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We are all waiting for the release of the Heroes of Might and Magic V demo, which I heard is going to be distributed on the Ubisoft FTP servers and mirrored on various gaming sites (in other words, you won't need to use FilePlanet this time). In the meantime, let's make sure we haven't missed any preview article. Here is a list, sorted alphabetically:

I wouldn't be surprised if GameSpy was working on an article as well; I noticed that they sometimes spend a little more time on their previews and reviews.
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LaBoule, the Heroic Corner administrator, has posted a Heroes V preview based on version 0.8 (pre-release). The preview is in Russian; here are some highlights:

  • The number of bugs has dropped dramatically compared to the beta; there are still a few , but none of them are critical. Performance has also been considerably improved.
  • The font has been changed to an italic one, and there are now much more menu options, including autosave, quick combat, and a number of performance tweaks, although not all are implemented.
  • It is possible to view the "message log" - essentially a transcript of the pre-mission cinematic.
  • The horse cursor is back.
  • There are now tutorial messages, which only pop up once and can be toggled off. There is no separate tutorial map: the first campaign mission is essentially a tutorial.
  • It is now possible to divide stacks at the beginning of the battle, and by default the game proposes a 50:50 split.
  • All three war machines are now available for purchase in towns, but two "non-native" machines are more expensive than the "native" one.

The game was tested on a laptop with 1.25 GB of memory, a Pentium M 1.6 GHz (roughly equivalent to Pentium 4 2.4 GHz), and a Radeon X300SE with 64 MB of video memory.
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Why bother with a GameSpot preview when you can read the thoughts of a true Heroes veteran? Jolly Joker is a grandmaster of the game, a familiar face to anyone who has been in the Heroes community for a while. He wrote strategies for the official Heroes III site and created unit rating tables and maps. After spending several months on the Heroes V beta, he worked on the German localization of the game. His 4557 word preview article begins with an important clarification:

"Should someone try to tell you, Heroes V is Heroes III in 3D, don’t believe it, it’s just not true. True is, that there are lots of things where elements of III and IV have been merged. You could say on first look the bodywork is more like III, but take a look under the hood and you’ll find a lot of IV. That said, it’s neither III nor IV, it’s simply V."

All elements of Heroes V are covered, from the factions and creatures to heroes and magic. The article is also the closest you will find to a strategy guide at this point. Don't miss the conclusion, where Jolly Joker tells you how good the game really is. Read it all here.

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During the next couple of days, you will see several preview articles about Heroes of Might and Magic V on the Net. Ubisoft sent a nearly-final version of the game to game critics, and a handful of fans were fortunate enough to try the new version of the game as well. The first of these fans is none other than veteran Pitsu, who shares with us his impressions of the game. He describes how the visuals have evolved since the beta test, how the game compares to previous entries of the series and what the game is like when facing computer and human opponents. Last but not least, the article includes four exclusive screenshots, including one of the horse cursor, a special request by the beta tester that was granted by Nival and Ubisoft. Read Pitsu's preview here.

GameSpot has also an article about the game here. There are two new movies and a truckload of new visuals.
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Games Radar have issued a new preview on Heroes 5. It puts the development of the game in a positive light, using superlatives such as "ingenious solutions" and "hot new additions". Stressing the obvious point that Nival was under pressure to create a successful game, the major changes setting the new game apart from the previous game are more than justified; only time will tell if fans will think as much of the game as does the commentator Mr. Smith.

The preview also tells of the feedback the producers have received from the community about the development process.
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There is a strange preview article at Primotech that is probably based on the beta version of the game. The author is a complete HoMM neophyte who says things like "you probably need a degree in finance just to trade gold for ore" and "this number is actually the number of creatures of that type you control." While he certainly won't teach you how the game is played, his impressions are probably similar to the thousands who will try a Heroes game for the first time in a few months. The article includes some ludicrous suggestions, such as mentionning a switch to a typical hit point system as a necessary improvement, but it also contains some good points about the areas where the game might be lacking. Have a look here.
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In case you missed any of the Heroes of Might and Magic V previews published recently, here is a list of links:

  • GameSpot: "The new game will add intriguing new features that could make the classic Heroes formula even better, and more addictive, than ever."
  • GameSpy: "Heroes of Might & Magic V has been stripped away all of the changes that marred the badly flawed Heroes of Might and Magic IV and come back to the elegance of previous iterations of the series..."
  • 1UP: "The single-player storyline will be composed of six campaigns and more than 30 missions, but the game is also shipping with five multiplayer modes for hotseat, LAN, or internet play with up to eight players."
  • Eurogamer: "Le Breton says that once Heroes 5 is finished the team is likely to be working on an add-on due for release in a year or so, and even then there are other options to consider."

Now, if only we could get half as many details about Dark Messiah. Must... kill... some... Orcs...
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Age of Heroes has posted ThE_HyDrA's review of the Heroes of Might and Magic IV Card & Tile game published by DGAGames.

"If you’re a player new to the Might and Magic Universe looking to broaden your horizons in a card game, and you’re willing to invest time and effort in collecting and learning the intricacies of the Heroes IV CTG, you will be greatly rewarded, as the game is a unique experience in itself, removed from the computer game due to the pseudo-random map and multiplayer. Even if you’re not new to the series, the Heroes IV CTG makes a great hobby, and is a thoroughly enjoyable pastime – just make sure you have some friends."

The article goes over the main components of the game, such as combat, the adventure map, and the hero. ThE_HyDrA also describes how the experience of playing a computer game is converted to a board game.
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With only a couple of days left in 2005, it's a good time to look back at the past year and the events that made it particularly significant in the history of the Might and Magic franchise. When 2005 started, we were not sure when the new Heroes game would be announced, only a handful of fan sites were active, fans were wondering where Fabrice Cambounet was hiding. Today, we have two Might and Magic games to look forward to, Fabrice is managing a beta test and keeping in touch with the fans, new fan sites has appeared on the Web and the traffic on Celestial Heavens has more than doubled. 2005 was the year when the dreams of the Heroes players became a reality, and 2006 will see the explosion of the community as thousands of new fans join us.

You can read my summary of the top news of the year here. While you are there, tell us what are your top events of 2005 in the gaming world (Heroes and other games as well).
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Tales of Destiny is an XL map from first time map-maker a55a55in. It's really great to see that even after this game has been out for so long new map-maker's are picking up the campaign editor and putting out really good, detailed and time consuming maps like this. I had a blast playing it, which is slightly unusual for me, considering that this is an XL map, and I can recommend it to anyone looking for a large, story heavy map. Note that I played version 1.1 but the latest version, 1.11, has just been put up on the server. This version fixes up some minor issues, one of which I noted in my review.
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  1. XL Map Review
  2. Heroes IV TCG Review
  3. Heroes IV TCG Review