"I shed my tear for this beloved series two games ago"

SIGH. 3DO simply doesn't know when to stop when it comes to producing lame sequels. The last time Might and Magic had life to it was VI. This game was fresh, somewhat innovative, and reasonably good graphically for its time. Old school M&M fans had been waiting on a new M&M game for a longtime and New World Computing produced a winner in VI.

Well, maybe it's time this series go back into hiatus, because releasing new M&M games every few years has completely tarnished the reputation of this beloved series. VII was more or less a VI clone. One clone is pushing it. VIII was another clone of VI with minor alterations and pushed the series' fans to the limit. They demanded a quality M&M game. With IX, that quality M&M still hasn't arrived.

Today's PC RPG market is nowhere near as barren like it was in the past. Games like Fallout, Planescape: Torment, and Morrowind pushed the genre to new heights in many categories, from storytelling to the development of a beautiful gameworld. M&M IX doesn't push the bar, and in fact, is inferior to a lot of RPGs released years before it.

Let's start with the most glaring element: the graphics. This game gives the LithTech engine a bad name. It isn't even funny how good No One Lives Forever 2 looks in comparison to this game, and they both use the LithTech engine! Graphics aren't the most important element to an RPG, but 3D0 is dropping the ball in all games it produces when it comes to graphics. Just like how High Heat Baseball pales in comparison graphically to its competitors, M&M IX looks poor in comparison to its RPG brethren. And at least High Heat has great gameplay.

So, here we are, talking about the gameplay, the core of a PC RPG. It is basically the same thing as before, which is actually a good thing. The game has a good skillset, and being able to upgrade your profession gives the player a sense of accomplishment when he is able to do so. The only major retouching here is the magic system, where you need knowledge in multiple schools now to cast some spells. Combat has also been improved, namely due to better monster AI. It was a joke how in recent M&M games you could easily mop up your oposition with ranged weapons and spells to easily. The AI now does a better job of not simply rushing at the line of fire.

Now back to the bad. Whereas RPGs in recent years have improved upon their respective RPG series' storytelling with each new game (Morrowind is better then Daggerfall at storytelling, BG2 is much better than BG), M&M continues to be stuck in the doldrums. There isn't an iota of interest to be gleamed from this game's storyline. It simply sets up an excuse to commit yourself to wasting time doing all these basically random quests. The gameworld is another negative. Not only are the graphics not that good, but the world is mainly populated by lifeless NPCs. What good is a large gameworld if it is ugly and dearly lacking in life? And somethings just come off as plain stupid. Why bother having a inventory portrait if it remains static? I remember games many years ago like Ultima VII: Part 2 being dynamic in this regard. And I don't even want to spend time mentioning all the little bugs. 3DO products seem to be getting buggier and bugger with every release. M&M IX is the buggiest M&M yet, just like High Heat 2004 is the buggiest High Heat.

I can still remember the days when I was amazed by Worlds of Xeen or M&M 3. This was Might and Magic at its best. But like the Ultima series, Might and Magic has fallen into disregard due to its latest products being a bunch of duds. The competition today in the RPG market is stiffer than ever, and New World Computing was unable to to meet that task's requirements. Are the days of a quality Might and Magic game behind us? They just might.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 03/14/03, Updated 03/14/03