Reviewed: August 12, 2002
Reviewed by: John Bowlin

Publisher
3DO

Developer
New World Computing

Released: March 29, 2002
Genre: Strategy
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen

7
8
9
8
7.8

System Requirements

While much has changed in the game from the much heralded latest iteration, HoMM3, and while the game is still missing many of the features that the "Heroes of Might & Magic III Complete" package offers, HoMM4 does remain true to the series in many ways while still changing the game enough to stay somewhat fresh. The single player experience is better than ever, especially the campaign mode, which offers a better story than previous editions could muster.

The opening movie of HoMM4 ends with the destruction of the HoMM3 world and the escape of several heroes and their people to a new world. The six campaigns tell the stories of these heroes. The stories are interesting to an extent and do add some flavor to an otherwise plain fantasy mold, but the storytelling technique is rather stale. A bit more dialogue better interspersed, a few nice cut-scenes here or there, and the story really could have been a big plus for the game.

The focus of the game, aptly enough, is on a special unit called a Hero. Heroes are very powerful units in battle. Yes, for veterans of the series, heroes no long sit on the sidelines during battle, but actively participate. This can be both a blessing and a curse, since heroes are also subject to being killed in battles. Heroes take command of an army of troops. Heroes have special abilities that can enhance the effectiveness of an army of troops. Heroes can also cast magical spells to aid their own troops or harm the enemy's. You can have more than one hero in an army, and you can also have an army with no heroes, although army's without heroes can only perform a limited set of tasks. Veterans of the series will appreciate this new ability to have armies move to the front lines themselves without requiring a baby-sitter hero to shuttle them back and forth.

As heroes gain in experience they can learn new abilities, and eventually, they can specialize into different classes. There are 47 specialized classes that heroes can become, depending on which of the five magic types one chooses and other skills. Classes offer benefits to the hero above and beyond their normal skills and spells. There are also many special places that heroes can visit which will grant them new abilities. In addition to that, heroes may purchase or find special gear and items which will grant them additional abilities and power. The longer you play a hero, the more powerful they can become. The difference between HoMM4 and previous editions is that you can not really create one ultra-powerful Jack-of-all-trades hero. The good news is that this allows for more strategic variety.

But what if your hero dies? Well, the good news is, you can get them back. If you're killed by a neutral army, you can recover your hero from the battlefield with a new army. The bad news is, if you're killed by an enemy army, you'll have to capture the enemy town in which that hero is being held and rescue them from that town's prison. Enemy heroes that you capture are also placed in a prison in one of your towns. This can lead to some exciting "jail break" gameplay.

Micromanagement in HoMM4 is significantly reduced from the previous editions. The first thing that helps eliminate the micromanagement is the fact that every type of resource generating building can now be flagged and its production will now be automatically placed in your resource stash. No more boring weekly trips to the windmill to pick up a few scant resources. Another nice feature is that cities can be set to automatically caravan troops to cities that are closer to the front lines, so you don't have to go all the way back to your first town to pick up more troops anymore. The fact that troops can move on their own means no more "ferry" heroes to cart replacements to the main heroes, they can move there on their own. Another thing you can do is have your independent army units grab up the loose resources on the map leaving your heroes free to do more important things.

The maps in HoMM4 are a beauty to behold. The maps are absolutely brimming with new and interesting things to discover. Maps can include overland as well as underground components. Each map is exceptionally well designed and well balanced. Maps will typically have an overall theme, and the locations and quests will adhere to that theme. Many of the larger maps can take many hours to explore and conquer. You can also optionally turn on a new feature that allows neutral creatures to roam about the map. This can add some tension and strategy to the game since you'll have to tread lightly around neutral armies that are more powerful than you can handle. Exploring the map is probably the biggest thrill of the game, especially for fans of RPG games.

The town screens have been improved and really look amazing. The interface for the towns has been streamlined and is much quicker to get what you need. One click buys all available troops and adds them to your army. You now must make strategic choices when upgrading your towns since not all building types can be built in one town. Several new types of buildings have been added. Upgrading of troops to elite types (such as archers to marksmen) is no longer possible or required, simplifying troop management.

