Heroes of Might and Magic - Review

Author: Brokendownflier Date: Jun 17 2006 - 01:02 Score: 30 points

Though I've reviewed the ME version, it still plays the same as the original. They packaged Episodes 1-3 plus the expansion pack for 2.

Heroes of Might & Magic 1 Millenium Edition (3DO/New World Computing, 1999) is a fairly good strategy and fantasy game set in the Might & Magic universe. The player takes on three warlords trying to seize the realm and must be stopped. In addition to these warlords there are also monsters, spells, allies, treasure or resources that can be discovered during gameplay.

The player takes on the role as one of four classes of heroes who lead men, mercenary men and some of the twenty-eight different creatures in this struggle across 4 campaign maps--containing over 36 single scenario maps. The four hero classes are: warlock, sorceress, barbarian, and knight; different heroes have specialized sets of skills/spells and town upgrade options that recruit specific types of allies.

And what strategy game wouldn't be complete without a castle or town to protect and build up? HOMM, as this game is usually called, has four different town styles with distinctive traits for each. As game play continues, things like taverns to improve morale, thieves guild (for spying on one's foes), and mage guilds for that oh-so-egoboosting magical spell can be built in the town. The player starts with one town and one hero but as more wealth and power is built up, other heroes can be hired and the player can take over towns if their army is strong enough. Searching the landscape reveals things like mines and raw material sources that give one a weekly paycheck, so to speak.

The graphics and sounds in Heroes of Might & Magic 1 are not super but they are nicely done. Gameplay is controlled with push buttons from the Might & Magic games so it's fairly simple and straight-forward. A map editor is included for those who finish the campaign and scenario maps and need a challenge, plus one can still find maps to download from others.

HOMM features single player games, campaigns to rule the land and 4 player multiplayer network access. The campaigns all have a set of goals that must be completed to win, with each campaign varies from small maps to lengthy games on massive settings. Its AI is decent though predictible but combat is still fun to watch as a lot of the maps and creatures are animated.

Sadly there were no official expansions to this great game and while the player created maps do extend the playability, I always felt slighted as almost all the other HOMM games have expansions. Some sites claim to have a patch for HOMM 1 but at the time of this review I couldn't find any with a working link. This game was based loosely on King's Bounty with some much needed improvements and is a great addition to any collection.

	Title / Type	Submitter	Date
	Review	Brokendownflier	Jun 17 2006

Go to the game page
Submit a review

You need to be logged in to post comments