Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Review

Developer: New World Computing Publisher: 3do System Requirements: Processor: 133mhz Memory: 32mb Disk Space: 200mb

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Heroes of Might and Magic 3 runs as intended on my system. The game has no noticeable bugs with the latest patch installed (I didn't play it without it). The game is all turn-based strategy and I love it for this.

This game is quite different from other turn-based strategy games in many ways. First, you do not build your combat units at will. They are granted each week from each city you control depending on what structures are constructed in that city. This is where you do have control over your combat units. Each day your city is granted a sum of gold (again, dependant on certain constructed buildings) which you can spend to build new buildings which may allow a new type of unit to be recruited, an upgrade to an existing unit or certain racial specific bonus buildings which are useful.

The player must make decisions on how their resources are spent, especially at the beginning when a good construction plan can give you an early advantage. A building may require 2000 gold and 5 gems for example so you either need to capture a gem pond and let it accumulate gems for you (calculated daily) or buy or trade for the gems. The first option is preferable because buying resources can be very expensive. Especially when you need to raise a large army as you must pay for each unit you recruit.

A race will generally generate many of the weaker units each week and very few of the very powerful (archangels, gold dragons). The costs can be very high so you will need to conquer other cities with an army led a hero. Heroes can gain levels, cast spells and use their skills to grant your troops extra power in combat. When a hero gains a level the player gets to choose a new skill for the hero, very cool. So in this way you have some control over your hero's abilities. Some skills have prerequisites for the greater skill to be learned later. The hero will gain experience in combat depending on how many enemy units were destroyed and if an enemy hero was eliminated.

The map is very nice visually and you will need to explore it to be successful. On the map are mines and the like to generate resources, artifacts for your heroes, teleportation devices for getting from here to there and many other objects your hero can interact with. Only heroes may explore the map and this is fine because every army needs a leader. You may discover buildings which will grant skills to your hero and even give them a level without fighting.

Combat is turn-based with the fastest unit going first followed by the next fastest and so on. Units can move so far on their turn determined by their speed rating. Each unit has a damage stat and health for each present. Thus, more units in a stack can take more damage but many would die in a powerful attack. So basically each unit is placed in a stack and each unit can deal out x amount of damage or take x hp worth of damage before it dies causing damage to be dealt to the next unit until the damage points are spent. A hero can cast many types of combat magic and benedictions on friendly units or maladictions on their enemies.

Heroes of Might and Magic 3 includes many predesigned scenarios and maps for you to play as well as an editor for you to create your own! I play this game a lot and am happy to give it a 9/10 for superb gameplay. More races to play would have made me happier about the game, but that is my only problem with it. Buy Heroes of Might and Magic 3 here.

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