Review: Heroes of Might and Magic V

I have a very complicated relationship with the Might & Magic series. Might & Magic 1 was one of the first games I clearly remember buying and I was enthralled by it. It may be hard to imagine today when every third title on the shelves seems to be an RPG of some sort, but there was nothing quite like it on the market at the time (at least there was nothing like it for the Commodore 64). The first five or six iterations of the series were anything you could ask for in a game: simple, engrossing gameplay, an interesting but not overwhelming story and enough content to keep you occupied for months. The series was successful enough to generate a spin-off series: Heroes of Might & Magic. HOMM was a turn based strategy title instead of a straight RPG and was as great as it's progenetor, and the first three iterations of the series were sublimely fun. Then came the sucking. Like a colossal carnivorous ape 3DO devoured Might & Magic whole and left behind only a steaming, fetid mess. Titles that used to be fun, expansive and innovative became the worst sort of cookie cutter crap. Not to get overdramatic but this was one of the first time a beloved series of mine had withered like this, it really pissed me off. Heroes IV was disappointing but viable, the main series however degenerated so badly as to be almost unplayable. 3DO eventually did the right thing and died a slow, painful death, leaving the franchise in the capable hands UbiSoft. The first fruit of that union dropped a few weeks ago in the form of Heroes of Might & Magic V.

GAMEPLAY
Heroes V is a pretty standard turn based strategy title. Gather resources, build armies, construct cities, layeth the smackdown on opposing armies, lather, rinse, repeat. Many of the changes implemented for Heroes IV, including using heroes as battle units, non upgradable creatures, and the overly fragmented magic system, have been scrapped. Heroes V feels more like the older games in the series, which should please the old school fans. The campaign clocks in at a solid 30 hours, with individual maps checking in at 1-2 hours each. The few scenario maps that are included are okay, but there are far too few of them for a full retail release. However the biggest complaint about the series since it's inception, the lackluster AI, remains much the same. The computer acts no differently on the various difficulty levels, it just starts off each map with more and more resources on the higher levels. And even on the higher levels the computer really isn't much of a challenge.

VISUALS
The biggest difference between Heroes IV & Heroes V? Style. The graphics in 4 were all right, but in the transition from 2D sprites to 3D models the creatures became overwhelmingly unimaginative. 5 returns the art to it's former glory, this time in full, beautiful 3D. The character animations are smooth but get repetitive really quickly.

AUDIO
The effects and battle sounds are servicable but bland. The music could have come from any other fantasy based title and lacks the grandeur of titles like Oblivion. The voice acting isn't terrible, but it's not good either. The script takes itself way too seriously and is devoid of humor.

FEATURES
There is multiplayer, but to be honest the thought of playing a turn based game online gives me a migrane. However the lack of a map editor or a random map generator is inexcusable, especially with how few scenario maps are included with the game.

OVERALL
A fun strategy title that is even better if you're a fan of the franchise. But the lack of some vital features drags the score down.
3 out of 5

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