Rating: 
Summary: This game is ruined what previous versions achieved
Review: This game is a joke. I was a big fun of HMM series since I've seen HMM-1. But this game had ruined everything. First of all it has memory leak and all I could get from tech support was "we know it". So much advertised new spells won't give you much. Your hero is locked to ONE magic school (because of the skill system). Well, I'm done with hmm-4 it is already on the shelf and even memory leak patch will not change anything. Even my wife (she's even bigger fun of HMM) had admitted that this game is BORING ! That's worst definition for game. So if you want to play HMM stick with HMM-2 or HMM-3 with additions.
This product (I can't name it game) is not worth your money !
Rating: 
Summary: What can be said that has not already?
Review: I respect the design team of HOMM4 for what they tried to give us. We the gamer have asked them to give us heroes that actually partake in combat, new and interesting spells, and a new take on game play. And they gave this to us.
But where the team failed was in the true charm of HOMM4. All of us who have played the past games know the pure joy of having a massive stack of fully upgraded Black Dragons cook a entire wild army with glee. And many of us can fondly remember that late game moment when those Grand Elves joined our army, giving us 450 very useful warriors. These feature are lacking completly or are pared down in this game.
Other aspect have also seen a..."change." The graphics of HOMM4 are much more pastel and garish than even HOMM2. They also lack the sharp lines and contrast of HOMM3. Worse, creatures no longer have an immpressive apperance. Behemouths(one of my favorites from 3) look like oversized moles. Thunderbirds look like pastries. As an added slap to our collective faces, there are now only 4 levels of creatures, meaning that while the 4th level is indeed powerful, it doesn't carry the same weight of the top level creatures of 2 and 3. I understand that the makers are trying to really differentiate the creature types but even though a HOMM3 Minatuar was basically the same as a Orge Mage, they were different enough that having one or the other mattered. I liked more creatures!
Yes, the new heroes are truly immpressive. Yes they add a new level of play. But they are not the world shattering move to a new era that I personally hoped for. While playing campaign heroes are really a liability. I would skirt around even the small stacks of Medusa's and such because 1 shot may kill the hero in my army, thereby ending the scenerio. And fopr all their power, they took up an important opening in my army, one I would have liked to fill with a stack but couldn't because I needed to level up my hero.
At first, the ability to send out armies of only creatures(no heroes in it) seemed very important. But once I found that they could flag nothing and were easily ambushed, I would have a hero in every army. It seemes logical that a miller would be just as willing to give his gold to a army of beholders as some hero. In the end, I usually used "charmed" or "Diplomized" soldiers as fodder to find out just how strong an army really was.
I could go on and on about problems. But I don't need to because my fellow reviewers will. Read their's too and note those written about system problems and lack of features. But in the end, if you really want to be told whether to buy this game or not...Save the money for a game that you know is good, and not one that may be.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: HOMM4 is not a bad game but it is a bad update. It is not very different from HOMM3, the only real difference is that you can use multiple heroes in one army and they actually do melee combat in battles. Not that doing combat is any great advantage, the hero is a single creature and doesn't last long against a large group of opponents. Other changes in the game seem to be there just so they have changes in the game. The changes don't improve game play and HOMM4 isn't really an improvement or more exciting or have better graphics. Still a good game, but if you have HOMM3 buying HOMM4 is a waste of money.As mentioned elsewhere the AI is poor and the game has a serious memory leak. A patch should fix the memory leak but I doubt one will improve the AI. The AI wouldn't matter so much if you could play against human opponents but the multiplayer feature is not active, to be added later. Another sign that they rushed this to market with making money as their only concern, quality not considered.
Rating: 
Summary: as a first time player of the series...
Review: I have been shopping for a game for the last several months to fill the void that the Baldurs Gate series left in me after I finished it. After much searching, I narrowed down my choices, and bought Heroes IV. I have not been dissapointed. To a newb strategy player, the interface and tutorial are excellent, and provide ample amount of time for you to learn how to play, my hat goes off to NWC for making a game that can has a great "right click" interface (meaning that almost anything can be right clicked and a description will pop up of the object)
The graphics seem good from my point of view, although they are not as highly animated or dark as Disciples II.
I found the sound excellent, but choppy at times, it fit the mood of the game, and for the most part was not overly annoying.
Again I am new to this genre, as RPG's are more my forte, but it seemed easy to battle with enemies, and the battle scenes are well animated, and easy to follow and even include a "auto combat" feature for those who want to sit back and enjoy the action.
Although I have read reviews on the games waning difficulty, that can differ from person to person, and a veteran strategy gamer may find the games AI easy, i found it challenging at some points, and not so much at others, which seems like a fair balance.
The game is a RAM hog though, and I have needed to restart my computer to run my other programs, though I have never really minded doing this, and again this is personal preference as to whether that bothers you or not.
