Heroes of Might and Magic

Heroes of Might and Magic is a series of turn-based strategy games, originally created as a spin off to Might and Magic, with various publishers. There are currently 5 full versions of the game, each version having between 1 and 3 expansion packs. Various bundles, with combinations of some of the games, have also been released. There is also a web-based "heroes mini" for Heroes of Might and Magic V.

Heroes of Might and Magic is most popular in Russia, and is relatively unknown in USA and western countries. The designers for HOMM V were Russian and it was then translated into other languages, including English.

Description

Heroes of Might and Magic is based in a fantasy world, which, initially at least, was based on the Might and Magic universe (each edition of HOMM has been based on a slightly different universe). The creatures used are based on various myths and legends, and include elves, dwarves, fairies, giants, trolls and various types of dragons, all led in medieval style combat, with a "hero" who leads them into battle. For HOMM 4 the hero could fight and be killed, while in all other variations the hero was separate from the rest.

A player will start with, depending on the difficulty setting, an amount of Gold, Wood, Ore, Gems, Sulphur, Crystal and Mercury, in addition to (usually) a small amount of troops (except for special scenarios and campaigns), a castle (usually - although sometimes you get none - or more than one) and a hero (usually just 1, though sometimes you get many, or none).

The player will then build in their castle, once per day, using Gold + whatever resources were required for the building that they are trying to make. Buildings must be built in order, with some buildings needed to be built before others can be. In HOMM 5 some buildings could only be built after a set number of other buildings had been built.

The player then sends out their hero or heroes (you can later hire more, and have up to 8, in some versions more if you keep them in the castles) to collect resources, fight creatures, and try to take over castles.

Each type of resource (Wood, Ore, Gems, Sulphur, Crystal, Mercury and Gold) has a mine associated with them. Sometimes these resources are defended by creatures, sometimes they are not. By collecting a mine, they get either 2 per day (Wood and Ore), 1 per day (Gems, Sulphur, Crystal and Mercury) or 1000 per day (Gold). Without any mines, it is almost impossible to afford to build anything.

Some buildings allow you to then hire troops. In HOMM 2 and beyond troops could be upgraded too (in some versions there were 2 upgrades or alternate upgrades). Most troops cost Gold, some also costing a type of rare resource (especially dragons).

The final aim of the game is to kill all of the enemy heroes and take over all of their castles, without losing all of your heroes and all of your castles. Some types of games will have different goals, such as having to capture a particular castle, kill a particular hero, survive for a length of time, kill a particular creature and so forth. Some times there are special losing conditions, such as losing a particular hero or castle or not killing everyone within a certain period of time. Campaigns also have specific aims.

Praise of the series

One of the main praises of the series is that it is one of few true turn-based strategy games around. Games like the more popular Starcraft, in comparison, are real time, and there are only 2 types of resources (and no gold). Playing HOMM you can play at your leisure. You can design your own maps to your liking, play with creatures of myth and legend, in addition to having various real human troops too.

Criticism of the series

Poor graphics

Every version of the series had poor graphics compared to other games of the era, everything was in third person perspective (whilst many other games were in 2nd and 1st person mode) and didn't have 3D (until HOMM 5). HOMM 1 and HOMM 2 also had major graphics problems.

Lack of multi player and internet support

HOMM 1 could only be played with "Hot Seat", whereby everyone had to play from the same computer. HOMM 2 also was virtually impossible to play over the internet, and it wasn't until HOMM 3 that any kind of internet play was realistically possible. In HOMM 5, however, you can not only play on the internet but can also play one off battles against opponents, for quick and nasty games.

Length of games

The games take a long time to play, which many people don't have the patience to put up with. For a long time, you don't seem to be going anywhere. You can play it for hours on end without having a single fight with an enemy. The strategy is very deep.

Lack of balance

In HOMM 1, Warlock was by far the most powerful type of hero, with Barbarian and Knight towns being the weakest (and Sorceress being the 2nd strongest). Hence if you got a Warlock hero when you started, it was much easier than with anything else.

In later versions, the lack of balance was dealt with somewhat, although in HOMM 2 it was still an issue. In HOMM 2, towards the end of the game Wizards and Warlocks were equally powerful and the other 4 types of heroes were much weaker (although Necromancer could be powerful if you took the time to raise enough skeletons).

In HOMM 3 and beyond, the balance issues have mostly been dealt with, although they are still nonetheless occasionally criticised for it.

Different versions

HOMM 1

The original Heroes of Might and Magic featured purple dragons for the Warlock towns, which have been comically described as "Barney", in reference to the popular children's character, Barney the dinosaur. There were 4 types of heroes - Warlock, Sorceress, Barbarian and Knight. Each town had 5 types of creatures. Spells were learned through visiting the mage guilds. There was no mana - you just had however many spells based on your knowledge. If you ran out, you had to go back to a castle with a mage guild.

One of the main positive aspects of this game was the ability to make your own maps, which was easy to do, rare for a game of this era. It also featured many mythological creatures. It was sold as being for children, although most of the people that played it were adults.

HOMM 2

Heroes of Might and Magic II had 6 heroes - the original Warlock, Sorceress, Barbarian and Knight in addition to Wizard and Necromancer. Wizard was equally as powerful as Warlock, with Titan as their most powerful troop. Mana was introduced, meaning that you didn't have to go back to mage guilds. Upgrades for troops were introduced, for example upgrading from giant to titan in the Wizard town. Secondary skills were introduced, which were enhanced at every level gained by the hero. It also had a captain to look after the town if it was attacked with nobody in it.

HOMM 3

Heroes of Might and Magic III had 8 town types, each with 2 types of heroes, with creatures changed from HOMM I and II. Types of castles were: Castle (knight type, featuring Arch Angels as the strongest creature), Necromancer type (similar to in HOMM 2), Wizard type (similar to in HOMM 2), Rampart (similar to in HOMM 1/2 but much improved), a swamp like town with new creatures, a barbarian like town (similar to in HOMM 1/2 but with extra more powerful creatures), Demon towns (brand new, including Arch Devils) and a Warlock-like town. In addition, expansion packs included a 9th town with elemental creatures.

HOMM 3 had various forms of dragons and overall was agreed by most to be incredibly well balanced. Each town had a spellcasting hero and a fighting hero. Each town had 8 types of creatures with 2 upgrades each - instead of some having 3 upgrades and some having 0, as was the case in HOMM 2.

HOMM 3 was widely regarded as the best version of Heroes of Might and Magic, and spawned a fan-based off shoot, called Wake of the Gods, in which extra things were added (including the fighting heroes from HOMM 4).

HOMM 4

Heroes of Might and Magic IV featured heroes that could fight. This was supposed to be the main selling point, but it ended up being its main weakness. It was so different to the previous forms that many felt that it wasn't worth playing.

HOMM 5

Heroes of Might and Magic V featured "a return to traditional HOMM", reintroducing non-fighting heroes, having 3D views, a much more detailed system, initiative now allowing some creatures to fight more often than others (still turn based, but based on initiative rather than once each per turn), enhanced skill sets and a wide variety of mini films.

One of the great criticisms of HOMM 5 is that there were basically no maps to play. Early versions also didn't include either an autosave or an "easy" setting. Also, as HOMM 5 was written in Russian then translated into English, in some cases the translations were sloppy.