I'm going to disagree with most of the other reviews. Like most other reviewers, I did start out with an earlier game in the series -- I had HOMM3 in a jewel case over ten years ago, and I spent many hours playing it. I purchased all of the separate Heroes Chronicles games and played them, and finally, later on, I purchased Heroes III Complete. Sure, it's perhaps a more polished game, and the unofficial WoG expansion makes it even better, but the ability of the hero to take part in combat just boosts the fun factor right past the previous entry. It might not be "pure HOMM" gameplay since sufficiently high-level heroes can single-handedly defeat several black dragons, but blasting through a full army of creatures with a single heavy hitter melee character and a single magic user is supremely satisfying. Magic that summons/raises/creates illusions of creature stacks can easily turn the tide of battle. It's always amusing to win when the high-level scouting skill claims you'll be handily defeated. As a result Chaos magic is probably weaker in this game compared to other games, but it still contains the always-enjoyable direct damage spells.
