Heroes Of Might And Magic III by The Wallnut

There is a moment for every person that loves science fiction or fantasy that defines and fully pushes them into that “fandom”. Be it a great book, a great epic of mythology or just randomly having to spent time with your big brother as he listened to metal and drew knights or cyborgs, we all have had that moment. I always had a pull towards the fantastic and mythological even as a kid growing up. What gave me the final push, was Heroes Of Might And Magic series, specifically the 3rd installment.

What is Heroes Of Might And Magic III

A dash of turn based strategy games, a hint of base building, a dose of turn round based strategic combat and a splash of RPG hero building gives you the recipe for the fully awesome Heroes Of Might And Magic III. Set in a fantasy planet or world or whatever, the game offers a number of campaigns in which you take the mantle of one of the great heroes of the world, witness their humble beginnings, rise to power and eventually their epic (and often tragic) conclusion. With unique races with their own unique advantages and disadvantages (unless you are the god damn wizards), the game offers a -lot- to its players. From hotseat modes, to random maps, to mini scenario maps, the game has virtually unlimited replayability and a still alive modding scene.

Gameplay: The really, bare bone basics

The easiest way to explain the gameplay is by taking you through the steps of creating a random map game and explaining it as it goes. I do not think I have to tell you -how- a menu works, and what a random map scenario -is-, so lets skip to the part after which you chose the desired map you wish to play.

First of all, you will have to select between the available races and parameters for each player with three main options:
I) Your faction, which determines the available heroes, units, starter city and off course gameplay you wish to follow for this map
II) A starting hero, which determines the first hero that will spawn right outside your first city. At this point you will only choose from the heroes available for your faction, and each hero has his unique stats and a specialization, which is a specific skill, spell, unit or ability the hero either has, or empowers in some way, and finally
III) A starting “bonus”, which can either be more gold, a random lesser artifact for your hero or extra resources. Simple right?

Then you will be taken to the map. The gameplay is simple, 2d map, you have your hero run around collecting resources, fighting baddies etc etc etc until he runs out of “movement” for the day. Aside from that, you can also double click on your city where you see the lands of your faction. There you can do a multitude of things, such as

Hire heroes from the tavern, though only two heroes are available for hire each week, but dont worry, they are randomly chosen from -all- factions, so if you want to hire an undead skeleton knight to lead the armies of angels and holy knights you sure can (you weirdo).
Build up the city, from a humble small town to a capitol city with a castle and what not. Each city has a few standard buildings, like the creature dwellings, fort and city upgrades etc, but aside from that, each city has its own unique tech which compliments the faction’s playstyle. Others are more magically inclined, others give your heroes bonuses to attack, or defense etc etc
Finally, you can also recruit and/or upgrade your units. Probably the best feature of this game, as we will explain below.

Gameplay: So I am fighting some dire butterflies, what do I do?

As with all epic fantasy games, eventually someone needs to be reminded that mortality is a thing via numerous stab wounds in the eye hole area. The means of it is done rather plainly. Enter 2d map, visual representation of said units, you click to where you want the unit to go, it goes there. You click to attack, it bashes someone, then the basher becomes the bashee rinse and repeat.

Each unit has its unique stats, math happens, higher wins etc.
But is that all? HA! NO!
You see what made Heroes stick out to me so much is the “number” system it uses. The units always have a number bellow them indicating the number of said units you field on the map, so naturally if two units meet up with the same stats then things get tricky. With so many stats and the round based system we talked about, it is not just about who has more numbers, but also who hits first, what are the heroe’s stats, what spells are in play etc.
See? Strategy!

But lets get real folks, nothing is more satisfying than fielding those larger than life armies of thousands upon thousands of troops, sweeping away any and all opposition as your humble hamlet slowly transforms into the military titan of industry swiping away all lesser factions, because nobody can stop the lizardmen of Tatalia fools!

Unfortunately this is where spell casting also rears its ugly head, because even if you have the superior monsters and are about to happily fill a bathtub with your brother’s units’s blood and bathe into it, he starts casting Armageddons left and right to the point where Aerosmith bust into your room and sing “Dont wanna miss a thing” while maintaining intense eye contact with you.
AND YOU END UP. LOSING. THE BATTLE. EVERY. GOD. DAMN. TIME. KONSTANTINE

Please excuse me while I go fight my brother upstairs for reasons unknown to him.

Gameplay: Whats up with my hero? Why is he staring back at me like that?

Ah heroes….its right there in the name, what would Heroes of might and magic be without heroes. Of might and/or magic?

Well, simply put. Your heroes are what allows you to do everything in the game. You want to conquer that sawmill so the peasants send you wood? Need a hero
You want to kill that annoying Dragon guarding those awesome artifacts and gold? Need a hero
Your enemy is stealing all your lumber mills and killing your peasants? Need a hero
Killed the enemy swine and now want to do the exact same thing mentioned above to the enemy? Need a hero

So, here is where the RPG elements kick in. The heroes have 4 stats, attack,defence, knowledge, power. Two are for might, two are for magic.
To add to that, there are also specific skills one can get to either raise secondary stats, like morale or luck, or just give more things to what you already have.
When you gain a level you get to pick which skill you want and, although, the skill choices you have are random, they -do- seem to be slightly tweeked so that magic heroes get more chance at magic based skills and vice versa.

Truth be told, the amount of mix and matches you can do with this system is a bit insane. From having a might hero with a powerful army of almost invisible creatures, to a spell caster of demi-god strength, to even mix and matching the two for a bit of all round goodness.

Like I said, this game is about what kind of game you want to play

So whats so great about this game that has you ranting bout it?

Everything!
But no ok, lets be real, this game is an unbalanced mess, with factions being -clearly- better than others, some skill combos being the objectively better choice making others almost entirely useless and the AI is, well, annoying.

So why do I still feel the need to rant about it and say its Old but Gold? Because it meshes what it has perfectly. The music, the art, the “make your own story” hook, somehow this game makes it all work perfectly. The best part? The hotseat option, which for some reason turn based games dont have it anymore. This means that even if its an outdated game by so many aspects, the very fact you can still get a few of your friends, get some drinks and food, sit around one pc and all play the same game, leading to competitive (or co-op) shenanigans gives it a thumbs up by me.

After all, video games are all about making good memories and invoking emotions for me, and if a game as old as this, still has me listening to its soundtrack with a smile, then it must do -something- right.

Even if most of those memories were about my brother and his best friend at the time, screwing me over cos I was young and gullible, and had me fight the pc while my brother would swim in with his knight legions and dozens of archangels, ONLY TO “ACCIDENTALLY” TURN OFF THE POWER TO THE COMPUTER AS HE IS ABOUT TO LOSE HIS STRONGEST HERO.

I will go fight my brother. Again. Article over.