There is a certain difficulty inherent in any discussion that involves a group of casually interested listeners and a group of highly opinionated talkers. One side tends to dominate the time and energy of the conversation, while the other side is ignored and left to fend for themselves at best or offended and put off at worst. As an example, listen in on any Star Wars-related conversations, especially among teenagers. Observe the males in the group—number, affect, and amount of time spent talking. If my point is not already clear, observe the females in the group, if any. With all due respect to the parties involved, this is rarely a socially even arrangement.
The popular Heroes of Might and Magic series of games can present a similar situation. Many people have bought and enjoyed the turn-based strategy games for their scope, imagination, accessibility, and seemingly endless replay value, but the fans – the FANS – of the series are indeed vocal, numerous, and demanding. The Forge fell before their fury, to be replaced by a more familiar Conflux. Azure dragons have risen and fallen around them. Maps and worlds have been created by the score. So, what new direction is New World Computing to take the newest iteration of the series, and still entertain both casual gamer and die-hard fan alike?
For those of you who haven’t heard of it, Heroes of Might and Magic IV is a turn-based strategy game, where armies like chess pieces are moved around on the game board. The “game board,” though, is a potentially massive map filled chock-full of resources, artifacts, wandering monsters, cities, and enemy armies, and the “armies” can range from a lone sacrificial Squire or Imp out scouting until he’s discovered to a true army of gigantic monsters under the joint command of several powerful
sorcerers. In addition to the faceless combat units, there are heroes, who can grow frighteningly strong through experience and artifact acquisition.
Heroes of Might and Magic IV, more than either of its two most recent predecessors, is a return to the spirit and feel of the first game’s gameplay, but it continues to develop the realistic, slightly serious tone that the series has cultivated all along. From the grim, deadly opening
cut scene to the pared-down unit list to the refocused town types, HoMM IV is a step towards the smaller and more personal and away from the march of armies and nations. The music has even moved away from the Romantic full orchestra to a more immediate and diverse sound, from the simple and beautifully haunting soprano singing vaguely Celtic tunes on the overland map to an eerie, madcap children’s choir in the Chaos-aligned towns. As the story is set in a land of refugees from the previous game’s now-destroyed land of Erathia, everything about the setting is new and unknown, and there is a certain tentativeness about the conquest.
Central to this process are the new and improved heroes themselves. Whereas the previous games had a lone hero as a wizard or general (or both) coaching from the sidelines, now the hero can enter the fray in the flesh and potentially do quite a bit of damage. Six experienced and well-equipped heroes are easily a match for a fair-sized army, and they just get stronger with every victory. As a result, a more personal, RPG-style of play becomes practical and appealing.
To further flesh out the heroes’ role in the game, specialties have been added, based on which of the nine primary skills a hero studies. A Combatant who specializes in Life Magic (one of five Magic schools) will develop into a Paladin, who automatically has a substantial bonus against Death-aligned creatures and a resistance to Death Magic. A Thief who studies Death Magic, however, will develop into a Ninja, with poisoned attacks. There are 48
specialties total, with imaginative and evocative titles like Dark Lord, Pyromancer, and Bard, and while some skills seem critical to keeping the hero alive (like Combat,) there doesn’t seem to be a “golden path” that thrusts a given hero instantly head-and-shoulders ahead of her competition.
All in all, the game is a solid offering; in fact, it’s good enough that complaints directed against it cannot be attributed to “bad” design decisions per se, but rather due to the effects of what were clearly carefully-weighed matters to the design team. Among them, the move to an isometric combat map allows for more space – and thus more tactical
variability – but also shrinks the characters and removes some of the charm of the previous game. (In HoMM III the Inferno’s Devils would crook their index fingers, calling to the enemy to “come here.” It’s tough to tell just what some of HoMM IV’s troops are doing.) Also, to keep one side from picking up momentum until they were unstoppable, troops now take simultaneous damage. Unfortunately, this also has the effect of dragging out the mid- to end-game a bit, as the player can find himself with just enough of a force to keep fighting—as soon as the caravan of fresh troops arrive. Multiplayer is limited to hotseat, although if the “Multiplayer” button is clicked a message box appears promising that the feature will be made available in an update.
Even with these quibbles, it’s tough not to recommend Heroes IV to practically anyone who is capable of enjoying a turn-based strategy game. It is among the best. The graphics, aside from the combat sprites mentioned above, are fabulous, the music and general audio is haunting and memorable, and the overall addictiveness of the game is difficult to suitably put into words. Buy this game.
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Reviewed by Joel Rasdall
