It's still my best civ game ever. Better than any new and old civ game. And there are mods to fix bugs, increase resolution, improve the UI and controls, improve the AI, rebalance the game, and more - which increase its playability for the modern times. This game has a SOUL, an evolving overarching story, factions that feel different and alive. Everything is interwoven with fragments of the story, quotes and audio clips of faction leaders' insight and thoughts. And then there's the game, where you build interesting tile improvements, and buildings in cities, impactful research (with faction leader and story blurbs), secret projects (wonders) with philosophical questions and story relation. It feels so sick building endgame tile improvements and buildings. Fighting the cancer that is the Hive faction. And there's much more. You can get engrossed in this game.
Install the HD+ mod for a large quality of life improvement: https://sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/ Features and fixes: High resolution can fit more things on the screen. https://sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/eng/description/extended-ui https://sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/eng/screenshots https://sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/eng/description/bugfixes I've played HoMM games since I was a kid, here's my comparison rating: Graphics: Heroes 3 > Heroes 2 Balance: Heroes 3 > Heroes 2 Multiplayer: Heroes 2 > Heroes 3 Enjoyment: Heroes 3 > Heroes 2 Overall: Heroes 3 > Heroes 2 Multiplayer: Heroes 3 is the best overall, but the problem with it is that it has so many things added and changed. Don't get me wrong, that is awesome and fun, but the multiplayer suffers a bit because of it. Heroes 2 feels more to the point and makes for a better multiplayer experience, despite the bigger imbalances in the different starting races/castles. I say this because I mostly play Heroes in Hot-Seat multiplayer. If you predominantly play single player, then this is less important. There are mods to change the balance though, for both games. Magic and combat: In Heroes 3, utility magic is too strong, and destruction magic is too weak, while in Heroes 2 it's the other way around. In Heroes 2, units get 10% bonus damage per attack rating, while in Heroes 3 it's only 5%, which actually makes your units strong. If I could, I would make it 7.5%, and balance the destruction and utility magic. Other Heroes games: I like the graphics/sound/atmosphere in Heroes 1, but otherwise, other installments are better. I won't discuss Heroes 4 and higher, because they are not Heroes, and are in my eyes, inferior. They aren't bad games, but they have no soul, that gripping gameplay, and the 3d graphics are retarded for a board-like strategy game. I haven't played them much so take this judgement with a grain of salt. This ended up more as a comparison than a review, but it is what it is.
