Good Old Games has once again let me re-experience one of my favourite childhood games, the strategic-combat RPG Heroes of Might and Magic. Going to try Heroes 2 next…
Gameplay: 4,5/5 – The gameplay is very self-explanatory with plenty of stats-screens and a simple mouse-clicker interface. It may feel a tad awkward at first, but eventually you’ll get the hang of it and the playing begins to feel natural. I also love little touches, like being able to decide the speed of your horses’ gallop.
Graphics: 5/5 – There is simply put a lot of detail and production value. If I wanted to be mean, I could say the art-style in the first game is extremely cartoony – but for me the art just looks traditional. The hard work of the graphic artists really shows with the varying battle terrains. The game simply has loads of nice colourful detail to keep it from looking at all monotonous.
Animation: 3/5 – Here I have to concede that the game’s animation work isn’t worth many hoorahs. However, there’s still a lot of effort and I think the magic effects are fun in a silly cartoonish way.
Music: 5/5 – The soundtrack is simply brilliant. The individual castle themes are great and the battle music gets my blood rushing. Even incidental music and little ditties (like the lamp genie theme) sound excellent. There are simply no sub par musical tracks in the game what-so-ever.
Sound: 3/5 – Some of the sound-effects may start to sound a tad repetitive due to the slow pace of the game and even some of the character voices sound pretty silly to me. Over-all, though I have no huge complaints. I only wonder why the game has no voice-acting when it was clearly capable of supporting it.
Replay value: 3,5/5 – I find this to be rather heavily dependant on the type of mood I’m in and whether or not I’m getting my ass kicked by the computer. However, on average I love picking the game up. The various scenarios each provide a different kind of challenge and the game gives you plenty of settings to make gameplay feel interesting.
Score: 80% – After all these years, the first Heroes is still worth picking up and giving a spin. Fans of the later games are undoubtedly going to find it very simplistic, but the game is just so much fun for me that I always look forward to playing it.
