Civilization IV Beyond the Sword is in my opinion the greatest strategy game ever created. It gives you the freedom to plan, build and expand your desired empire from the ground up. The difficulty is to do that in spite of your oponents that try their best to do the same. The original Civilization was a revolutionary game at its time, and Civ 2, 3 and 4 just kept improving it on that great original formula. Civilization IV Beyond the Sword, the second Civ 4 expansion is the most advanced, well made and bug free of all. Then, with Civilization 5, Civilization Beyond Earth, Civilization 6 and so on, the game was changed radically in ways I do not like anymore. That's why I keep playing Civilization IV Beyond the Sword even today.
I play Heroes III from 1999 to this day, I own Heroes games from 1 to 5 on DVD's, but when I saw this on GOG I couldn't help myself and buy it again! :D Is just THAT good! I am not going to write a full review here; the fact that it was noted 9.1 on Gamespot at the time of apparition and 9.3 on Metacritic, say it all. And from then, it just keeps improving! On my view, this version of Heroes is by far, the best in the entire series, even more if you add to it the latest expansion called Horn of the Abyss (HotA - updated at version 1.4.0 on 2 January 2016 at the time I write this review). Also, this game is fully compatible with the HD patch (HoMM3 HD 4.100 RC5 released 2016.01.02). HoMM3 HD patch improve gameplay and let you change the original 800x600 resolution to any other resolution up to 4k (easy to find if you google for “HoMM3 HD”). About Heroes III HD Edition made by Ubisoft and sold on Steam, I have only one thought: "worthless". Why? Because even if their team improved texture clarity, the size of the play window is painfully small. In this regard, in my opinion, the HOMM3 HD Patch is a thousand times better, as it lets you to “zoom out” as much you want to the limit of your monitor's max resolution. The other reasons I think Heroes III HD Edition made by Ubisoft is worthless includes, but are not limited to: not compatible with HotA, it only have Restoration of Erathia, so is only ¼ of the game, cost much, Steam, Ubisoft. All Heroes III expansions to this date, that respect the original game are: 1. Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia (included on HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC® 3: COMPLETE) 2. Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade (included on HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC® 3: COMPLETE) 3. Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death (included on HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC® 3: COMPLETE) 4. Heroes of Might and Magic III: Horn of the Abyss (easy to find if you google for “Horn of the Abyss”)
