Posted October 02, 2009
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is a game that caters to nearly any audience: I liked it as a middle-school student and I still like it after finishing graduate school. My girlfriend likes it. My dad likes it. Heck, even my mom likes it. It is extremely family-friendly and "casual gamer"-friendly as well. Why? Because the rules are simple, the game is turn-based (allowing players time to think), and with decent planning a victory is almost always possible (against a moderate computer opponent, at least).
If you are totally unfamiliar with this game, here is a basic explanation:
Players manage a kingdom (which may consist of many towns), including the construction of town structures and the movement of armies. Towns do not move, cannot be created nor destroyed (though they are developed over time and change ownership sometimes), and always occupy the same amount of space on the game map, unlike some other games. Towns are the primary source of troops for heroes.
Armies are led by "heroes" who do not actually participate in battles, but enhance the martial capabilities of the troops they lead. Heroes are visible on the game map, but their armies are not. On the game map, the hero represents the entire army. In combat, the hero is visible on the fringe of the battlefield and can cast spells, but the individual troops are the components of interest.
Heroes are the only agents of change in the game; they are the only ones who do things. Heroes are used to attack and defend towns, retrieve artifacts, slay monsters, explore unknown territory, complete quests, etc. By carefully developing his/her towns, a player supplies his/her heroes with the resources (especially troops) to defeat other heroes and conquer enemy towns. Heroes have primary skills (Attack, Defense, Spell Power, Knowledge) and secondary skills (too many to list) that develop over time. Each hero has a specialty that develops over time as well, in most cases. Heroes can learn many spells and equip several artifacts at once, which improve the effectiveness of that hero.
The story is told through the many campaign missions. Each campaign consists of multiple games, played in order, that tell a story. When certain campaigns are completed, new campaigns are unlocked.
There are also standalone scenarios. These are games that have self-contained stories. Some actually have a narrative, displaying text at certain points throughout the game, and some do not. Some have unusual victory conditions, such as "slay the specific beast," "capture the specific town," "find the specific artifact/Grail," or "accumulate X resources." These games sometimes have alternate victory conditions, allowing you to win by eliminating all competing forces. Games can also have unusual defeat conditions, such as running out of time or allowing a certain hero to be defeated.
However, there are ways to cater to players of any skill level:
-There are 5 difficulty levels: Easy, Medium (Normal), Hard, Expert, and Impossible. On Easy, losing is highly unlikely. On Normal, the human player(s) still have strong advantages, such as the ability to build town structures at a rate of 1 per town per day; the AI can only build every other day at this difficulty. On Hard, the human(s) and the AI start with equal resources and the AI plays "smarter." On Expert, the human(s) start with a resource handicap, and the AI plays as well as it can. Impossible is the same as Expert, except human(s) start with NO resources (unless they were selected as the Starting Bonus).
-Combat can be streamlined or micro-managed: When entering the field of battle, a player can choose to select all the movements and attacks by hand or set combat to "Auto." If Auto is selected, the computer will fight to the best of its ability... But the computer is not as good as an experienced player! Combat is probably the area of the game that allows for the greatest development of skill. Also, there is a "Quick Combat" feature that allows for a player to initiate a fight and immediately see the outcome. In this case, I believe the results are actually better than those using Auto (for some unknown reason). Also, it saves time.
The artwork and audio effects of the game are charming, engaging, and even enchanting at times. All of the game's artwork is hand-drawn, which has allowed it to age much better than the early 3D work of the same time period. The audio effects are dynamic, meaning they change based on what is near the player's active hero/town. Normally, I turn off my computer's volume at all times. For HoMM 3, I turn it on.
I have never played the game online using a gaming service, though they do exist (for free). I have played the game from launch until now (late 2009) subsisting only on the single-player and hotseat multiplayer offerings (in which multiple human players use the same computer). When I play hotseat multiplayer, I am always allied with whoever is playing with me, which contributes to the fun of the game for each person. The single greatest contributor to the replayability of this title is the Random Map Generator, which was introduced with the expansion pack Armageddon's Blade. As its name implies, the Random Map Generator will create a unique map in only a few seconds, so that you never have to play the same map twice! When deciding to create a random map, the creator can choose the size of the map, the number of players, the strength of the monsters, and some other options. Unfortunately, unusual victory/defeat conditions cannot be applied to random maps (as far as I know). On the plus side, random maps that are particularly enjoyable can be saved and used again.
