of the creatures are second-to-none; in a world of much overplayed fantasy stereotypes, this game's takes on Trolls, Gnomes and Demons will leave you stunned, and asking why we have been so fixed on Tolkien's imagination for the last 50 years. Buy this NOW.
I admit first that I have never played Heroes of Might and Magic, primarily because I am not a massive fan of high fantasy (more a spaceships-and-lasers man). However, since buying this game on here a few months ago, I have been deeply addicted, and astounded by the variety given to the player. This variety takes the form of a ridiculous number of creatures, spells, terrain types, customisable trinkets for RPG-esque heroes, and an impressive (though not as limitless) supply of scenarios, and a map editor to boot. The only less-varied part is the city-building, which has largely common building types for all races, but this does not detract from the need to think about your supply lines and income. The AI is not infallible, and has a tendency to spam units, but that is not to say it doesn't provide a challenge - fighting off superior numbers with clever positioning, spell casting and use of abilities is immensely satisfying. Sieges, although repetitive, showcase the variety of this game nicely, as there are many different ways of attacking or circumventing city walls. My only other niggle is the immense size of the campaign maps - it can take ages to reach an objective, for which the triggers aren't necessarily obvious, only to realise that the next one is all the way back over where you just came from, or at the end of a tunnel you missed somewhere along the way. To summarise, this is a must-have for any 4X lover, and has immense replayability thanks to the skirmish-type scenarios alongside the main campaign. I won't give this an emphatic 'must have' status because the campaign isn't perfect, but I give it 5 stars because *I* like it a lot.
