Heroes of Might and Magic 4

Rating:
Summary: a let down
Review: I recently purchased hommIV and although it has some great new features such as allowing the hero to take part in combat and the new magic system, still it's a bit of let down. I can only wonder why there was no random map generator included. That great feature of homm III kept that game playing in my household years after all the campaigns had been played and replayed, since the random map generator allowed my kids and me, or their friends to be on teams and take on the computer generator teams. The lack of a random map generator greatly diminishes the long term play value of homm IV. I can only hope that the producers will include a random map generator in one of the patches or updates. Also the return to mandatory operatic music - of a bombastic type at that - is really unfanthonable. Why the producers sought to resurrect this feature from the earlier games is a little unclear.
Although I would probably still buy the game - I was a little disappointed in it - hopefully the random map generator issue can be resolved in future updates

Rating:
Summary: Heroes 4
Review: I only got into the Heroes craze when Heroes 3 came out because I was deprived and didn't have a computer till about a couple of years ago. I loved Heroes 3 a lot. I mean, we're talking no sleep a lot. The multiplayer was fun, the campaigns were fun and challenging...overall it was a great game. I was incredibly excited for Heroes 4 and I have to say, I'm not disappointed at all. It's exactly what I expected it to be and I really like the changes that they made. Actually, I'm sorta surprised at what some people think of the game because to me everything that was done to the game made it a different and enjoyable experience. I think the idea of making the heroes more important is excellent and doing the "one or the other" thing with the creatures is an effective idea as well. I find the campaigns to be a lot more engaging this time around and I really got into the story when playing through them (that jerk Worton...). I will say one thing, though, that is the worst possible thing that could've happened to this game. No Multiplayer! It's the one thing (to me) that keeps it from being 5 stars at this point. I think as soon as the patch comes out (whenever that may be) this game will be what keeps my senioritis thriving :-). Heroes 4 will definately replace Heroes 3 as the game that gets me 3 hours of sleep a night. All in all, I think that Heroes is a worthy successor to Heroes 3 and will draw many people in and not let them escape for a long time.

Rating:
Summary: The best Heroes yet!
Review: This is the best Heroes game ever! I have been an avid Heroes fan since Heroes 1, and this is the best game in the series.

There are several reasons for the excellence of this game. First, the 3D graphics are great. The game is now much more realistic, and fluid, especially the combat. Another great new aspect is that the heroes now fight, which makes the game much more interesting. Also, the heroes are much more customizable, with new skills. Yet another good thing is that there are new creatures, and all of the creatures are much more detailed in their abilities. The campaigns are awesome. Also, the new magic and construction systems are much more complex and dynamic. Finally, the interface is much like the old one, and is easy to learn.

There are many things about this game that may seem bad, but are good. For one thing, the landscape at first seems a bit cluttered, but this is necessary for the interestingness of the game, and the player will quickly learn what each image signifies. Another thing is that the player must now choose between creatures. This at first seems bad, but the player is actually given more choice, while the traditional seven-creature army is maintained. The biggest problems with this game is that you can no longer upgrade, and the fact that many creatures were thrown out, but this does not subtract too much from game play. The new features, such as the caravan and seminary, more than make up for these minor things.

An interesting thins about Heroes 4 is that it is very different from Heroes 3. Unlike the last game, I think that Heroes 3 can be played as a game completely separate from Heroes 4, and will probably still be fun. However, Heroes of Might and Magic 4 is still the best game in the series. Its good graphics and complexity make it extremely fun!

Rating:
Summary: Eats up time just like the others
Review: 3DO has published yet another time machine in HOMM4 -- start playing at 9pm and the next thing you know it's 3am.

HOMM4 is a worthy additon to the Heroes series in that all the things that made the previous games so great are still there, but there are some problems that are going to have to be resolved soon by 3DO.

Combat is fun now that your heroes can take part, but where on earth is the combat grid? I can't explain how annoying it is to not know exactly where your troops will end up. Also, the attack/move interface is sketchy to say the least -- I've lost countless troops by trying to shoot the enemy but instead ending up wandering over and standing beside them.

The new graphics and sound are good, although part of me still prefers the older graphics from HOMM2 & 3 -- I loved those golden crusaders... The adventure screen interface is too small though, which results in jerky movement when exploring the map. The new sound (both music and FX) is very well done, but there is a lot of skipping and repeating. I've had to switch off the music option due to the score getting stuck like a scratched 45 and you may go crazy when the FX start to loop.

Final complaint: HOMM4 starts to slow down after a couple of hours play and I have had to reboot my computer after quitting every time -- other programs just wouldn't load or were slower than an 84 year old driving a Yugo. This happens even though my computer passes all the technical requirements for the game.

