Maybe it's a little irrational to play a strategy game for the writing, but hey. Every couple of years I find myself drawn back into the campaigns of order mages and genies, knights and knaves, and, most of all, the struggles of the pragmatic Half-Dead necromancer. HOMM IV pairs nice, homogenous visuals with decent strategic gameplay and an impressive magic/ability system for the heroes. Diverse leveling opportunities for player characters together with witty, often humorous story-telling, make for a charming diversion that has cost me far too much time over the years. Highly recommended for patient players looking for engaging stories with their turn-based confrontations, but probably too little for strategy purists.
