Heroes of Might and Magic® 4: Complete

Heroes of might and magic 4 is, in my humble opinion, a rough diamond. I love: - Unique and superb style. Heroes 4 features some of the most beautiful creature graphics, surroundings, music and storytelling you will find in a video game; All in perfect harmony with each other. There's no stereotypical division between good and evil or cartoony warcraft 3 graphics here. - Heroes. Hero skills are interesting, varied and all hero classes are useful in their own way. With great innovations, creature design, surroundings, music, hero choice, hero progression and story, what could possibly go wrong? Many things go horribly wrong, and heroes 4 is one of the biggest disappointments in gaming. What I truly hate about heroes 4 is: - Braindead ai. When you approach the enemy with even the tiniest of armies, he will run back to his castle and stay there until the end of times. The ai will never attack you, even when his army dwarfs yours. - Sieges. Winning a siege without an order mage is impossible, and seeing your powerstack of archangels die to a pack of orcs on a turret is infuriating. Cyclops on turret = gg. - Neutral creatures. Because the ai is so dumb you will mostly be fighting neutral creatures, which is boring.

I've been a fan of the HOMM series since HOMM2. Reading through the reviews I noted that HOMM4 got a lot of criticism for changing many things from HOMM3, which is probably regarded (deservedly so) as the best one of the series (I've played HOMM2 through to HOMM5, can't comment about HOMM6). They made some pretty big changes such as having the actual heroes participate in the battlefield as a unit, and changing the combat screen to top-down isometric (both of these they changed back in HOMM5 to more like how things were in HOMM3). The inclusion of heroes as an army stack can be a little unbalancing but I didn't mind the change. The main campaigns from the original HOMM4 (pre-expansions) are all decent, though I recall a couple of them being somewhat buggy, requiring me to restart the map (triggers not working properly). The expansions feel really rushed and limited in production value. Sure there are a couple of new monsters and special hero units (eg with advanced class based on opposing magic schools such that you normally can't create them naturally), but the stories are thin, and the combat repetitive. If not for the expansions I'd have given this a higher score. Highlights of this include the stunning soundtrack (it's even better than that in HOMM3), and some beautifully created maps. The fan-base for custom-made maps/campaigns is a far cry from those you can get for HOMM3. I never got into multiplayer so I can't comment on that one either (would be surprised if there's much of a multiplayer base still left all these years later!). I still think this entry as being superior to HOMM5, and at least on par with HOMM2. Hardcore fans of the series will probably stick with the third instalment but this game is worth a look, especially if you are getting the whole series bundle.

It deviates a lot from the much-loved formula set by HoMM3, but it still manages to be fun in its own way. The music especially is really nice.

My first piece of advice for this game is: don’t be discouraged at the beginning. Long-time players of previous entries might indeed be a bit shocked upon first contact with this game. But after playing the game for a bit and experiencing it, I realized how surprisingly well it works, mixing novelties with some old rules. The new model of the heroes’ skills system rewards consistent development and offers different possibilities depending on the chosen path (for example, you will do better if your hero develops in one school of magic initially, then in a second one later, as high-level spells reward that effort). I personally like the presence of the hero on the battlefield, as well as the great novelty of blocking the fire line with bulkier units—a feature I missed in previous games. The caravan system is great and greatly improves the use of neutral dwellings. Removing the second-tier upgrade may feel like a drawback, but with the aforementioned caravan system, it works better (no more situations where you need to grab units from neutral places, carry them to your castle to upgrade, and then bring them to your hero). Due to the different model of generating gold in your castle (a maximum of 1,000 gold per day), it encourages active exploration and the development of Nobility skills. Sadly, Heroes 4 has some shortcomings, such as siege sequences where you can efficiently defend yourself only if you have some decent ranged units placed on towers, controversial graphic design (not terrible, but some units don't look good, e.g., leprechauns or behemoths), and not to mention the small number of unit types per side of conflict (although the idea of choosing between paths is very interesting). Definitely install the Equilibris, as it improves balance and fixes many bugs. And please, give this game a chance—its single-player campaigns are incredibly fun and interesting, and its skirmish/multiplayer modes are great as well. Not to mention its powerful map editor.

I waited for this game with such anticipation, and bought it as soon as it was available in stores. It was buggy, messy, unstable, and the AI didn't work. The ideas the developers had, like forked town buildup, where you go one route or the other, sounded good on paper. Unfortunately, the execution was uninspiring. Heroes 2 and 3 suck you into the game world. Heroes 4 just never could do the same for me.