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After finishing Broken Sword 4, it left me with a strange sensation. On one hand, I liked the puzzles and the control a lot more. Moving away from the mobile phone-esque block puzzles that BS3 had was really appreciated, but for me the game sort of dropped the ball on the story. It tried it's best to be like the first Broken Sword, it had the meeting between two strangers in unusual circumstances, it had the manuscript that needed to be deciphered, it had the fake villain, but it lacked the charm that the first one had. Well, it lacked Nico for most of it, so that may have been it. There was also a very big lack of Paris, and a proper ending for that matter. Much like the third game, Broken Sword 4 had it's ups and downs. Hopefully, if they ever make another game, and if it's not a 2D hand drawn adventure, it will have the gameplay of BS4, but a story more in the lines of BS3.
Heroes of Might and Magic 4 brought a measure of innovation to the series. While HoMM 3 was 2 on steroids, 4 tried to wipe the slate clean, with a new world, a different combat system and many changes. Regrettably, the game is unfinished. By the time the last expansion rolled out, 3DO was bankrupt, and New World Computing was no more. This can really be seen in the quality and general lack of polish of some of the game's aspects. It's almost like they knew what the fate of the game would be before it was released, and said their goodbyes right in the intro. I still remember it by heart. "To all things comes an end, we are no more than characters in a story, our lives easily extinguished by an arrow or a stone. Turn the page and thousands die, and for what, for the pride of two heroes inexhaustibly drawn to each other by the power of two swords and a mutual destiny. And then the Sword of Frost and Armageddon's Blade clash. A blinding flash. Another turn of the page. The destruction brings earthquakes, floods and deaths uncounted, and acts of bravery too. Just when it seemed we are doomed, we flip the page once more, and countless fortunate refugees flee trough portals into another world. Is this the end of our tale? No, we are the pawns of fate. There are still many pages left to turn. And to all things comes a beginning" But for everything it did wrong, there was something done better than in any other game in the series. What I liked most were the campaigns, especially the Half Dead campaign. It was well written and had one of the best main characters in the entire franchise. Changing the combat system in order to allow heroes in combat really made a difference. And even though heroes lacked that unique ability that set them apart in HoMM3, the evolving class system almost compensated for that. But most of all, the thing that always brings me back, the music. That wonderful music that makes every session a journey into fantasy. Heroes of Might and Magic 4 had no flaws when it came to it's soundtrack. Sure the expansions were laughable, but the main game is sill one I cherish and play at every opportunity. I'm glad to see it here.