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Publisher
3DO | Genre
Adventure & RPG | Release Date
11/15/2002 | Status
Available |
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The Heroes of Might & Magic series has garnered a devout following of fans who can't get enough of the addictive, turn-based fantasy gameplay. For a long while many Mac Heroes addicts were scared the fourth title would never make it to the platform, as it was released for the PC without much fanfare or a mention of a Mac version. Fans of turn-based strategy will be overjoyed to know that Contraband Entertainment recently announced they are working on a port of this title as you read this.Unlike many other companies with an established game license on their hands, 3DO didn't set out to make Heroes of Might & Magic IV a carbon copy of the previous titles. Instead of simply adding more characters and levels (as the previous games in the series have done, in effect) they went back and retooled the already polished gameplay of Heroes III, unafraid to make changes where necessary. On top of these tweaks, 3DO has also blessed the game with a completely new graphics engine (often considered the primary weakness of the previous games) as well as keeping the same emphasis on plot and storylines from their previous games. We Could be Heroes, if Just for One Game Having helped establish turn-based games as a successful genre, it's not a huge surprise to see the Heroes series still doing well, even with a recent resurgence of strategy titles in the market. In case you've never played the previous games, Heroes of Might & Magic IV is (predictably) all about the heroes. Beyond the RPG aspects of leveling up your heroes (similar in some ways to the Hero characters in WarCraft III), there are also resource gathering and city building features in the game, many of which have been aggressively streamlined from the previous methods,Heroes of Might & Magic IV's singleplayer mode features six major campaigns and 24 scenarios. Each of the scenarios is made up of one or -- as is the case with campaigns -- multiple maps. The campaigns also continue the Heroes tradition of featuring rich background stories, which unfold as you play through them. Fantasy fans shouldn't be disappointed. Your primary task on the game's main adventure screen is to explore the map for magic items, resources and enemy towns and armies. Heroes of Might & Magic IV also includes a "fog of war" found in many other titles, ensuring you are unable to see enemy movements, even on areas you have explored, unless you have a character nearby. The object of Heroes of Might & Magic IV is often to try and capture enemy towns, even though it's not necessarily required for your heroes to own a town during a scenario (another change from previous titles in the series). The towns come in six different varieties, one for barbarians and five for each of the magic types or schools. The buildings in a town can be upgraded through number of different levels and capabilities, increasing the power of the creatures, spells or equipment those buildings contain and create. Your hero can move a number of spaces each turn (the equivalent of one game day), and the combat continues this turn-based style of plau. One obvious difference between Heroes of Might & Magic IV and the previous titles is that you can now take your heroes into combat with you. Previous titles featured combat between only your armies, but now players will be able to engage their heroes in direct combat. Heroes' attributes can positively affect other controlled characters as well. This new feature adds depth to the title, as it allows the hero to participate directly in combat but also introduces the risk that the hero might be "killed" (dead heroes can be resurrected at certain city structures.)
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