Despite all of the above, HOMM4 is addictive and a blast to play. Many of the reasons gamers loved the previous Heroes games are there and a few things (such as caravans and the MUCH improved creature generation) really add to the value of the game. The campaigns appear to be huge (still playing the first one after 20 hours) and the creature features and updated heroes skill list are fine additions. In all honesty, the sound and slowdown issues probably mean that HOMM4 deserves 3 stars, not 4, but the sheer amount of gameplay offsets some of those downsides. I recommend picking it up, but I'm hoping that a patch is on the way soon to resolve the sound issues -- if 3DO is going to spend time developing a quality score, I'd like to hear it while I'm playing. Also, can we have the crusaders from HOMM2 back, please? :-)

Rating:
Summary: Why?
Review: A perfect example of the folly of fixing that which isn't broken. 3DO has managed to make one of my favorite games a major let down. If you liked Heroes 2 & 3 (true improvements over #1), this is likely to disappoint you. Annimations are poor, important arrtibutes are hidden in screens way too cluttered in "decoration," and the new magic system is just plain poor. This (I'd guess) ill conceived attempt to move to a more AD&D like format is breaking the strength of previous versions - simplicity and non-conformity. You'll be better off spending your money on something else.

Rating:
Summary: A Step Foward.. then a Step Backwards
Review: Heroes 4 Does have many wonderful improvements that makes it more complex and in sum, more compelling than S3, but there are these little problems in the game that Heroes 3 didn't have. I don't understand why 3do chose to take away certain elements of Heroes 3 that were already perfect.

Steps Foward:
*I have to give it to the creators to add the "Heroes in Combat" function. This makes the combination of your armies a lot more complex. 3 Heroes with 3 monsters.. or An army of 6 heroes in all.. You choose!! And Each Hero can be specialized in his her own way..

*Skills- Each hero can have 5 major skills and 15 minor skills.. That's a whopping 20 total skills. That makes the heroes unique enough, huh?

*New Monsters!! - Need I say more?

*New Spells!! -Need I say more?

*Potions give a nice little addition to the game. Allows for more dynamics during battle.

*Monsters are a bit more complex in Heroes 4. Many of them have more skills.. and more specialties... Mages can cast different spells.. and there are choices to what type of monsters your town produces.

*Monsters are generated in each town per turn instead of per week.. makes more sense this way.

Steps Backwards:
* Like some other posters.. I don't understand why they don't tell you how much experience you get after each better.. makes it hard to keep track of the levels of your heroes.

*Heroes no longer have their own little specialization. So for example, it doesn't matter whether you start out with a priest named bob or a priest named Rob.. there's no difference. Remember, in Heroes 3, every hero had a special skill?

* Um.. graphics seem to be worse in some cases.. better in others.. yes.. 3d graphics.. but still worse in some cases (combat).

*Combat is worse. We need the squares!!! It's so hard to calculate the number of steps your units can move without some square indication. And the graphics are worse... Combat was a lot better in Heroes 3.

*I just like the monsters in Heroes 3 more.. they looked nicer....... maybe they need a new graphic designer.
* No upgrades for Monsters... arggghh.. why are there no upgrades for monsters?

Rating:
Summary: An Unfortunate disappointment
Review: We purchased a copy of Disciples 2 a while back hoping to stave off the Heroes addiction just a few more weeks until we could get a "fix" of the real thing when HoMM4 was released. When Heroes finally was in our posession I wasted no time in installing it and starting what I thought was going to be a series of days, weeks or possibly even months of "just one more turn". My wife and I found that we were immediatly dissapointed with the changes that had been made in HoMM4.

The graphics while more detailed had become cartoonish. The main interface took up way to much real estate on my screen, even after setting it to it's highest resolution. The interface also requires to much hunting and searching for information that should be "at your fingertips". You shouldn't have to exit the battle and go through 2 other actions to see how much experience you just gained, it should be right there on the battle summary screen. You shouldn't have to go to another screen to see how many experience points you have and how close you are to leveling up.

None of these are major problems with the game, but there are just too many of this little anoyances. When taken all together they add up to one disappointing gaming experience.

My wife and I have found ourselves no longer playing HoMM4. We have returned to playing Disciples 2(No it's not perfect either but it is good).

For sale: One very slightly used copy of Heroes of Might and Magic 4

Rating:
Summary: A whole lot of grapical garbage
Review: ...I sure don't think it is the greatest game ever.

The heroes and creatures (especially the portraits) don't look near as good as they used to. In Heroes IV, the Griffins look like vultures, the Thunderbirds look like pterodactyls, and Behemoths look like refugees from the Planet of the Apes. The Archangels and Titans don't look nearly as menacing as they used to, and the "talking head" Elementals are just goofy. The Dragons, Hydras, and infantry-types are OK, and the Devils look good, but the only clear improvement is the Vampire. I never liked the switch to the "Nosferatu" style. the Bela Lugosi look is much better.

