Official HoMM VI Reviews.

[arthureloi]

Hello my very good and dear friends and strategists.
There's something troubling me since October 13th and I'd like your help sorting it out:

There are NO REVIEWS in English for Heroes VI and it's already been 5 days since launch.
I mean, generally IGN, Gamespot, Gamespy, 1UP, Honest Gamers etc release their reviews at launch day or 1 day before, and when they're late, it's something like 2 days late.
I see many Europe reviews, but in other languages.

So that's it: I'd like to know why aren't there reviews for this game, because it's quite famous, it's selling well, and there were plenty of previews in the major game websites.

So, friends, what do you have to say? Is Heroes being ignored by the media?

I`d like to discuss with you about the reviews written so far. What do you think? Are the scores underrated? Overrated? Fair?

Feel free to send more reviews!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the reviews found so far:

The UN Playables (10 I think?): http://theunplayables.com/2011/10/might ... vi-review/

Metro UK (6 out of 10): http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/87887 ... -of-heroes

Cheat Code Central (4.2 out of 5): http://cheatcc.com/pc/rev/mightandmagic ... eview.html

Game Pro (3 out of 5): http://www.gamepro.com/article/reviews/ ... oes-vi-pc/

Game Informer (8.25 out of 10): http://www.gameinformer.com/games/might ... point.aspx

NZ Gamer (7.5 out of 10): http://nzgamer.com/pc/reviews/1465/migh ... es-vi.html

GameSpy (3 out of 5): http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/might-magic-he ... 326p1.html

Games Radar (8 out of 10): http://www.gamesradar.com/might-magic-heroes-vi-review

A.V. Club (B+): http://origin.avclub.com/articles/might ... s-vi,63817

INC Gamers (5 out of 10): http://www.incgamers.com/Reviews/1252/t ... -vi-review

IGN (8 out of 10): http://pc.ign.com/articles/121/1210600p1.html

ZTGD (8.5 out of 10): http://www.ztgd.com/reviews/15610/might-magic-heroes-vi

Game Trailers (7.8 out of 10):
-Written review: http://www.gametrailers.com/gamereview.php?id=15597
-Video review: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/launc ... ght/722242

Strategy Informer (8 out of 10): http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/migh ... eview.html

Dark Station (8 out of 10): http://darkstation.com/reviews/might-an ... heroes-vi/

MMGN (8 out of 10): http://pc.mmgn.com/Reviews/Might-Magic-Heroes-VI-Review

Tenton Hammer (6.8 out of 10): http://www.tentonhammer.com/reviews/homm-vi

Gaming Trend (8 out of 10): http://gamingtrend.com/game_reviews/rev ... heroes-vi/

PALGN (8 out of 10): http://palgn.com.au/pc-gaming/19885/mig ... vi-review/

Game Chronicles (8.5 out of 10): http://www.gamechronicles.com/reviews/p ... eroes6.htm

Gamespot (8 out of 10): http://www.gamespot.com/might-and-magic ... _title%3B2

Game-Over Online (7.5 out of 10): http://www.game-over.com/reviews/pc/Mig ... es_VI.html

RPG Fan (6.1 out of 10): http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/Might_And ... index.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------

[Pol]

No. Most likely two reasons. The game is big - the proper review require more time and they could be waiting for patched promised version. Aka patch 1.2. Not many games start with announce that they will add a patch in day one like it was for MMH6. And you can't count that patch, so 1.2 most likely but they may satisfy with 1.1.1 released yesterday.

[arthureloi]

Hello! Well I considered that too. I thought the game might be very big and take long to review. But no reviews from any major websites got me worried.

I've seen other games that were released with promised patches from day 1 (Elemental: War of Magic, from Stardock). In this specific case, the game was reviewed by many websites, but from the beginning it got very bad scores and everybody forgot about it really fast..

Now that I think of it, if they're waiting for 1.2 it would be very good: I wouldn't like to see HoMM VI follow Elemental: War of Magic's footsteps.

