Tl;Dr: A wonderful example of how to take a concept and run with it. I was initially skeptical of this game. How would such a game work? How would a roguelite's mechanics, which involve constant improvement, work with a citybuilder occur? I have to admit, I saw this game under games such as Pharaoh, Caesar and Zeus. I have been plesantly surprised and thoroghly enjoyed this game, and the incredible thing is it is still under early access, so more content to come as well. Starting off with a small colony, complete tasks, don't let blight overwhelm your city, and most importantly, don't let the Queen get impatient. Time is of the essence, in this case, and it's addictive. You need to gain resources to complete the Queen's order while trying to balance out the needs of your citizens, making sure they don't leave (There are penalties for losing citizens). In order to create your industrial zones, you need to clear out land. Glades, opened while clearing land, contain rewards and tasks that need to be done urgently. If not, you might just lose some of the hard-fought and earned resources you just gained. It's a balance that will keep you trying to plan out as much as you can. The game has difficulty settings so you don't have to sweat about every single thing, but the higher the difficulty, the more the game throws at you, from blight being a problem due to using rainwater to having more reputation to win the scenario. There's just so much going on with this game that it makes the game so replayable, not to mention all the different modifiers that each game can have that changes the experience even a little. Overall, I haven't had so much enjoyment from a game like this in a while. A very unique game that has got the balance spot on and highly recommended for fans of both genres.
This is one genre that I enjoy as well, so I'm fairly bias to it. This is great! It may be a while since it came out, but when it first did, nobody had successfully combined the addictive gameplay that the Civilization games (I believe it was up to Civ II at that stage) with a Sci-Fi theme to it. The AI in this is a little crazy. Yes, you have other factions who have values and attitudes of their own, and when they declare vendetta, blow them up, but you also have to be wary of the planet itself. To take a quote from inside the game, "The mind worms are ... white blood cells, if you like". Damage the planet too much by having a huge industrial base and having a lot of terraforming, as well as a low planet rating, and watch the mind worms march right to your door. Oh, and I failed to mention that with a few boreholes, you CAN cause global warming. Make sure you have some pressure domes ready! This is very interesting, because setting upon a world not on earth makes the game unique. The game itself is modelled on Civ, but it has a greater focus on unit customisation. Each time you discover new technology, you unlock weapons, armor or new stuff that enables you to have a greater range of discovering how to blow up your opponent's bases. The reason why I did not give this a 5-star rating is because I was disappointed that the expansion, Alien Crossfire, was not included. If it was, then I would give it a 5-star, because the expansion adds so much to an already vivid game. An already big game got a huge expansion (not in terms of file size), as there was just so much more to do! In short, if you love the gameplay of Civ's addictive "just one more turn" attitude, and/or if you enjoy reading sci-fi novels and always wanted to explore entirely new worlds, this is a great game for you.
Ok, I will have to confess... I played this M&M before I played any others, but I enjoyed it. This is definitely a game that I replay quite a bit, and I have played it quite a bit since I got this game on a disc format. this game is definitely one for RPG players and definitely one to add to the wishlist. The gameplay is relatively simple, run around, kill creatures, level up, get stronger armor/equipment, save the world. Simple, yet not as easy as it seems. Getting off Dagger wound island is a task in itself. And then there are all the other sidequests, main quest portions, promotional quests, the list goes on. The artifacts that you can get in a game may not always be the same ones (although quest items will always be where you find it the first time), so there is replayability. The graphics in this game are good, and still holds today. Animations can get a little strange, but most of the time, people do some funny things with the creature/NPC animations. There is a bit of a letdown, however. There is no final boss that you must defeat, who is insanely difficult. However, there is a dungeon that does that for you anyway (you have to figure out how, it's optional, and I have never been bothered to find it.) But the game itself is (generally) very smooth and progressional. Also, it has consequential quests. For example, 2 quests are riding on 1 item, and depending on what you do with the item will result in very different results and consequences (I'm trying hard not to spoil the game, so that you can figure it out yourself). Another part of this game is the in-game Acromage, which is quite peculiar. It is strange, and while this is not the first iteration of the game, it melds into a sidequest. Oh, and yes, you do win money (only once!) if you win the game, and yes, it's reeeeeeeeally addictive. Overall, the game is a great game for the franchise. A game that every RPG fan should pick up.
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!
