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Score:
9/10
Company of Origin:
3DO
Category:
Turn-Based Strategy
Minimum System Requirements:
Win95/98/NT4, P133, 32MB RAM, 4x CDROM,
320MB HD Space, 800x600x16bit Video, DX 7.0-compatible sound
Test System:
Windows 98 running on a K6-III 450 w/ 256MB RAM, 6x24 DVD-ROM drive, SoundBlaster Live!, Creative Labs Riva TNT2 Ultra w/ 32MB RAM
Graphics and Sound:
The map graphics in Heroes of Might and Magic III are
simple and tile-based. That doesn't mean they're not beautiful, though.
Someone (or some people) spent a whole lot of time designing each map,
adding shrubs and lakes and trees and such just because it makes the game
look a lot nicer. And as such, the world really feels more alive than
most tile-based strategy games. Most of the creatures in the game,
especially in the combat scenes, have a half-rendered, half-drawn feel to
them that is not all bad. This game won't blow you away with 3D graphics
and special effects, and its spell effects leave something to be desired,
but the graphics more than get the job done.
It's a testament to the music of this game that, despite the fact that I
played HoMM3 for hours on end, I don't remember a single note.
That's a
good thing, in that the music didn't suck, but it's also a bad thing, in
that it didn't particularly rock. The voice acting, such that it is, is
quite good. The best parts of the aureal experience, however, are the
ambient sounds that come from the various locations on the map. Near
stables, you'll hear horses. Near mines, you'll hear pick-axes and such.
Anywhere you go, you hear understated sounds that bely what's -really-
going on there. A very, very nice touch, and one I really enjoyed.
Gameplay: This is definitely a sequel (well, an upgrade of a sequel) that
doesn't suck. Basically, 3DO took the already-great Heroes III and
added
a whole other campaign and more single player missions and a few gameplay
tweaks and repackaged it. The thing is, it's so good, no one will care.
For those that haven't played a Heroes game before, the game works pretty
simply. You have one or more Heroes, who wander around the world, gaining
troops and fighting enemies. There are hundreds of different sorts of
places to visit on a map, such as places that give you a certain resource
each day, to places with artifacts that make your heroes more powerful, to
heaps of gold. Your heroes gain levels, like most RPGs, and each level
gives them new skills and new abilities, which you can choose from. Many
of the campaign levels have a cap as to how many levels you can gain in
the campaign, but that turns out to be not much of a limit.
There are also cities, and they are where your troops generally come from.
There are tons of different kinds of cities, from your generic Human town
to Infernal ones, ones reeking of Magic, and everything in-between. Part
of the fun of the game is acquiring lots of city types so you can make
crazy armies. Most of the buildings in the cities can be upgraded, making
you more money / making stronger units / whatever.
The game itself is a blast, and each map may have you trying to protect a
town, or vanquish the enemy, or find the Holy Grail. (Blue? No! Yellow!
er . . .) If that isn't enough, you can build your own maps and
campaigns, and give them to your friends or keep them all to your
lonesome. HoMM has so much customization, you'll never grow bored of
it -- and it comes with hundreds of hours of gameplay anyway.
There's really only one flaw -- the combat engine. On your side, every
unit of a specific type is represented as a single unit, with a number
signifying just how many you have. This may make for less bookkeeping and
makes the battles faster, but sometimes it'd be nice to flank an enemy
with two griffon groups or two devils, but you can't because they're only
one unit. You learn to manage, though, and it's still damned fun.
Difficulty: Depends on the map. Some are quite easy, others have you
fighting to stay alive from the get-go and only get worse. It all
depends, really.
Game Mechanics:
The menus and game system, once you understand what's
going on, become second nature. It's unfortunate that the printed manual
only refers to the changes in Shadow of Death, with the new units and
such, but the manual for the original HoMM3 is installed in PDF
format,
along with a tutorial. Such is life. I noticed a few bugs, such as
picking things up and then not having them in my inventory, but nothing
life-threatening or that couldn't be fixed with a reload. If you like
turn-based strategy games, fantasy warfare, the Might and Magic world, or
just clean fun, pick up this game. It seems to be the only incarnation of
the world that's still fun (although hopefully Might and Magic 9 will turn
that around), and it is a whole lot of fun at that.
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