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Heroes Chronicles: Masters of the Elements

Score: 70%
ESRB: Everyone
Publisher: 3DO
Developer: New World Computing
Media: CD/1
Players: 1
Genre: Turn-Based Strategy

Graphics & Sound:

Surprise! Heroes Chronicles: Masters of the Elements looks a whole lot like all of the other Chronicles titles, and Heroes III itself. Of course, that could be because it uses the same graphics as the previous games.

Admittedly, I like the art on the maps in Masters of the Elements more than any of the other Chronicles titles. There's something about walking around in elemental planes that just tickles my fancy, and I enjoy wandering around in cloudbanks or on a virtual ocean floor. Too bad the automap isn't bright enough to change its colours to match the world, but that's a terribly minor gripe.

The rest of the game is strictly standard Heroes fare. You've got the drawn/rendered look of the entire Heroes series, the clean interface, and graphics that, while detailed, haven't changed in a few years. The maps seem a little less packed with 'stuff' than some of the previous titles, but that's a relatively minor gripe.

Soundwise, Masters is identical to the other titles in the Heroes III line. The music's the same and the effects are the same. The voice-acting in the cutscenes is different, of course, but the game's not exactly loaded with that stuff. The music was fantastic when it first came out, but I've been hearing it in every Heroes game since, so I've taken to playing my own music while I play. It helps my sanity.


Gameplay:

However, the game itself does little to help keep me sane. In yet another installment of Tarnum's adventures, Masters of the Elements has you as a wizard instead of the usual combat-oriented classes that our favourite dead barbarian takes on. Apart from that, and the cool maps, Masters offers absolutely nothing new to the Chronicles formula.

For those of you not in the know, this is one of four (well, six) chapters in the story of Tarnum, a barbarian who died and then came back to 'right the wrongs of the world.' Or something. In this one, Tarnum has to go and stop the Elemental Lords from destroying the world, or some such nonsense. As has been evident in the past Chronicles games, the plots are thin at best and downright silly at times. It's an improvement from the first title, but not much of one.

The gameplay is slightly altered, now that Tarnum can cast spells with the best of them. I've always enjoyed spellcasting in the Heroes games, and it's nice to be able to play a Chronicle where you can throw lightning bolts at the bad guys. Indeed, later in the game your spellcasting ability can be the deciding factor in the way the game goes. Thankfully, Tarnum doesn't lose his abilities as he goes between the levels, so you can wipe out the starting beasties with a well-placed lightning bolt well before you have that ability with your troops.

Otherwise, expect the same thing that you've gotten with the other Chronicles titles -- a little over a half dozen levels, very limited replayability, no editing of maps or multiplayer.


Difficulty:

A few of the levels in Masters of the Elements require careful micromanagement. For the most part, following basic Heroes rules will have you prevailing against the enemy. Never leave your base undefended, map as much area as possible so that you can see the bad guys coming, and eventually overwhelm the enemy with sheer power. You may find a few battles that are challenging to the point of impossibility at first, but careful management of your team will have you prevailing every time.

Game Mechanics:

Well, it worked in Heroes III, and it's worked in the other Chronicles titles, so I can't help but note that the game's mechanics work fine in Masters of the Elements. The spells are nice, and can actually seriously change the strategems you use in the game, which is a nice 'addition'. The interface is clean and easy to use, there's help text for just about everything, and a few seconds of tweaking will make battles bearable.

Heroes Chronicles: Masters of the Elements offers a slight change of pace for the Chronicles series, but in the end is just another overpriced single campaign. Heroes III Complete is a much wiser purchase, and even with the free campaigns when you have two or three Chronicles titles, only absolute completists need to pick up this title. The rest of us can wait for the all-in-one collection.


-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications
AKA Phil Bordelon

Minimum System Requirements:



Win9x/NT4, P133, 230MB HD Space, 32MB RAM, 4x CD-ROM, Sound Card, Keyboard, Mouse
 

Test System:



Athlon 1.1GHz running Win98 SE, 512MB RAM, GeForce 2 GTS w/ 32MB RAM, SoundBlaster Live!, 8x DVD-ROM

Windows Heroes Chronicles: Clash of the Dragons GameBoy Color/Pocket Commander Keen

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated