Heroes of Might and Magic V Reviews
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Nival Interactive steps in to take on developing the almost legendary Heroes of Might and Magic franchise. Aside from the graphics change, a slight scaling back in factions, and a 3D map, the new developers stick pretty close to the HOMM formula. There is still extensive overworld/underworld exploration to be done, with random creatures and treasure everywhere. Heroes gain experience, cast huge spells, and recruit armies from the six unique factions. The heart of the HOMM is alive here, and brings with it the feeling that compels players to get in at least one more turn. But, while the gameplay is solid, with a well-balanced combat mode, there is very little that makes it truly unique from its predecessors. Long-time fans might be disappointed with the lack of campaign editor (which is promised to comes later) and random map generator.
The second is at Cheat Code Central with an overall score of 3.3/5:
Graphically this version of M&M is the best one so far, and hopefully it won't be the last. The scenes are in glorious 3D, full of life, color and imagination. They are certain to attract the attention of newbies which this series badly needs if it's to survive. The music is rich, with lavish orchestral movements that set the perfect tone. The voiceacting however, is not so good. It's exceptionally bad in places. Even the text suffers from overt ornamentation that makes it difficult to understand, unless I'm just stupid.
The third is at G4 with an overall score of 3/5:
Good looks and tactical high jinks aside, it's tough to recommend HoMM5 with a mere ten skirmish maps, no map editor (for shame!), and a barrel of bugs, e.g. random desktop crashes, missions that "break" if you perform certain tasks out of order, heroes that attack through castle walls, incorrect initiative bar tallies in battle, etc. Yes, there's online multiplayer, but forget it that's a wobbly fickle mess all its own you don't want a piece of, as in lots of thanks-but-no-thanks connection de-syncing (though possibly due to Gamespy itself and not HoMM5). If you're new to the series or get weak-kneed when a game does something it shouldn't, best wait a month or two to see if the developer can patch things up to par. Franchise fanatics? You might enjoy the solo game.if you don't mind holding your nose to block that funky "released too soon" smell.
And the fourth is at Gameplay Monthly with an overall score of 8.0/10:
Heroes 5 does have a slight role playing element to it because of building and carrying heroes from 1 scenario to the next. This is done fairly well, though I think that items should carry from 1 scenario to the next (NOT troops though, because otherwise someone could sit on the first scenario for 8 hours building up an army, making the rest of that campaign pointless to play). Some of the items in this game don't make sense though, such as a 4 leaf clover taking up your shield slot, or a bag of gold taking up the head spot. What happened to the 4 "use" item slots? This makes a lot of the simple items that used to add up, such as the +1 luck items, completely useless now that it takes up a shield or head spot.