Combat is significantly different in HoMM4 compared to HoMM3 and earlier games. The most important change, of course, is that heroes now take an active role in the battle. At lower levels, heroes can be easily killed and so they must be protected by the other units. Eventually, however, heroes become your best unit in the battle, and will actually be able to soak up lots of damage that would otherwise kill your troops. Heroes can, of course, cast spells in combat from one of the five magic schools - Life, Death, Nature, Order, and Chaos. Each type of magic concentrates on a particular field of spells, such as healing and preventive magic for Life, or direct damage spells for Chaos. Of course, heroes can greatly improve the performance of your troops as well. Another major change is that units automatically get a counter attack when they are hit. This prevents fast, offensive units from dominating the game. The game offers a quick-combat feature to resolve battles automatically, which is useful for quickly resolving battles you are sure to win.

Unfortunately, the biggest flaw of the game is the enemy AI. The computer is not aggressive enough, and it doesn't seem to move with any purpose, rhyme, or reason. The enemy does not perform well in the tactical battles, nor in the overall strategic map. In the battles, the AI will not make use of potions and doesn't tend to do a good job of tactical positioning or spell casting. On the overhead map, the AI will sometimes leave cities undefended. It will not make use of terrain features to provide strategic advantage, nor even explore the areas close to home thoroughly. The AI doesn't seem to understand how to efficiently upgrade its cities, either. The biggest challenge and excitement in the game seems to be clearing the map of the neutral armies, and most of the map designs seem to have been geared for this. Perhaps the weak AI could have been forgiven if the game shipped with online capability.

The game offers a choice of three resolutions: 800x600, 1024x768, and 1280x960. The higher resolution modes offer a better interface, so if your computer can handle it, use it. The one major missing component in the graphics department are the excellent CG cut scenes that were so good at telling the stories from HoMM3. We get a fairly nice intro scene, but we don't get one for each chapter of the campaign. Overall, the graphics of HoMM4 are very aesthetically pleasing and perfectly functional, but they do not amaze.

The sound effects are very believable and interesting, from the clashing of weapons to the flutter of wings. Each place of interest on the overland map has a distinct sound effect that you'll hear when your heroes visit it or when you have the focus of the screen on that area. Birds singing songs in the trees, the rush of water in the streams, and all sorts of ambient sounds bring the game world to life. The voice acting is also very competently done and fits well with the setting.

The real aural treat, however, is in the wonderful music of HoMM4. The musical style fits in well with the setting, containing lots of strings, a few vocals, and some orchestral pieces. The musical score changes to match the mood of whichever city you're viewing or the terrain you're on. During combat, the music will change to match the pace of battle. The quality of the music is unmatched by most other games. It definitely adds a lot to the overall gaming experience. Perhaps the only drawback is that you can't seem to get enough of it.

On the plus side, the game does ship with a very nice and easy to use campaign editor. Based on the popularity of the editor in earlier editions of this series, we can probably expect an endless supply of fan-generated maps. This should really add to the replay value of the game. Even without the editor, though, HoMM4 should offer a minimum of 70 hours of gameplay to finish the six included campaigns, even if you're a seasoned HoMM veteran. It will probably take a lot longer than that for most people, easily taking over a hundred hours to do everything. There are also 30+ stand-alone scenarios. A single scenario can take several hours, so you do the math.

One nice value feature is the excellent manual and unit poster. The manual is 127 pages, and includes such juicy details as spell listings, skill lists, and class abilities, as well as covering the details of the excellent user interface. The poster gives statistics on each of the creatures that exist in the game, as well as a building research tree for each of the six town types. It's surprising that all of this fits in the new small box style.

So what's wrong with it? Fans of the series may prefer their old tried and true copy of HoMM3, since HoMM4 is mostly just different, not necessarily a great leap forward, at least until they make some major improvements to the AI. Perhaps this title is best aimed at newcomers to the series. It has been simplified in many ways making it more accessible. However, how many fresh gamers can there still be in the world who haven't tried a HoMM game? Aside from that, how many people want to jump in on a series starting with number 4? At least this reviewer kind of wonders how much further NWC can take this franchise.

All in all, though, HoMM4 does continue to deliver its tried and true, addictive gameplay formula. If you're just looking for more HoMM but something a little different than the past games, look no further. If you're new to the series this one is as good a choice as any to get started with. There's nothing inherently awful about this game, after all. HoMM4 may not be very innovative, but it's a fairly solid addition to the series.