"It's not perfect, but it's still an impressive game that I highly recommend."

I've been a cult follower of the series since around Heroes II or III. It's definitely one of the most memorable fantasy franchises around, and I've had extremely high hopes for this game. With that in mind, I'll admit that I was not one hundred percent satisfied with the game, but that's how it is with *every* game I have high hopes for.

Graphics: 8/10

My PC is a pile of crap, so I can't say much about the quality of the graphics- I've had all the eyecandy turned off and the settings are on Very Low. But, if it looks as good as it does on minimum settings, I'm sure it looks downright *amazing* with everything turned up. The spells and animations are spectacular, and the monsters are pretty terrifying. The only thing that truly bothers me is that they didn't bother to have the characters' mouths move during cutscenes. That was okay, say five years ago. Nowadays, especially considering that Nival did a fine job making the game look good, it's just not acceptable.

Sound: 8/10

The music is pretty good. I'd say the earlier games had better music, but Nival still did a good job. It really fits what I've come to expect from Heroes

Gameplay: 9/10

This is where the game shines. The game is simply addicting as hell and fun to play. Nival was very faithful to the old games, which makes the rest of us fans very very happy. It doesn't break very much new ground, but it doesn't *need* to. The formula works. They added things here and there, my favorite being the initiative bar. Knowing exactly what order everybody is going to be moving is a *huge* help and allows me to coordinate my attacks accordingly. I think it really deepened the strategic level of the battle system.

Replay value 8/10

I'll admit that there is no map editor yet. But one will be coming. And when it does, expect an assload of people to take full advantage of it. Even without the custom maps, the handful of maps provided on release are still a blast to play through multiple times.

I'm not going to comment on the multiplayer, as I haven't had a chance to play much of it yet. From what I hear, though, it's very buggy and hard to get going. The Ghost Mode sounds very intriguing, though.

If Nival simply fixes the bugs that are holding the game back and releases the map editor, then this game will easily become a 9/10. If you enjoy turn-based fantasy gameplay, then you will *love* this game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/26/06