Rock, Paper, Shotgun

I’ve spent the last week, on and off, peering at the latest in the Heroes of Might and Magic series. These are some words that express how I feel about this videogame. Disclaimer, I guess: I don’t think I’ve ever played a Heroes of Might & Magic game before, somehow. Maybe a demo in the 90s? I dunno. There you go, anyway: I am writing this from a position of ignorance. Hello, yes, ignorant, that’s me. Hence, I must address you as if you, too, were ignorant regarding this series. You IGNORAMUS, don’t you know ANYTHING?

Might and Magic: Heroes VI, irritatingly and pointlessly renamed from the handy HoMM title the series has borne for years (that much I do know already), is a turn-based strategy / roleplaying hybrid. You raise an army and upgrade the heroes that lead it, you seize towns and resources from across a wide, explorable map, and you complete what could loosely be called quests but really are but one, usually mandatory facet of the real quest – for more money, more resources and more experience points.
Read the rest of this entry »

The series formerly known as Heroes of Might & Magic returns, with a confusingly rearranged name, to a post-King’s Bounty landscape. Without access to publishers’ long and tedious spreadsheets, I of course couldn’t begin to guess whether 1C’s good-natured, wilfully silly turn-based strategy/semi-roleplaying game presents any kind of financial threat to HoMM. KB’s certainly made hay during HoMM’s six-year absence, however. Now daddy’s coming back for his crown – but what has he learned? I’ve been tinkering with some preview code to find out.
Read the rest of this entry »