[Angelspit]

Review sites usually don't review patched games. But they are sometimes forgiving when issues are hardware-related (such as the laptop issue).

[mr.hackcrag]

How do you know about this, unless you are secretly a reviewer? Especially since this is the first time I've ever heard about games having problems like the laptop catastrophe.

[Angelspit]

GameSpot made a public announcement about not reviewing patches a long time ago, I'm sure the article can still be found in their archives or policy. Other big sites adopted a similar approach over time.

[arthureloi]

Why is it that heroes was not reviewed then? Even for a big game, 5 days is too much! I begin to think they don't very much care for heroes. I'm sure Skyrim review will be online day 1.

[Metathron]

Here's another English-language review:

In Short: Most British gamers will find it unbearably obtuse and slow-winded but there's a depth of content and gameplay here that will still find its fans.

Pros: Tons of content, characters and monsters, with a great deal of depth and an intriguing overworld strategy element. Attractive artwork and music.

Cons: Extremely difficult and hugely confusing for new players, even though veterans will accuse it of being dumbed down. Poorly balanced units, very slow-paced and terrible dialogue.

Score: 6/10

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/87887 ... z1bAbGMAuR

[Pol]

Taken from main game Ubi forum: >
http://theunplayables.com/2011/10/might ... vi-review/

english review

[Corlagon]

HoMM generally is ignored by the English-speaking media. They have always been about ten days late with their Heroes reviews. Just a few more weeks to go...

[Metathron]

Also, HoMM is a such a sloooow game and nowadays ADD spares neither commoner nor reviewer.

[Angelspit]

HoMM generally is ignored by the English-speaking media. They have always been about ten days late with their Heroes reviews. Just a few more weeks to go...

What, it's fine for the publisher to delay the game to polish it, but the review needs to be out of day 1?

[arthureloi]

Hello my friends.
Thank you very much for the links! As soon as I get some time available, I'll read them and post my impressions.

I'd like to make this topic a place to concentrate all the official reviews and interesting player reviews we find.
I'll copy the reviews you sent me to my first post so it's easier to the other users to read the reviews.

It would be very interesting to use this space to discuss about the reviews written so far. I'd really appreciate reading what you have to say about them: Are the scores thus far overrated? Underrated? Fair? What do you think?

[Metathron]

http://www.gamepro.com/article/reviews/ ... oes-vi-pc/ 3/5

PROS: New faction looks lovely and offer units never seen in the series before; Dynasty weapons that you can level up are a great idea; if you've enjoyed past Heroes games, you're going to like the gameplay of Heroes VI.

CONS: Ubisoft's online strategy is an insult to paying customers; game has too many glitches for what is supposed to be a finished retail product; while some of the additions are great, Heroes VI falls into the trap of relying on tried-and-true gameplay too much.

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/might ... point.aspx 83/100

http://nzgamer.com/pc/reviews/1465/migh ... es-vi.html 7.5

[mr.hackcrag]

Yup, just as I thought: average

[arthureloi]

All in all, I think the reviews are being pretty fair.
That UN Playables review is not relevant to me. Either the guy has been bought or he's just a heroes fanboy.
The others seen more accurate. I think the final average of the game will be something between 7.5 and 8.0 out of ten.

[Metathron]

GameSpy review: http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/might-magic-he ... 326p1.html 3/5

If I wasn't punched in the face by UPlay every time Heroes VI's engaging campaigns get rolling, I'd be in love. There's a great game hiding underneath the wet blanket of visual glitches and connectivity issues. Heroes VI strikes the right balance between subtle innovation and faithfulness to the core elements that make the series so excellent, but the experience is nearly ruined by the poorly implemented online infrastructure.

[Panda Tar]

They have such flaw in their quotation, very big to everyone to see:

"The real killjoy – and potential deal breaker – is the horrendous UPlay system's draconian requirement that you be connected to the internet at all times to play."

Given that only Conflux features are linked to online requirement, it's a bit bad to express MMH6 as an only online game. However, due other reasons, the game would get a 2/5 from me.

