For example, the demonic succubi are unique in that they can perform retaliatory strikes against units using ranged attacks against them the Academy faction’s Gremlins can repair siege machinery, such as ballista and catapults, and Sylvan Treants entangle units with immobilising roots. having some melee specialists, spell casters or ranged combat abilities), there are subtle differences between the units of each faction, which can be exploited. Whilst the units of each faction are roughly equivalent in terms of damage potential and combat abilities (i.e. Shifting the focus of the game’s narrative from one faction to another also helps keep things fresh and allows you to adopt new tactics according to the strengths of your units. The game builds on the experience you get through playing the game, ramping up the difficulty level to ensure that it provides a challenge. That’s a heck of a lot of game…Įven better, there’s a consistent level of quality to go with the quantity. So with 30 missions in the single-player campaigns, averaging around four hours each to complete, you’re looking at well over 100 hours’ worth of gameplay for your money and that’s before you even factor in the extensive multiplayer options and the standalone single scenario missions. The latter episodes in the campaigns are much more epic affairs, taking place on larger maps, with subterranean dungeons thrown in for good measure, which may take anything up to eight hours to conquer. Pace is varied nicely throughout the campaigns, with the first couple of missions typically focussing on combat rather than town management and lasting only a couple of hours. Also be prepared for a couple of breaks from fantasy convention with the portrayal of some of the main characters – the rebellious Demon Lord Agrael being one of my favourites. I won’t go into the storyline for fear of spoilers, but rest assured that the narrative holds together nicely throughout the whole campaign and that the standard of characterisation for the campaign protagonists is pleasingly high. Each campaign follows the travails of one of the six factions in the game world, starting out with the Haven faction (a nation where the leaders are heroic Knights) and concluding with the Academy faction (a magical meritocracy, where the most powerful wizards rule). The individual stories of each campaign link together to form a greater whole, with the conclusion of each campaign forming the starting point of the next (in terms of narrative). The single-player game is comprised of thirty missions in six separate campaigns of five missions each. If you’re a veteran of the Heroes of Might and Magic series, the structure of the game should hold few surprises. If forced to pick nits, some of the voice work perhaps lacks a little conviction and timing, plus you will find the odd misspelling in the subtitles if you look hard enough but these are very minor aberrations and won’t impact at all on your enjoyment of the game. In fact, it’s hard to fault the presentation at all, as the sound effects and musical score are also excellent. It’s hard enough creating a turn-based strategy with enough depth to satisfy the average fantasy geek now they have to make them slick and sexy, too? It sounds like a tall order, yet Heroes of Might and Magic V makes it all look so easy, you can’t help but think, why did we ever put up with all those graphically hideous fantasy games in the first place?Īs you can see from the screenshots, Heroes of Might and Magic V is graphically light years ahead of everything else in the turn-based genre and is easily on a par with the best looking real-time strategy games, such as Dawn of War. Since Peter Jackson came along with his visually spectacular recreations of Tolkien’s books, there’s been a readjustment of attitude: now high fantasy can be sexy, too – and this must have worried a few games developers. Until the film adaptations of the Lord of the Rings films came out, most fantasy game enthusiasts were content to put up with substandard graphics and presentation, just so long as the games had depth and character. Fantasy videogame developers must want to shoot Peter Jackson.
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