September 18th, 2007

Heroes Of Might And Magic V

Once upon a time, when the world of computer gaming was in its teens, there was a fair company called 3DO. Her offspring were many, known far and wide, including the nine Might And Magic brothers and their elder avatars, the four Heroes Of Might And Magic. Fans grew disillusioned as grim was the day when poor management brought the company in the wake of bankruptcy. This repeatable burden seemed to be long forgotten when Ubisoft announced they bought the exclusive rights to the series and hope rose again in the hearts of the faithful. Their champions would bear the name of Nival Interactive, the Russian game developers known for titles such as Blitzkrieg, Etherlords, Rage of Mages, Silent Storm, and Night Watch. After almost two years of struggle, Heroes Of Might And Magic V hit the shelves on the May 16, 2006.

The Story

The game draws attention even from the first menu, where you are greeted by a monk engaged in mortal combat against a devil. Their seemingly endless fight is accompanied by Verdi's "Dies Irae" as musical background, sung with choir and orchestra. As soon as you start the single player campaign it all becomes clear, in a beautifully drawn introductory movie. Prince Nicolai of the Griffin Empire is to wed Princess Isabel of Greyhound Duchy in the cathedral of the empire's capitol city. As they walk to the altar holding hands, the priest starts uttering the vows when all inferno breaks loose. Demons stalk the lands once more, and the attack that interrupts the wedding ceremony signals their invasion of the Griffin Empire. There is sound of riot inside the city walls and it all becomes clear when a devil reveals himself in the chapel. The prince rushes to fight it, as his uncle Knight Godric takes the bride away. "This is war, and you are not a warrior", said Godric. "Maybe I should be" replied the maiden.

Waiting expectantly in the safety of the Summer Palace at Whitecliff, Lady Isabel receives joyless tidings. As Nicolai has been fighting for weeks, there seems to be no end to the demonic destruction. She decides to raise an army and help her betrothed in the war that ravages the land. In doing so she sends messengers to the elder allies of the Empire, the academy wizards and the noble elves. The path to the front lies through the ruined lands of the Griffin Empire, where rumors and superstitions run rampart. The queen will have to strengthen her forces and persuade dissenters if she hopes to continue her path. But the Demon Lord Agrael prepares to rout the elven troops that are marching to assist the Empire. Isabel will have to outmaneuver the enemy army and prevent Demons from implementing their plan. The united forces of Isabel and the Elven King Alaron should be able to put an end to the invasion and save Nicolai. But as a result of an artful intrigue played by Agrael and his succubus help Biara, Isabel is taken prisoner. Soon she will be taken to Sheogh, the centuries old prison of the Demon Sovereign. But Godric rides to her aid with the army Isabel raised from the lands. A decisive battle ensues where the victor shall decide the fates of the Empire. Thus starts the Haven campaign, where you need to help young Isabel take up the sword and raise an army to help her beloved and hope to save the fate of the Griffin Empire from demonic enslavement in the process.

Concept

Heroes Of Might And Magic V stays true to the time based strategy credo that made its fortunes in the past. The game world is set in a beautiful fantasy setting where fairies and minotaur alike shape the future of daily life. With the help of your strategic disposition, economical aptitude and a bit of luck, you too can be the one to emerge victorious. Each of the six available races has eleven heroes in their service, with characteristic skills to develop according to their class and primary attributes. They also have a specialty unique to their city which moulds gameplay differently depending on race. To aid their cause, the champions of the land have seven tiers of troops to recruit, seven types of creatures available for upgrade into greater versions of themselves. The key to victory lies in using creature abilities for maximal effect to gain a crushing advantage on the combat field. Fights are also turn based and you can see known elements from the past series, the ability to cast spells, the movement hex grid, the cursor shade as well as options to either attack, defend or wait with a creature stack. One major improvement is found here, namely in the introduction of the "initiative" statistic in both creatures and heroes. The higher you initiative is, the faster will your turn to attack come. This basically means you will attack more often as there are no more regular turns, so the days when both opponents attack with all their creatures and then start anew in turn two are over. Initiative will be very important for an archer and speed will be of little use, while a knight will appreciate first and foremost his speed, as he is a melee attacker that needs to travel the field in order to reach its enemies. Unlike the previous titles, casters have way more firepower in Heroes of Might and Magic V as you can choose spells from their very own spell book and wreak havoc on your enemies. You will be surprised how much creatures you can lose while fighting NPC controlled casters guarding a mine. Magic ignores your creature defense power and mass attack spells like meteor shower are not uncommon. Still, these casters have limited mana so you can usually use them this way for a fast attack and not in attrition battles.

Gameplay

You can't speak about Heroes Of Might And Magic V without making a direct comparison to its predecessors as the fans forgive, but don't forget. We have the usual battle between Good and Evil therefore allied races, mortal foes. There stand on one side the brave knights of the Haven, the wise wizards of the Academy and the noble Sylvan elves. The other side is a host of evil with the likes of the demonic Inferno, the dark Dungeon overlords and the forgotten Necropolis. Heroes Of Might And Magic III is still the paragon as key creatures and abilities can be found in Nival's release. Black dragons and titans still battle for supremacy, angels still tend the wounds of the fallen allies, vampires are as deadly as ever and elven archers strike death in their enemies’ hearts twice as fast. Still most creatures have either been reworked or are brand new so expect long entertaining hours to help you get on that mean learning curve.

