Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra

"Why this was ever brought to a console port will forever be a mystery"

Might and Magic III has just about everything you can possibly do wrong with an RPG video game. Everything from shoddy gameplay to no coherent storyline. Games like this were never meant to be console games yet the creators figure with enough money involved, anything is possible no matter how horrendous or repulsive the results are. That's the only logical reason I can think of why MM3 was transmutated into this sorry mess.

GRAPHICS (3/10) - Somehow New World went from average VGA graphics to horrendous NES 8-bit cartoons here. I assume it was to match its equally horrendous gameplay.

STORY (3/10) - Apparently you have to go find some powerful wizard and unravel the mysteries of the land you're exploring. In between are obligatory dungeons and caves for experience. Not exactly mind-blowing.

GAMEPLAY (1/10) - One word. Ridiculous. Since this game is menu-driven, the lack of a mouse renders nearly all actions to borderline tedium. It would help if the windows could cycle quicker as you try to flip through them, but since that would obviously increase the enjoyment factor of the game, no such luck. Here's something else that's troubling. Your party, fresh and extremely weak, are wandering around the town perusing the stores, and occassionally running away from monsters (more about this later) when suddenly you encounter a door of sorts. Now there are two types of doors in this game. One you can simply walk through (like inns, stores, etc). Others you either have to bash, or you cast an ethereal spell to walk through them. Now that damn spell is NOT available early in the game so your only option is to bash them down. However, bashing causes damage to your front two characters. Your primary combat characters are going to go from full health to near death just by breaking down one door which you have to do in order to gain access to that area. Where the hell is the logic in this? Speaking of logic, having monsters roaming free around town and are obviously more powerful than your weakling party is no help either. Ever heard of game balance? The first dungeon you have access to in composed of mostly undead. Skeletons, to be exact, that can wipe the floor with your party in two rounds flat. Again, where is the logic?

SOUND/MUSIC (4/10) - Some of the old midi tracks were actually pretty good. Other then that, there is little to no sound effects to speak of in the game. Enjoy the music.

OVERALL (3/10) - The game is best left forgotten. Period.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 03/11/03, Updated 04/24/03