The hero portraits are downright awful! They are small and flat compared to the Heroes III portraits. The castle graphics are small and generic and a fully built up castle looks like a random pile of buildings, nothing that looks like it really belongs together like the Heroes III castles did.

The adventure map is covered with graphic junk, everything brightly colored, moving, and making noise, so nothing stands out. The battle screen is probably worse with all the miscellaneous trees, rocks, bones, brush, and other garbage. Every stack has a number over their head and when you attack, damage and death numbers with little symbols appear and just kinda float around for a while. The message lines at the bottom of the battle screen in Heroes III was MUCH better. There is just too much visual litter for your army to really stand out.

(And where they will actually end up when you send them out to attack is anyone's guess because they left out the battle grid and indicators from Heroes III.)

And then there's the interface itself. What a giant step backward that is! Looks like something from the 80's! The Heroes III interface was clean and simple, all the icons compactly lined up on the left, easily playable at 800X600. No more. Now you get about half a screen to look at the world through at 800X600. The new interface is a big glop of graphic gibberish that takes up the rest. Like they went out of their way to make as bad a use of screen space as they could. I play at 1024X768 and even then there is a lot of space wasted in the interface. Every control and icon is oversized and surrounded by empty space! The interface is OK at 1280X1024 but the heroes and creatures get really tiny...

It just makes me mad that they took a game that looked and played as good as Heroes III and twisted it into this monster. Heroes III had a charm to it. The new one is cold, lifeless, and mechanical. They could have added the new features of Heroes IV and kept the look! What a waste.

Rating:
Summary: New graphics = More Gameplay
Review: I played HOMM 2 and 3. This one looks like it builds upon those with the addition of new and snazzy graphics. Not that this is a bad thing. I will fully support a game that I have enjoyed previously if they have upgraded the graphics while keeping the gameplay the same. I would go and buy this game ...

Rating:
Summary: Almost got it right, but not quite
Review: HOMM IV almost got there. Almost. And in not getting there, it very nearly falls completely flat. The Heroes franchise has built up quite a following, and rightfully so, it's a good series of games. However, with each new edition, up go our expectations. Heroes of Might and Magic IV is what HOMM III should have been. Let's start with what I liked:

- Character development. Excellent job. It's fun, and the heroes don't all become identical by the end-game. Plus I really enjoy actually using them in combat. I cannot believe they didn't incorporate this in HOMM III.
- I like the fog of war. Cool addition, though it's a mistake to make it mandatory (you can't turn it off if you don't like it) as some won't like it.
- The music ain't bad, I kinda like the operatic stuff.
- Nice new spells, and schools of magic. Well done, forcing each race to use it's strengths independently; you can't use the same strategies across races.
- Quick combat (calculations, doesn't even go to the combat screen) is rather nice

Now on to the litany, some minor, some less so, of complaints. I respect that some would say I'm nit-picking, however, they really seemed to drop the ball on a lot of these:

- no multiplayer! It took me forever to find the Hotseat function which is hidden under SINGLE PLAYER!!! Was this interface designed by children? This angered me so much I nearly took it back. There are repeated interface issues: clumsy, poorly designed, that still irk me, long after I've gotten used to their idiosyncrasies.
- Does not show you your experience after a battle, and there is no exp bar that "fills up" as you close in on your next level. You need to right click. This is a minor complaint, but gets really annoying
- Several times I've noticed that my kingdom gold income is incorrectly calculated. A simple arithmetic error? Also maddening.
- You get no reminder of having visited shrines/temples/sites by right clicking as you did in the other games (this may actually require the "scouting" branch of skills, so I may have to rescind this complaint!)
- WHERE IS THE COMBAT GRID??? The new combat is AWFUL. It is impossible to see who is going, where they're going (one accidental click and they're off...), the range of units, the animations are 1995 (HOMM III actually looks better). They better get a patch out soon....
- There is no combat log. You have no idea what the enemy is doing, unless you want to tediously right-click all your troops or you've memorized each and every spell graphic and sound
- Overall graphics are poor. The adventure map looks cluttered and awkward, the combat map is downright horrible. A shrub with no foliage will block an archer, a tiny log prevents a titan from moving. ARG! Can't tell you how it boils my blood to have my pieces walk three turns around something that doesn't even register to me... And don't try autobattle. All your archers will charge the enemy. Um, excuse me? What the hell? I'd bought disciples II to tide me over until HOMM's release, got bored of it quickly, but now its artistic graphics and stylized yet FUNCTIONAL combat is drawing me back...
- NO RANDOM MAP GENERATOR! That was the value of HOMM over Disciples II.
- And it locks up on exit for me. Not a terribly stable game.

OK. I've bitched quite a bit. This is still the HOMM that you've all played and loved. It's not bad, it's just a disappointment. And definitely not as different as some would have you believe. I still recommend going out and getting it... What can I say? I'm hooked.

M Price