The great variety of the units gives these scraps some real tactical texture. Battles themselves are turn-based affairs taking place on hex maps, either out in the open or in sieges before city walls. Castle comes with knights and angels, Inferno features imps and demons, Necropolis boasts wights and liches, Rampart is home to elves and unicorns, and so forth. Armies are fronted by heroes who level up and gain skills with might and magic as in any traditional Gygaxian RPG, but their ranks are filled with warriors, wizards, monsters, and more drawn from factions based on D&D archetypes. It's all a little ridiculous-you can't go five feet into the wilderness without tripping over a bunch of gems or running into a murderous pack of halberdiers-but the style perfectly brings to life a colorful, much-missed fantasy atmosphere that went out of vogue about the same time that Erol Otus stopped drawing the covers of D&D modules.Ĭombat runs a close second. The intricate nature of these maps has long been a hallmark of the HOMM franchise. There are an incredible number of goodies to be discovered, including resource pits, treasure piles, magical artifacts, wandering monsters, and even goofy treats like leprechauns with pots of gold. Exploring the world maps representing regions of the fantasy realm of Erathia is probably the most enjoyable part of HOMM III HD. The best part of HOMM III is exploring the richly detailed world maps.Īctivities are split between the three components of play: exploring, building cities, and engaging in combat. The gameplay is fundamentally identical: You take on the role of fantasy heroes in campaign scenarios, some 50 individual scenarios (most with stories and settings that make them play like mini-campaigns), and a number of local and online multiplayer modes of play. As the title indicates, Heroes of Might & Magic III HD is the same 16-year-old game with a facelift to satisfy modern tastes for high-resolution graphics. Set aside the aforementioned caveats for a moment, though, and note that this revamped HOMM III is mostly like the fantastic original game. That said, I have more than a few significant misgivings about the re-release's cost and content, especially when compared with the more complete versions of the original game on sale elsewhere online. The new HD edition of the game is also likely to sink its claws into you, so great is its power to absorb your time and your thoughts. Even if you don't remember the specifics, you may remember greatly enjoying the original Heroes of Might & Magic III-and perhaps getting lost in it for hours, days, weeks at a time.