Rating: 
Summary: Heroes Fan
Review: After waiting for several weeks since you will not ship this game to an APO (WHY everyone else does and its like sending it any where else in the US) I was pleased to say that the game lived up to my expectations. I spent the first night playing about 5 hours hot seat and then the next day trying out a campaign after about 6 hours I was able to finish the first part of the campaign after exploring the whole map. The only thing's that is not pleasing is the combat screen where you hobble around like little stick figures (2D) and it takes you for ever to move across the field of battle that's only a couple inches apart. I surprises me that 3DO didn't work a little more on the graphics since they had 3 years or so since the release of the last Heroes. The game doesn't live up to the old one where a much stronger army can march into someone's castle and defeat them with little or no loose to their army. Why did 3DO change the combat in the castle's since when can a flying creature not fly over walls and attack the occupants of the castle and then fly out with out having to stand in front of the doors/walls while everyone else can attack them back i.e. none flying and creatures on foot.
Rating: 
Summary: The greatest disapointment. One step forward and two back.
Review: Well, I have played H3 again and again and again and again ... it has practically been on my computer without stop from it came and till now. And I've been waiting for Heroes 4 the last year, in my mind making up all the wonderful improvements one could make, and then comes ... this. *SIGH*OK, let me run through the new features, listing what is good (unfortunately short) and what is bad (terribly long) about the new HOMAM. I will often refer to H3, so if you do not know that game, this might not make much sense to you. To start with an end, one of the central features of H has always been the magic, and the systems have been evolving all the way through. So one of the most important features is the new magic. Unlike H3's elemental system this is based on five alignments: Order, Chaos, Life, Death and Nature. They've removed the wisdom secondary skill, and now you'll only be able to learn spells from a school if you posses the appropriate secondary skill (more on these later). This is no bad idea, and they've done a fair job on dividing the spells, here's a brief overlook (on spell-themes):
Life: Heal, bless, mirth, prayer, guardian angel and the like.
Order: Slow, magic missile, ice bolt, teleport, blind, berserk.
Chaos: Magic missile, lightning bolt, fireball, chain lightn.
Death: Curse, raise div., sorrow etc.
Nature: Summon div. (from sprite to fairy dragon!), haste.
One step back is the removal of improved effects with greater skill (that is, expert slow affecting all opp.), now mass slow is a level four spell (sigh, back to H2!). Even worse, they have removed some of the most important spells: Resurrection, dimension door, fly, water walk and town portal (yes!)! This is really catastrophic, since this was one of the only ways you could manage a difficult map at hart challenge ratings. OK, with the spell classes come a city: Life = castle, order = tower, nature = rampart, chaos = dungeon (!), death = necropolis AND inferno (more on this later!) and a no-magic town = stronghold. In every town you can build creatures up to level 4 (o my, another step back). You'll get 2 different level 1 creatures and have to choose one of two of the rest (no bad idea, though). The creatures are (listing the best known ones):
Life: Crossbowman + squire, pikeman/ballista, crusader/monk, champion/angel.
Order: Hafling + dwarf, gold golem/mage, gini/naga, dragon golem/titan.
Nature: Wolf + sprite, elf/tiger, unicorn/griffin, phoenix/fairy dragon.
Chaos: Orc + rogue, medusa/minotaur, efreet(!)/nightmare, hydra/black dragon.
Death: Imp + skeleton, cerberus/ghost, vampire/venom spawn, devil/bone dragon.
Might: Berserker + centaur, harpy/nomad, cyclops/ogre mage, behemoth/thunderbird.
In some cases (thunderbird, champion) you get 4/weak to compensate for lower strength, while the hyper potent black dragon only comes as 1/weak.
Several points are obvious. Some are less important, e.g.: Why separate efreet from devils, why not make iron golems level 1 for order (not dwarves.) etc. Some are really grave, though: Why not make the gold dragon a choice for nature (as a hyper potent alternative to the black dragons), why ...put inferno and necropolis into one!? There ought have been another evil alignment (unlife?) for the undead, with the dread knight as alternative level 4, and the power lich and alternative level 3 (both among my H3 favorites, now out of game). The inferno could have had the efreet and nightmare, have their gogs or pit lords back, and perhaps something like the Balrog (from Lord of the Rings) for level 4 (with a long-weapon fire-whip like the spear of the pikeman?). Anyway, this [doesn't work], especially because someone choosing the 'inferno' line will find himself with skeletons (undead) in his army. They ought to have realized, that they simply couldn't make three towns go into two successfully.
Another big minus about the creatures is: No creatures can be upgraded! Really, that's back to H1! That's another of the really bad features of H4; it removes a lot of the game play. About the combat system and skills. The combat system is another of the major revisions. Your hero is now actively participating in the battle - walks on the battlefield and can attack and be attacked. If your hero is killed, your troops will carry him along, and he will be resurrected in the nearest town (or sanctuary). Also, now you can have your troops exploring the map and collecting resources (but not flagging objects) without a hero. Therefore, the primary skills have been changed, so that your hero has a melee attack and defense, a ranged attack and defense, a combat speed and a combat damage. These will not rise when you gain a level, but by visiting objects and by gaining secondary skills. This all works very well, and makes the 'might' heroes (i.e. knights, archers, barbarians etc.) much more useful. Note also, that you may now have two (or more!) heroes in an army; they will just use a creature slot. The heroes shares all gained experience. Seems I've written too much, so I have to cut the review in two. See part two below.
Rating: 
Summary: Different, but that's not always bad.
Review: Heroes of Might and Magic 3 was one of my favorite games of all time. This game is not as good but it still is far above most games. New things-
Heroes can fight and customizing them is much more fun.
