While HOMM4 certainly departed from the formula of its predecessors, it is clearly unfair to dismiss it as inferior. Sure, the good old system we all know and love was left behind but the overall HOMM feel is intact in this installment. I played it back when it came out and I really felt that at last there was something new, something to discover and master, a whole new system that somehow challenged HOMM veterans. The most noticeable change is that now the heroes take an active part in battles, they can move, attack, cast spells and even get killed. Units can also move on their own, this pushed the system to a whole new level of strategy that I, for one, really enjoyed. It really is a shame that a horde of fanboys cried over these changes because, frankly, the series just had not evolved all that much from HOMM1 to HOMM3 and was becoming redundant. With HOMM4, the series finally proposed something new without losing its identity : while all the changes really depart from the classic HOMM formula IT STILL FEELS LIKE PLAYING HOMM. As a result, HOMM4 is my personal second favourite. I still prefer HOMM3 for a lot of reasons, but I'd sooner play HOMM4 over HOMM2 or HOMM1, simply because it feels like playing a different game unlike HOMM2 and HOMM1 which could easily be renamed HOMM3 - and HOMM3 - - HOMM4 definately isn't HOMM3 + but it is in no case a HOMM3 - At this price, there really is no reason to complain about anything anymore : just play it and enjoy the whole new system !
