I was born in '93, and I've played HoMM my whole life. The old stuff, the new stuff. All of it. To varying degrees of success. Songs of Conquest scratches that itch so well, while not trying to clone HoMM itself. The gameplay loop is similar, but little changes here and there help Songs of Conquest stand out. Towns are managed outside of a screen, and buildings are constructed on plots of land outside the main town. Magic is accumulated in combat based on skills, artifacts and the units you have in your army. Combat has much more strategy involved with units gaining momentum upon successfully killing a stack; units having a "Zone of Control" that triggers an attack of opportunity should an opposing unit try to move out or inside the zone, and Defend and Wait being exclusive to certain units. The artwork and music are beautiful and everything ties together in a wonderful meld. There is height to the terrain but without having awkward camera angles like in HoMM5. There is already a map editor included which can generate random maps for you, and a growing community of map makers already hard at work making beautiful maps. There are currently two 4 mission campaigns available that help introduce players to the world and its 4 factions. The factions feel fleshed out without trying to copy or mimic anyone else, all the units feeling very unique and like they belong. This review is getting long: If you like HoMM I think you'll like this.