You choose between high lv units. adds lots of strategy
Map editor is huge and in depth Old things that are gone
No upgrades
The 2dish system, now its isometric I don't think that this game has ruined the series in the least. It could use a few more units but other then that it is nearly perfect. The campaigns are good and keep you going (one of em is really sad) and the units are more creative A+
Rating: 
Summary: Okay 3DO output a finished product
Review: I have never run a game as often as I ran Heroes 3. I have owned every version since the first and I even stuck with it through the constant expansions of Heroes 3. That stops with this version. There are many good qualities to the new version: The graphics look better
The cities look better and structures are in consistant spots
Monsters have more unique abilities like genies casting spells form a list of spells
Added unusual features in maps
Cities have a buy all button
You can send armies out without a leader
You can purchase armies from recruitment centers without troops at the recruitment site
More magic schools and more spell variety However there are huge steps backwards as well:
No random map generator
Cities produce less monster types
You must choose which type of monsters to produce at upper levels
Heroes of one type are all the same.
Game play is much slower.
The expansions out are all about the maps and campaigns not monsters and new features.
The patch from release to current version is bigger than the original program. In short they have latched on to a give them the basics, add a few map expansions, add a few feature expansions and then release the whole package. I am just waiting for the release with the map generator and all the features added. I think if we got everyone to do this they might just release a finished product to start with. I ,for one, would have rather paid $$ for all the features III shadows of death offered in IV than buying them at $$ peicemeal for two years. Now if they wanted ideas for expansions things like:
Modual monsters (add wings, xtra hp's, ranged attack)
City revolts
Chaos map that changes every turn
Many new artifacts
Castle walls must be built around each expansion (if your city is attacked non walled expansions are destroyed.
Armies that stay in place 2 turns may build a temporary citadel
Resource market purchases change going rates for resources
Monster upkeep costs Now if you put two of any of those in an expansion I might buy it. For now I'll wait till I get new features.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great addition to the Heroes series
Review: I've been hooked on HOMM since the very first one (go back and play that and you'll realize how far the series has come). HOMM 4 had a totally different feel from the third installment. Some of these new aspects are good while others make you wish they'd kept things the same as before. Having your heroes fight in combat is really cool, and even if they die you can get them back in various ways. Also, the new skills and class system adds a ton of depth to the game as you now get to chose what your hero becomes. Most of the new creatures are pretty cool (although since when is the ballista considered a "creature"). The game does seem to play a little slower than HOMM3 although you can vary the speed at which you and opposing heroes move both on the world map and in combat. I also love the addition of a caravan. No more having to have one hero be the transporter of troops back and forth. Also, the creatures in the towns grow at a more realistic rate, meaning new ones appear each day. Growth is still based on weekly totals though so if you buy all the creatures for that week no more will appear till the next week.
Lots of good stuff but there are some bad aspects. The graphics, while 3D and more realistic, seem to have lost something. I can't exactly say what but I prefered the more fantasy looking creatures of HOMM 3. The new magic and class system can be confusing at first even to veterans of HOMM. Castle seiges have also been taken down a notch in HOMM4. There are no arrow towers, catapults, etc in seige battles. There are still walls, the drawbridge, and a moat and the defenders' ranged troops occupy perches inside the castle to give them an advantage but to me seige battles have lost something in this edition. Also, during combat it can sometimes be hard to tell who you're attacking. I know I've meant to attack one creature stack and ended up just flying next to them or hitting a completely different set of enemies. There is no multiplayer yet (it says it will be added for FREE, however) but this really doesn't effect me since I prefer to play alone or just have hotseat games w/ my friends. All in all, HOMM4 is a welcome, albeit somewhat flawed, edition to the Heroes series. A must buy for Heroes fans craving new adventures!
Rating:
Summary: Good game, but could have used a little polishing.
Review: After HOMM3 set some very high expectations for me, I was equally hopefull that HOMM4 would surpass those. Sadly, it does not. When it comes down to graphics, I think to myself, what's better? Well animated 2D (HOMM3), or poorly animated 3D (HOMM4). I am not at all impressed with the graphics. They aren't an eyesore, but I would have rather seen improved animation and drawing from HOMM3, than the 3D graphics. The towns and castles don't have quite the same style as the ones in HOMM3, maybe once again due to the switch to 3D. If you are a die hard 3D fan, the graphics might be right up your alley. However, if you like 2D, I think you might be a bit disappointed with the switch. Gameplay is really what matters, and this is where the game does show its strength. Everything is really balanced, and gameplay is smooth, especially with the added features. Now your heroes are actually a force to be reckoned with, since they can actually play a part in the battles. Another feature that is quite useful is the ability to split creatures in your army, to their own. This frees them up to scout, pick up treasure, and do other useful things for your hero. Skills and magic has been updated and refined, making your hero all that much more unique. Overall, HOMM4 is an excellent turn-based strategy game, but the graphics are a bit dated, and that brings down the package, IMHO.
Rating:
Summary: heroes 3 much better
Review: in this version all the creatures and heroes looks like little gi joe action figures. so i think graphically this new version much worse that version 3. but gameplay, new skills and such things are better.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth your time
Review: This isn't worth your time. The First Heroes games were excellent. I spent about 2 month playing H3. But the fourth game is disappointing, it has several innovations, that make the game worse. The Heroes 3 game is older, but much better.
Rating:
Summary: heroes 3 much better
Review: in this version homm, all the creatures and heroes looks like little gi joe action figures so i don't like its graphics. but there are many improvements and additions to gameplay. you can fight with your hero! new skills, spells, artifacts and abilities added too.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I was/am a huge fan of the Heroes series. Was actively involved in the forums and the fan base. Even have a Hero in this game named after my on-line persona. Couldn't like this game, moved so slow and lost the charm of the previous versions. It's a shame, hopefully Ubisoft can revive the magic in Heroes 5.......
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