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Heroes of Might and Magic 4
...continued

As in the previous games, your armies will do battle with both wandering monsters and the armies of enemy heroes. Heroes IV's combat system has a number of minor changes that are intended mainly to make combat a bit more balanced. Previous games in the Heroes series had been criticized for allowing too much momentum; that is, if you could create a powerful enough army, nothing could stand in your way. Heroes IV's system of simultaneous attacks (in which most creatures attack and take damage from each other simultaneously) and its new line-of-fire aiming for ranged units mean that you can't continuously blunder forward and pummel your enemies to death. Fortunately, your forces can call upon their own special abilities in combat, including the ability to cast some magic spells, just like a spell-casting hero. Heroes IV retains Heroes III's basic system of magic (both in combat and out of it) and improves upon it by slightly rearranging some older spells and also letting heroes become grandmasters in a specific school of magic. Through your many fights and raids, your heroes will accrue great numbers of experience points that will in turn lead to new skills. There are lots of old and new skills in Heroes IV--more than enough to help you create distinctive heroes.

While your heroes will definitely seem more distinctive, Heroes IV's graphics unfortunately aren't. The series was previously well known for its colorful, storybooklike portraits and units, which often had humorous animations and funny sound samples. Unfortunately, most of Heroes IV's characters and units are represented by the same kind of generic-looking rendered sprites that appeared in Might and Magic VII and VIII. Heroes IV's creatures don't look horrible; each is represented well enough to distinguish them at a glance, but they simply aren't the memorable and occasionally goofy denizens of Heroes I and II. Instead, Heroes IV features stiffly animated 3D-rendered sprites that seem less like fantastic mythical creatures and more like stop-motion movie monsters. Outside of battle, Heroes IV's town and overland graphics are clearly intended to paint a picture of a brightly colored, otherworldly realm, but the same sort of density that makes exploring Heroes IV such a joy also makes it occasionally difficult to look at. Heroes IV's overland areas sometimes seem too bright and colorful--there's too much going on at one time on the screen. This can make distinguishing important objects from background scenery needlessly difficult, and, along with the game's equally busy-looking interface menus, may make the game seem overly complex to new players.

But just about anyone--Heroes veterans or newcomers--will be able to appreciate Heroes IV's sound, especially its music. Heroes IV's sound effects aren't the least bit noteworthy, and many were recycled directly from the previous game, but the soundtrack is another matter entirely. Developer New World decided to split the difference between the synth instrumental soundtrack of Heroes III and the operatic soundtrack of Heroes II and include elements of both. While you're in battle, you'll hear the same sort of stirring, yet subdued, background music as in Heroes III--percussion- and string-heavy instrumental arrangements that suit battles well. And while you're exploring the overland map or developing your town, you'll be treated to the same sort of lush opera music that graced the Heroes II soundtrack.

Heroes IV has a lot of new additions, but ultimately, it still plays like a Heroes game. That's definitely a good thing, as the Heroes formula clearly stands the test of time in Heroes IV and is every bit as enjoyable as it's ever been in previous games. An overly cynical (and not entirely accurate) way to assess the game would be to call it a revamped version of Heroes III with a new coat of paint--or many, many layers of paint. However, it's really to New World Computing's credit that the developer was able to incorporate so many new and interesting features into this sequel while still making sure it kept all the core elements that made all the previous games so great. Heroes IV is clearly a worthy successor to the series and has very clearly been worth the wait.

 

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