Heroes of Might and Magic® 4: Complete

Widely regarded as the worst installment of the HoMM series, I thought I would at least give it a try seeting how much I love HoMM2 and HoMM3. This game is overly complicated and frustrating, I'll give the developers credit for a creative departure from previous installements in the series. However, the end result is removing some of the best elements of HoMM3 and adding in new elements, most of which don't work, and don't work together. Not even worth a look. Just skip it.

HOMM 4 was completely revamped from HOMM 3. I'm not usually one to dislike change but, a little too much was changed losing those things that everyone loved from HOMM 3. The same concept is there... but expect a whole new different game.

The phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" may be a bit of a cliche, but it could well have been the missing subtitle of HoMM 4. This game is a rather awkward attempt to give the series a fresh start after the nearly-perfect third game. The gameplay has been revamped in a few major ways. The battlefield is now isometric, heroes participate in the battles, creatures can wander, and you can use caravans to bring more units in without having to use a hero. That is all great, but both Age of Wonders and Disciples did a much better job of modifying classic HoMM gameplay than NWO could manage. The original creators simply couldn't top their own creation and ended up destroying it. Overall the game is relatively fun, but there is honestly no reason to invest time in it when there are so many better options out there. I would rate that aspect of HoMM 4 6/10. One of the elements that made the previous HoMM games not just fun, but charming was the visual style and in the case of HoMM 3 - the beautiful maps, towns, and strikingly rendered creatures, as well as the perfectly visualized and organized interface. All that is completely gone from the fourth installment of the series. The overall visuals look almost amateurish. All backgrounds are extremely plain and uninteresting, the towns are just as badly rendered and uninspired, while the interface is tasteless and very hard to look at with its bright yellows, lack of contrast, and poor choice of fonts. The creatures are also devoid of all the character they had in the first three games. Overall I would rate the visual appeal 1/10. Complete disaster and after more than a decade it is very difficult to accept how this game looks, while HoMM 3 still pleases the eye every time. In the end HoMM 4 is a game that has a tiny group of dedicated fans, but most people have either continued to play the amazing HoMM 2 and 3 (and the similar HoMM 5-7) or moved on to other series of turn-based fantasy strategy games.

5 star reviewers are smoking some really good crack. This game is the worst in the series. Arguably, only heroes 7 was worse than this. Let's start with the positives, which are very little: - Best campaign story-telling in the series - in the base game, expansion campaigns are a joke - Advanced hero classes were a nice idea, although pretty unbalanced Now let's go into the negatives... - You can now split units into standalone armies. Idea stolen from Age of Wonders, but it plays horribly here. You can pretty much scout the whole map on day 1 with 1-stacks of tier 1 units. Terribly design. - Fog of war is annoying. Units appearing/disappearing, makes you want to abuse the above mechanic even more. - Battle grid is HORRIBLE. You can never know if a unit will reach you or not. You can never know if your unit will fit in a tight space or not. Misclicks are also severely punished, as units can travel across multiple turns now. - History in battles is gone. - Heroes no longer have "spell power". Instead, ever spell either lasts 3 turns, or for the whole battle. - Skill system is really bad. It takes way too many levels, each skill/subskill having 5 levels instead of 3. - Tavern feels bad. You can now choose heroes, and every hero has exactly the same secondary skills. Makes them really lose their identity. - Prison system is bad. You can never truly "kill" heroes, you just keep them in your prison and hope your town doesn't get taken. - No creature upgrades. Instead, you can choose between two creatures every time you build your town. In theory, a nice idea, but it just means you always choose the same creature, as they're horribly balanced. - Town Hall-type buildings were severely nerfed. Now they grant up to maximum 1000 gold, and they cost a LOT. - Heroes are overpowered. You can literally kill lots of behemoths with your hero only in the later stages of the game. Don't waste your time with this game.

no Russian translate