Reviews
- by Ethric
I've read a lot of reviews lately, and lastly now when reading Biggles's, I felt like typing down a few words of my own on HoMM V, from the perspective of someone not too happy with how the game turned out.
Read it here, in our forums.
| Comments (8) |
- by Biggles
I've added my own review of Heroes V to the site - it can be found under the general tab on the main page or here. It's around 1000 words, fairly newbie friendly, by no means comprehensive - but I think I've tackled the important stuff.
Feel free to leave a comment, agree, disagree, remonstrate or generally rip the whole thing apart. Like you guys ever needed any encouragment...
- by Angelspit
Fans who were disappointed by the Heroes V game manual might be tempted to pick up the Official Game Guide published by Prima
. According to Sir Charles at The Genies' Lamp, that would be a mistake. While he admits that he found previous Prima guides useful, including the one for Heroes III, he describes the Heroes V guide as a "worthless piece of rubbish." It includes information that has been on fan sites for a very long time, sections similar to what can be found in the game manual, blurry screenshots, and stats and tips from the beta. The author of the book did a better job with the artifact, walkthroughs and adventure map locations, but that probably isn't worth $20.
- by Angelspit
William Abner, who wrote the Heroes V previews for GameSpy, is back with his final review of the game, entitled "Close but no Heroes III." He describes the new game as an utterly addictive and fun, and a worthy addition to the storied franchise. However, the list of problems is longer than what we saw in the articles published earlier this week: camera problems, disappointing sounds, forgettable music, slow and uneven campaigns, corny cutscenes, lack of content, buggy multiplayer, and the list goes on.
"Despite some obvious flaws and failure to try anything spectacularly new, the fun in Heroes of Might and Magic V manages to win out."
The game manages to get three and a half stars out of 5, one of the lowest scores so far. You may remember that both Heroes IV and The Gathering Storm expansion got four stars from GameSpy back in 2002, before the Winds of War add-on was trashed with a single star.
| Comments (24) |
- by Angelspit
Tom Chick reviewed Heroes of Might and Magic V for Yahoo. He praises the graphics, the single-player mode ("single-player is, by and large, right on the money") and the aggressivity of the computer player. However, the lack of a map editor, the tiny printed documentation and the badly-written in-game help hurt the game's final score. The state of the multiplayer component was a disappointment to the author:
"As of a week after the game's release in Europe, multiplayer support is in an awful state. Games fall out of sync and the ghost tricks seem to break the game more than they help it."
While we wait for the Gamespot and GameSpy reviews, we will work on a summary of all the reviews we missed until now. This will give everyone a better idea of Heroes V's critical success so far.
| Comments (14) |
- by Angelspit
While the first review of Heroes of Might and Magic V belongs to a Swedish printed publication (according to some fans), the first online review can be found on Hooked Gamers. It reads a lot like the previews that were posted on the Net on a weekly basis earlier this year. Six towns with seven creatures, we've heard that before. The author points out that the game feels a little sluggish, but goes on to praise the artificial intelligence: "Decisions made by the AI are often exactly the same decisions I would have made myself and the AI carefully weighs its targets, what spells it should use and how to approach the battle." He admits that his first impressions were not that positive, but after a while Heroes V kicked Oblivion off his playlist, which is quite an achivement by itself. The game got an 8 out of 10. Read the whole article here.
| Comments (26) |
- by Psychobabble
As I was playing the Heroes 5 demo, I was struck by a few things about the maps which I felt I could comment on from a map-making perspective so I thought I'd write some map reviews. These obviously aren't proper reviews, as the game is a brand new one to me and the maps (and the game itself) isn't in its final stage - they're just my initial thoughts on the demo maps. So please take them in that spirit and I hope you find them interesting.
- by Angelspit
It took a while, but William Abner at GameSpy posted his thoughts on the Heroes of Might and Magic V preview build, two weeks after GameSpot and other review sites. His impressions are generally very positive, but he can't help to see the game as a Heroes III remake:
"These questions aside, Heroes V is shaping up to be the game that many fans have wanted to see for years; it's like Heroes III with more stuff, played on a gorgeous 3D landscape, and even though the preview copy was rough around the edges in many ways, it's still utterly addictive and as charming as ever."
Abner also refers to one of the last major concerns the fans migth have about the game:
"Finally, it's still a bit early to determine just how good or bad the CPU AI is going to be, which is crucial to the long-term playability of the game."
| Comments (22) |
- by Angelspit
The very good Eurogamer published a preview of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. While they go over the origins and the physics of the action game over again, they provide some very interesting details about the multiplayer mode:
"The game is played across five maps, like a tug-of-war inversed. Starting at the centre one, a win or loss pushes the team one step back along the geographically-linked maps. That team loses again, and it's another step back to the final stronghold. A loss there loses the match. Of course, if one wins, it pushes back in the other direction. Played between Human and Undead teams, the final human fortress is shown off, where the defenders look down from sky-high crenulations and the attackers can push elaborate siege towers against the walls to gain access. The armies are comprised of five inter-supporting classes. For example, the human team consists of the Archer (sniper), Knight (melee warrior), Mage (offensive spells), Assassin (the stealth character, who mixes invisibility with similar disguise-self roles to Team Fotresses' spy) and the Priestess, who does healing-style group support."
That reminds me of some Unreal Tournament games played on the Face map with co-workers a couple of years ago. But of course, there wasn't any undead in that game.
| Comments (1) |
- by Angelspit
A very positive preview of Heroes V was posted at IGN on Friday. The writer notes that the game has improved a lot since the open beta test during the Winter.
"It was engrossing enough to me that I completely forgot about lunch today until I forced myself to stop playing and begin writing this article. It's probably best to let the screenshots speak for themselves but Nival has had a handle on creating some wonderful art for their games for quite some time. Heroes of Might and Magic V is just continuing their terrific streak."
Some of that art is shown in the lovely screenshots that come with the article: that battle sequence is a good example of the Kodak moments that the game can provide.
| Comments (8) |
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