Though Heroes IV may have been released a little prematurely, with some bugs presenting themselves here and there, 3DO seems faithful with their patches, so we need not worry about the multiplayer issue or these bugs for long.
Overall, I am happy with my purchase, and time seems to fly when I am playing. The game gets 4 starts because of great game play, and the ability to keep you at the screen and want more even after you have quit for the night, but until patches and multiplay become available, that last star wont be filled.
Heroes IV, is a def time filler until Morrowind and Neverwinter Nights come out, and even then it will be competitng for my screen time. For anyone wondering whether to buy the game, I hope my review does help you.
Rating:
Summary: What a Joke
Review: I've been a DIE HARD HoMM fan since day one. I have them all. I even bought Complete, when I already had Blade AND Shadow! This is how much money I've invested into this series. Needless to say, 4 was THE BIGGEST LET DOWN SINCE FINDING OUT SANTA WAS FAKE! Where's my random map generator!?! Where's my tile grid for combat!?! Where's my specialties on my Heroes!?! THAT is what you call a Campaign Editor!?! Where's this so called IMPROVED AI!?! 3do you have struck out in every way. The graphics aren't even that damn great! WASTE OF MONEY! WASTE OF TIME! Do yourself a favor, and save that {$$$]. This game isn't worth the shrinkwrap it came in.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely fun and entertaining, although...
Review: This is by all means a great accomplishment of 3DO and New World Computing. They seem to improve with every new software title. Heroes 4 is at the top of the list. It has great music, improved graphics and new and innovative gameplay.
Although, there are some minor flaws that should be addressed.
Many players enjoyed the upgrading of creatures (i didn't mind the change though)
Some of the creature artwork, I think, should be changed. For example, the [villian] looks a little odd (not the [usual villan])
This game may require a high-end computer (i have a p4 1.5 ghz with 256 MB of RAM and i think i may need more RAM to run it faster)
Even with these minor flaws i would still recommend this game to the seasoned Heroes veteran or to the casual video game buyer.
Rating: 
Summary: Abomination
Review: For years I've preferred games distributed by 3DO, largely
because they were so well programmed. HOMM4 is very poorly
programmed. It runs slow right off the bat, and quickly and
steadily slows down until it locks up the system, requiring
a cold reboot. It's a serious memory leak. I've run into
numerous other bugs as well, such as the weapons shops
suddenly ceasing to work, inventory items vanishing, etc.
The AI is also poor, making the game much too easy to win,
even at high difficulty levels. This is a sad end to what had
been arguably the greatest game series.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful.
Review: I started off less than impressed and slowly I've grown very fond of it.
I've played HOMM I, II, and III, and IMHO, this is the best one. It is chalk full of subtleties.
I do miss the combat grid.
I'm very impressed with how balanced it is too.
I love the campaigns so far. Very big and challenging without being boring.
The new spells are fun. In previous versions, you would develop a pattern and stick to it. I've used two completely different spell strategies in two campaigns and both are interesting and fun.
I love the character skill development. Offers interesting choices and radically different combat strategies depending on the skills chosen.
I'm very happy with it.
Rating:
Summary: Beware the brain-dead AI...
Review: Since none of the other reviews mentioned the AI, I'll limit myself to discussing that. Other people have talked about the gameplay changes (mostly good, some bad, others will work well IF they can patch the game), so you can read those reviews if you want that kind of info. The AI in H4 is...hopeless. It will send weak heroes with weak armies straight into the teeth of tough wandering stacks (or within ambush distance) over and over again (you will often see mass graves of AI heroes within the ambush radius of one such stack-I once saw SEVEN). Heroes are not optimized for level advancement; while you are carefully honing your guys into Grandmasters in one discipline, the heroes of the AI will be stuck in Basic and Advanced in a mishmash of several different unrelated skills (so that they can't cast high level spells, for example, or get a GM level StealthyScout who can harass you indefinitely). The main armies of the AI are curiously timid: they will chicken out of attacking your armies even if your forces are greatly outclassed, and rarely will send its main force out into your territory on a relentless campaign of conquest. The AI doesn't put a priority on defeating wandering stacks and getting the mines and treasure they are often guarding. This means that the AIs are doubly-weakened: fewer wandering stacks killed means less experience for heroes as well as less gold and resources for buying creatures and fewer magic items. Eventually the AI just 'gives up' and sits in its home castle waiting for you to come along and kill it. This makes the game an incredibly boring non-challenge. A potential prince of a game, Heroes of Might and Magic IV currently resembles a rather warty toad, and, given the recent layoffs and resignations at NWC, the AI is highly unlikely to get these problems addressed in a patch. Caveat Emptor.
Rating:
Summary: Great Game!
Review: This is the best game that I have in the last couple of years! The graphic is great, the gameplay is great but best of all, the music is great. Buy the game!
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