Heroes of Might and Magic III

Reviews / previews

Review: Heroes of Might and Magic III

Note the emphasis on the word quiet. There's no major defining feature that catapults this release beyond its predecessors, but tweaks abound.

Consider the heroes. In HOMM II, each hero was identical within its own basic type, but the heroes in the third installment possess unique abilities and distinct sets of secondary skills. (Gretchin, for instance, increases the attack and defense values of any goblin or hobgoblin armies who travel with her.) New victory conditions appear in some scenarios as well-including the need to discover all of a map's mines and flag them as your own, accumulate a given number of creatures, or transport an artifact to a specific town.

Two town types have been added to HOMM III (bringing the total to eight), along with many more costly structures and upgrades--several of them unique to specific towns. Dungeon towns, for example, produce Artifact Merchants who sell you artifacts in exchange for resources, and Portals of Summoning call up random creatures for recruitment from a creature dwelling flagged on the adventure map. It's no longer simply a case of trying to win with armies unique to a town type. Managing the advantages of unique and costly buildings is equally important--a strategic point that really enhances replayability.

Many more creature armies inhabit HOMM III than its predecessor, 118 in all-including Devils that can reduce opponents' luck in battle. New spells add magic to gameplay, like Sacrifice, which allows you to destroy one troop type in order to resurrect another.

But it's the game's 41 scenarios that really show off a new approach. HOMM and HOMM II often featured maps filled with long routes and large creature armies that blocked access to a single treasure or artifact. By contrast, HOMM III generally offers up a countryside that looks like Donald Trump's junkyard, littered with easily accessible treasure chests, artifacts, and resources.

This casually strewn wealth means that both your own heroes and those of your enemies become powerful much sooner. The endless goodies also impose new strategic elements on the game, forcing you to prioritize and balance undirected exploration and mini-quests alongside more traditional elements of army-building, spell acquisition, hero development, and conquest.

Once you grow tired of single scenarios, you can always tackle the six linked campaigns, which offer a total of 24 scenarios. Or you can join a multiplayer session--now supporting up to eight players and including a chat mode-using a serial link, modem link, LAN, or online gaming service (Mplayer.com, HEAT, or Microsoft's Zone). Thirty-one of the game's standalone scenarios are available for multiplayer mayhem.

I really enjoy novelized sequels, and yes, I really enjoy HOMM III. While many later novels don't live up to the promise of their originals, HOMM III is easily the best of its trilogy, offering new twists on old standards and well-balanced challenges at every turn. Highly recommended.-- Barry Brenesal / GamePro