Ubisoft Keeps The Heroes Flag Flying

An Old Favourite

Waaay back in 1996 when I was finally saying a tearful goodbye to my trusty and much loved Amiga 1200 and reluctantly facing reality with the purchase of a spanking new PC, one of the first games I encountered on the new platform was Heroes of Might and Magic II. Here we had an innovative game which combined a rich fantasy world of swords and sorcery with the addictive gameplay power of turn-based strategy. I fell in love with HOMM2, downloading hundreds of player designed maps and spending far too many hours of my life riding my little heroes around on miniatre steeds over the glorious 2D landscape. Even after seemingly exhausting all the possibilities and drifting on to something else, HOMM2 was always coming back into my personal vogue every few months as I rediscovered my taste for this classic computer game and pined for further conquest.

Over the years 3D0 kept the home fires burning with the release of a few more games and expansion packs in the series, all of which I enjoyed a great deal, while perhaps never rediscovering the magic I experienced in my first forays into the lands the heroes call home.

A tantalising new installment in the Heroes stable was something I became accustomed to being able to look forward to every few years, so when the dreadful news hit PC gaming websites that 3D0 had filed for bankruptcy I was deeply saddened. That was, of course, until I heard that one of the companies I trust most, Ubisoft, creators of such favourites as Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six, had picked up the rights to produce further games in my adored heroes franchise and promptly announced the development of Heroes of Might and Magic V


The Game

For those unfamiliar with the series, the game action takes place on any of an assortment of maps which feature a wide array of different cities, raw materials, people and creatures, treasure and miscellaneous locations. Depending on the rules set down for each map, the player starts with a certain number of towns and heroes (most often one of each). The hero becomes the general of your army with the combat ability of troops influenced by different statistics and experience levels of the hero. Your city may be significantly improved with a variety of structures built (varying for each type of city) which confer new benefits or allow the recruitment of new and better types of troops with which to populate your armies or garrison the city. As you explore the map, gather resources and gold and your hero becomes more powerful, you are able to capture new towns and build them up too. Soon before you know it you control numerous cities around the world map, complete with several heroes all commanding mighty armies of weird and wonderful creatures. Maps have different victory conditions set, such as total conquest, the capture of a specific city, or the creation of a specific building or unit.

As with the other HOMM games, this fifth entry is all turn based strategy, with the addition of full 3D isometric environments. I have always been a vocal critic of 3D for the sake of it, but this feels logical and sensible, doesn't change the core gameplay in any way and actually makes it easier to get a feel of where you are headed as you meander around the map.

While the game holds true to the feel and spirit of its predecessors there are some significant changes, almost as if Ubisoft was planning its own knockoff game before it managed to secure the rights to the actual title. The basic set of six different town types on show here are a little different than what fans of the series will be used to. Some more generic options like "Sylvan" (elves),
Dungeon (monsters)and Inferno (demon/devils) have appeared with the same basic feel as the older type towns, but clearly being very much new interpretations. The same can be said for the skills and spells featured within the game and magic in general. Hero skills are now divided into normal skills available to all heroes as well as special racial ones unique to their specific race. As much as people have criticised the previous game, Heroes IV as a weak entry in the series, I did find myself missing the highly customisable paths available to your heroes which saw specific combinations of skills make big changes to the overall bearing and ability of your general and how armies under his command functioned. As neat of an idea as racial skills are, I think I'd give them back in the beating of a gnats wing to look at a skill system more like the old one, although this isn't a huge gripe.

Gameplay is overall very true to the series. The player can choose either a campaign mode with maps being progressed through to an end goal, or individual one-off play of specific maps and differing degrees of difficulty. A multiplayer option also exists, although the original release of the game saw this mode almost unplayable so patching is an absolute must.


The Technical Stuff

Graphically, HOMM5 leaves its predecessors in the dust. The new perspective, as I already commented, looks fantastic and suits the game down to the ground. There are a few things I feel are pointless bloat, such as animated 3d fight sequences, which really don't have a place in strategy games, but fortunately Ubisoft haven't fallen into the trap of thinking "Hey, we have updated the graphics... let's update the gameplay too". The way PC games are going, I am sure it is only a matter of time until player dexterity with the mouse has an impact on the outcome of a HOMM fight, something that shoudln't even be on the same planet as the strategy genre - but hey, I thought it was utterly wrong in RPG's too and now look at the procession of action RPGs on the market.

As with the other games in the series, sound is rather nice, mainly consisting of spot effects as you interact with different map features or the sounds made by the specific units.

System requirements to run the game aren't too steep, although if you are using a somewhat dated video card or skimping on the memory the scrolling can be a little on the jerky side as you drag around the map.


Overall

Ubisoft have done a decent job picking up the torch and carrying on where 3D0 were forced to leave off - and for that I am grateful. Heroes of Might and Magic 5 is a worthy first shot for them, but in my opinion shows some design priorities that if not kept in check could damage the feel of the classic system we have enjoyed for so long. As long as Ubisoft learns from this and doesn't try to get too clever with future releases, the series is in good hands. I like some of the changes and improvements, but in many cases I feel they were change for the sake of it. Often the freshness and originality of the series hints at giving way to cookie-cutter fantasy stock, a fate that the developers would be best to avoid. Improved graphics and a revamp with the same basic spirit are one thing, but when playability is neglected for the sake of changes it is quite another. Fortunately for gamers, Ubi skates the fine line between desecration of a beloved favourite and respectful re-imagining and just managed to fall on the right side.

3.5 Stars out of 5