Heroes of Might and Magic 3 follows the same patterns that were developed in 1 and 2, but it has allowed for massive amounts of creatures and hero classes. Usually, I like tons of classes and creatures. And for the most part, I loved it here. But there were so many (if I remember right, when I bought this game years ago it came with a double-sided poster listing the hundreds of unit types). After playing the game forever, I still never had a great feel of what every single creature could do and how best to defend against it. But that also created a certain fun to it, too. Overall, I liked HoMM 2 just a smidgen better (So I'd give this 4.95 starts out of 5, really, but I'll just round it off). But if you're like the rest of the world, you'll like this one even more. Like HoMM 2, you get to experience the fun world of MM6 and MM7. In fact, this game uses a ton of references from both games and puts your right in the middle of them. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up.
Heroes of Might and Magic 2 is perhaps the best turned-based strategy game ever. It doesn't have the wildly thick numbers of HoMM 3 while not dumbing it down. You get to recruit heroes from taverns, level them up, and fight in the worlds displayed in Might and Magic 6 and 7. Your heroes can recruit creatures from the wilderness and your towns -- which you also level up. The one minor down-side is that you often know exactly how you want to build your city. The game could practically built it for you. But since it takes 4 seconds to build something, it's hardly a nuisance at all. If you haven't tried this one, you're doing yourself a big unfavor. So un-unfavor yourself and buy this gem.
I've played every HoMM title and this one is one of my favorites for one reason: It's so simple. There's not a lot of units and you can play a whole game in not too long of time. Now, the others are beautiful in their complexity, but this one revolutionized turn-based strategy games by its simplicity and plain fun. If you want to kill an hour and have fun, this is one to pick up. If you want to kill a month or two, grab HoMM 2 or 3.
NWN doesn't have all the bells and whistles that some have, but what it has is infinite customization. Literally thousands of servers are open, each with their own unique content and worlds. The single-player campaigns are decent, but the multiplayer world of Neverwinter Nights is the absolute best. You can get lost in the emersive server of Arabel and act out your character to build a trade empire, work as a hired assassin or any number of things. Or you can jump onto a capture the flag server and blast enemies with your fireballs. You can also find servers on www.neverwinterconnections.com to find games where a Dungeon Master will make the world react to your every emote. There's no built in function for *throw the rope around the bear's neck and attempt to break it to my will*, but a Dungeon Master has all of the tools to make it happen. If there isn't a server that fits your tastes, make one! The game includes a fairly easy-to-use game builder that easily rivals RPG Maker XP/VX in ease and production. And you can make your games multiplayer. This game is ancient and still wildly popular. You can find people to play with in no time. If you like to play RPGs, especially multiplayer ones, then you are doing a massive diservice to yourself by not purchasing this and playing it today. I've spent literally thousands of hours playing it over nearly ten years. And I still play occasionally and even build my own worlds sometimes (My last server went off-line last year. We had a blast.) BTW: You can download hundreds of mods off the web at various locations that have 100+ hour campaigns that are even better than the original.
Let's get real. This is not a 5-star game. It's maybe a 4. But is it worth your time and play? Here are the details and you decide: The Underlying Mechanics This game uses D&D 3.5 rules almost perfectly. It has, essentially, a D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook built into its encyclopedia. Want to cast Magic Missile but don't know what it is? Click the blue word MAGIC MISSILE and it'll come up with the handbook mention. Same for feats, classes, skills, races, weapons, armors and more. The Story It's fairly dull and bare compared to instant classics like Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate. The Combat Gameplay Top notch. Every combat is fun and unique. I find this game to be my absolute favorite in turn-based combat. The Noncombat Gameplay It's got bugs (thousands -- but www.co8.org takes care of pretty much all of them in an unofficial patch). Dialog is obviously incomplete. You can use D&D skills to craft items, buy a house for free rest, pick-pocket people and some other fun things. So it's really not horrible. vs. Test of Time I was actually playing this before GOG put it on. I have it on disk. And I'm still playing it. It's fun, even today. And that's in comparison to BG 1&2, Dragon Age, NWN 1&2. Graphics/Sound Good enough Circle of 8 This game can be grossly enhanced using the Cirlce of 8's patching. www.co8.org And with people working on patching it up even more and adding more modules, it's possible that this game will have an even longer life than anyone could know.
Baldur's Gate is the epitome of a good old game. It has clear visuals, a strong story, tons of minions to slay, strong and deep villains and strategic battles. Built upon the 2.0 rules of Dungeons and Dragons (with only a few modifications), it can take some time to learn about the combat system, but with all of the graphs and charts in the manual, you'll be able to either role-play through with minimal referencing if you desire or you can plot and chart every nuance to create the absolute greatest hero possible. Check out GOG.com's screenshots. Those will show you the interface. It's easy to use and tooltips let you know what the buttons do. If you haven't played this game and you like computer Role Playing Games at all, then you are doing yourself a major disservice. Pick this one up today. Gamespot 9.2 (editor's choice) IGN 9.4 PC Game World 92/100 GamePro 4.5/5
I was introduced to Might and Magic through the Sega Genesis M&M (equivalent to PC M&M2). I also played it on PC and C64 back then. M&M1 and M&M 2 were huge award winning successes that really began to establish the framework of modern day RPGs. It has tons to do and is one of those old-style actually-hard games. In fact, I only finally beat it last year after playing nearly 10 years (played it several times, of course). It's not "good" like today's stuff. But it's just plain ol' fun for me. I doubt it would fit many people's taste. But M&M6 is just simply an amazing game. If you've play Heroes of Might and Magic 2, 3 or 4, then you'll want to check this game out b/c it fills you in on a lot of the story going on in those games. It's a unique story with some good and novel game play. These are nowhere near the best RPGs ever. But they are great fantasy/sci-fi games and instrumental in defining the types of games we have now.