The single player campaign is the best way to get one started. You can familiarize yourself with the new features and the atmosphere of the game. A beautifully laid plot will make sure you enjoy every new development of the scene and herein lay the problem. Although the developers made use of quite a lot of cut scene movies, made with the game engine, I can swear Nival didn't use professional voice acting. Most dialogues are both obvious and poorly interpreted; I can't imagine why the people involved can barely handle English phonetics. I'm afraid to say that in this regard the game is lacking but as you delve deeper into the game this becomes less of an annoyance.

The building system has evolved and it is now impossible to have, let’s say, titans in the first week, or a capitol in the second as each building has a town point cost attached to it. This has modified the game pace into a steady progression, discouraging excessive teching. One particular novelty strikes the player from first use, namely the added "ghost mode". On each of your opponent's turn you can move around the map and explore new areas without fear of being attacked. This will definitely improve mood changes in long multiplayer games as the ghost it's fantastic. It can haunt enemy mines, guard heroes, mines or friendly areas from other player's ghosts and can even be used to attack enemy heroes. The multiplayer options are generous.

This time heroes have over 100 skills to choose from. Customization was one of the key features that ensured Heroes of Might And Magic III success and I can solemnly vow that the new skill allocation system will not let you down. There are a lot of possible setups that will transform your avatar into a mean killing machine. This is done by gaining experience from battles and treasure chests across the map, which in turn give the hero new levels. On each levelup you will improve one of your statistics (attack, defense, spell power, knowledge) and have access to a new skill.

Most notable is the redistribution of spells into these four spell schools:

Light Magic - buffs your troops with powerful enchantments
Dark Magic - inflicts curses that weaken the enemy's effectiveness
Destructive Magic - if you like intense direct damage
Summoning Magic - all summoning spells, new and old

Each race has a special skill tree for their heroes, unlocking unique abilities. The Academy wizards are Artificers and have the power to create creature equipment. The Dungeon warlocks have Invocation, the skill that enables them to lower the spell resistance of enemy creatures. The Haven knights know Training, enabling their troops to retaliate for extra damage. With Gating, the Demon Lord’s creatures can summon reinforcements from the abyssal plane. Just as well, Necromancers are known for their skill in Necromancy, enabling them to raise the dead to fight for their own purposes. The Sylvan Rangers learned to be Avengers by choosing favorite enemies on which they inflict increased damage. Artifacts are still important but they seem to have lost much of the effectiveness they once had. They change a hero is more subtle ways now, which leaves more room for skillful play and good tactical decisions while building up your avatar.

Video

The game engine was developed by Nival and it requires and uses DirectX9.c functions for improved quality and performance. For a turn based strategy the 3D graphics are quite nice, considering the fact that one can freely zoom in and out of isometric perspective and third person point of view. The models look good even on close inspection, but my recommendation is playing at a medium distance level. Overall the graphics are satisfactory and the ingame cut scenes show their potential. If you idle enough in the city, the camera will start spinning around the main building, whether it is a castle or a flaming volcano. You can't turn away from the degree of details poured into this voyage, simply magnificent, realistic. There is one more thing adding to the overall feeling of the game. While in combat, creatures will often enough show special cut scenes of their attacks on the opponent. On occasion you can watch the attack being currently made - from the point of view of the arrow.

Sound

Ingame music has a special touch of finesse, trademark of the Heroes Of Might And magic line: inspiring anthems for the glory yet to come, solemn and majestic. There is often use of choir and symphonic-like orchestra as well as mind numbing ambient soundscapes designed to make your heart shrink. Its clean and immersive sound has a good response from each and every unit on the battlefield. Each location has its own sound pattern, meaning that as you progress through the map, the atmosphere will change.

Multiplayer

Players can choose from the good old Hotseat mode, LAN game or the new feature, playing online using the Ubisoft server. So far there have not been signaled any imbalance issues so it's still everybody's race to victory. Challenge your friends to a grudge match or simply play online against an unknown opponent, explore new maps on your own against the deviousness of man, test your strength and skill towards victory. While the AI has been greatly improved, it can only do so much. Internal latency issues have been reported on multiplayer games, partly being fixed by later patches.

Conclusion

There has been a lot of talk in the gaming community when Nival launched the closed beta. Over 40000 playable cd-keys were taken in a matter of days, the same amount Nival predicted it will last for two months of beta. One particular initiative stated that the game was far from finished and the developers should postpone the release until after the February 28 announced date, the same date when Ubisoft fiscal years ended. An incredible number of signatures were added to an open internet based petition and after roughly a week of pressure Nival made it official: the release date will be postponed until the game will be suitable to the market demands. Not doing so could have put the last nail in the coffin of what is otherwise a great franchise, a mistake 3DO did years ago with HOMM4 and it eventually caused its downfall.

I can say Nival put these extra months of development to good use. With limited exceptions, the game is a mature offspring of a great idea that will provide you with virtually unlimited fun. Great graphics, immersive soundscapes, 6 new races, 66 new heroes and over 100 skills to choose from will ensure the intensity of your gaming sessions. Either casual player or a hardcore gamer, Heroes Of Might And Magic V has something for everyone as this is the return of the prodigal son and I hail the era of its rebirth. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some friends to fight in Hotseat mode.