This game has a large following of adoring fans. In fact, there are still websites dedicated to HoMM 3 tournaments and leaderboards. On the same note, there are websites that host custom player-made maps that have been thoroughly tested for fairness (I forgot to mention the map and campaign editors! You can guess what they do, and they are simultaneously awesome/time-consuming). If you enjoy strategy games of any sort, you should do yourself a favor and try this game. It is a true classic.
If you are totally unfamiliar with this game, here is a basic explanation:
Players manage a kingdom (which may consist of many towns), including the construction of town structures and the movement of armies. Towns do not move, cannot be created nor destroyed (though they are developed over time and change ownership sometimes), and always occupy the same amount of space on the game map, unlike some other games. Towns are the primary source of troops for heroes.
Armies are led by "heroes" who do not actually participate in battles, but enhance the martial capabilities of the troops they lead. Heroes are visible on the game map, but their armies are not. On the game map, the hero represents the entire army. In combat, the hero is visible on the fringe of the battlefield and can cast spells, but the individual troops are the components of interest.
Heroes are the only agents of change in the game; they are the only ones who do things. Heroes are used to attack and defend towns, retrieve artifacts, slay monsters, explore unknown territory, complete quests, etc. By carefully developing his/her towns, a player supplies his/her heroes with the resources (especially troops) to defeat other heroes and conquer enemy towns. Heroes have primary skills (Attack, Defense, Spell Power, Knowledge) and secondary skills (too many to list) that develop over time. Each hero has a specialty that develops over time as well, in most cases. Heroes can learn many spells and equip several artifacts at once, which improve the effectiveness of that hero.
The story is told through the many campaign missions. Each campaign consists of multiple games, played in order, that tell a story. When certain campaigns are completed, new campaigns are unlocked.
There are also standalone scenarios. These are games that have self-contained stories. Some actually have a narrative, displaying text at certain points throughout the game, and some do not. Some have unusual victory conditions, such as "slay the specific beast," "capture the specific town," "find the specific artifact/Grail," or "accumulate X resources." These games sometimes have alternate victory conditions, allowing you to win by eliminating all competing forces. Games can also have unusual defeat conditions, such as running out of time or allowing a certain hero to be defeated.
However, there are ways to cater to players of any skill level:
-There are 5 difficulty levels: Easy, Medium (Normal), Hard, Expert, and Impossible. On Easy, losing is highly unlikely. On Normal, the human player(s) still have strong advantages, such as the ability to build town structures at a rate of 1 per town per day; the AI can only build every other day at this difficulty. On Hard, the human(s) and the AI start with equal resources and the AI plays "smarter." On Expert, the human(s) start with a resource handicap, and the AI plays as well as it can. Impossible is the same as Expert, except human(s) start with NO resources (unless they were selected as the Starting Bonus).
-Combat can be streamlined or micro-managed: When entering the field of battle, a player can choose to select all the movements and attacks by hand or set combat to "Auto." If Auto is selected, the computer will fight to the best of its ability... But the computer is not as good as an experienced player! Combat is probably the area of the game that allows for the greatest development of skill. Also, there is a "Quick Combat" feature that allows for a player to initiate a fight and immediately see the outcome. In this case, I believe the results are actually better than those using Auto (for some unknown reason). Also, it saves time.
The artwork and audio effects of the game are charming, engaging, and even enchanting at times. All of the game's artwork is hand-drawn, which has allowed it to age much better than the early 3D work of the same time period. The audio effects are dynamic, meaning they change based on what is near the player's active hero/town. Normally, I turn off my computer's volume at all times. For HoMM 3, I turn it on.
I have never played the game online using a gaming service, though they do exist (for free). I have played the game from launch until now (late 2009) subsisting only on the single-player and hotseat multiplayer offerings (in which multiple human players use the same computer). When I play hotseat multiplayer, I am always allied with whoever is playing with me, which contributes to the fun of the game for each person. The single greatest contributor to the replayability of this title is the Random Map Generator, which was introduced with the expansion pack Armageddon's Blade. As its name implies, the Random Map Generator will create a unique map in only a few seconds, so that you never have to play the same map twice! When deciding to create a random map, the creator can choose the size of the map, the number of players, the strength of the monsters, and some other options. Unfortunately, unusual victory/defeat conditions cannot be applied to random maps (as far as I know). On the plus side, random maps that are particularly enjoyable can be saved and used again.
This game has a large following of adoring fans. In fact, there are still websites dedicated to HoMM 3 tournaments and leaderboards. On the same note, there are websites that host custom player-made maps that have been thoroughly tested for fairness (I forgot to mention the map and campaign editors! You can guess what they do, and they are simultaneously awesome/time-consuming). If you enjoy strategy games of any sort, you should do yourself a favor and try this game. It is a true classic.