[arthureloi]

They have such flaw in their quotation, very big to everyone to see:

"The real killjoy – and potential deal breaker – is the horrendous UPlay system's draconian requirement that you be connected to the internet at all times to play."

Given that only Conflux features are linked to online requirement, it's a bit bad to express MMH6 as an only online game. However, due other reasons, the game would get a 2/5 from me.

Fala Panda, beleza cara??

Many reviews are mentioning this online problem about heroes VI, some even say this is one of the game's greatest flaws. It saddens me to see that this is not Black hole's but Ubisoft's fault, due to this crazy online policy. It's said that you actually get kicked out of the game if you lose connection, even if you are in the middle of a battle. I can't confirm this, but if it's true, it's really annoying!

Anyway, why do you give the game so poor a score?

[Panda Tar]

Opa, aleluia outro conterrâneo neste lugar!

A nice quotation from another reviewer states something really alarming on this subject:

I find it insulting that Ubisoft doesn't give you access to some of the game's best items when you're playing offline. I feel like Ubisoft is punishing paying players in its attempts to curtail piracy, and such actions alienate me and other gamers.

This is my thoughts some weeks ago. It loosk like it's 1/3 of the game real fun, but making you having to be connected to have Conflux benefits is not a fair way to appease public approval, combat piracy or please offline customers. Online features shouldn't really bear a high piece of a game such as MMH6. From all new stuff I learned in MMH6, Conflux was the most interesting. Alas, it's also the most glitchy and unstable thing!

Regarding my low score - by now, mind you, given that I can give it a higher score (or lower ) after Expansions or patches or miracles - features I liked the most on previous games seemed too dumbed down in this version. Right now, I'm at the point of just trying to understand why they changed some things into this shape, to find some purpose and perhaps some fun, but no success so far. Town Portal and Zoning I find really abusable and boring. Resource number I can live with it. Number of factions seem a little low. If you play 5 times, each time with a different faction and skirmish map, you'll have all of them - so, for old fans like me, it looks too fast and brief, hard to express. This is a feel, not a truth for everyone.

The tier system looks a bit too generic. Perhaps because all units (specially elite) have similar stats, so they only are different one from the other because of their model or because of their abilities (those that cannot be ignored or dispelled). Champion units are too weak - dunno, it's like they're not a big deal. Hero development now is choosable (I don't know if I find this good or bad, actually) but it can also be restarted, which is insanely wrong. I mean, when you're a hero, your experiences shouldn't be reprogrammed at will, as you could change your memories and your past. Also found the Secondary Hero hiring system (5 lvs below your main hero or even at the same level) rather unbelievable. You don't have to worry about leveling your secondary hero because they come from the oven just at strong as your main hero (who is only your main hero because it's the starting one and the one that will dictate your faction. Which gives me the feeling that this game should be called: Might and Magic Faction 6. Because Heroes approach was minimized to a point of no particular feel of developing them. It's a personal feel only. Other people might argue and don't agree, however I care not. The remainer of this feel rests upon Conflux...that Conflux.

I find the menus and the icons too small to click even for me that don't have any eyesight problems, I despise that townscreen and designs to no end. You see, many are personal feeling on the environment and universe.

Things that I like...I don't know what I like in that game. It's probably again the feeling of it, not any feature in special. I can't comment on Story because I haven't started playing Campaigns. But Story was never something that hooked me in this game.

I didn't want a H3 remake, you see. I liked H2, 3, 4 and even 5. The latter I didn't like so much because it looked like it stepped back towards 3 after 4 new features. I enjoy having my Hero in fights like in 4 - after all, it's Heroes of MM and not Units of MM or Spells of MM. Your heroes should be the core of the game, micromanagement of one's very steps. I can't see this in MMH6, which is a pity. At least not in the way I'd expect or enjoy.

As you see, the game is a bit letdown for me, but even so, I'll buy it and try it in the hope that when I play it, UBI would have the proper treatment against most of the alarming bugs we've seen around and perhaps, some more depth to strategy, which it surely lacks.