14 DAY TRIAL // I do not have a celebrity-meter and, even if I had one, I wouldn?t need it. There is no doubt that the HoMM is a full-fledged celebrity: with its vicissitudes, with its immortal charisma, and a huge (though, unofficial) number of fans.
Four years have passed since its fourth title and a hefty seven years period from the third and most successful one. Many have lost their hope to see the legend reborn because the last one (Heroes IV) proved to be a double-edged nightmare that broke both the hearts of all M&M fans and the patched bottom of 3DO?s bag.
Ubisoft (the publisher of exquisite works of art as well as monumental garbage) and Nival Interactive (the developer of titles like Blitzkrieg and Etherlords) probably without fully sharing their reasons (one for the money, the other for the glory) promise the rabid fans a grand rebirth of this TBS King. However, serious gamers lost their appetite for synthetic junk that bears glorious names and promise fancy graphics and gameplay. A great fear lurks inside their hearts and veins. Their concerns point out a fact of utter importance: there is a great chance the game isn?t designed to satisfy every veteran?s lust for ?state-of-the-art? HoMM gameplay, but to make the eye of every ?brain-dead, console-based, snobbish, ego(-centric) fan? tremble with the pleasure of possessing the latest in graphic development, technology, so forth, so forth. They are probably right, as Ubidoft is ? at least for now ? sitting on a ?dragon?s worth of gold? and does not care about some fanatics? opinions. The market of today is swarming with teenagers who, by the time ravagers like me dumped everything down the drain to make space for the HoMM bliss into my life (The Succession Wars and the Price Of Loyalty), found their true and only joy in their mothers? arms.
The open beta of Heroes V has sufficient strong-points to convince a single-player maniac like me that it has kept its ancient spirit in terms of gameplay (allow me to compare it with chess: easy to learn, irrepressible seductive, but hard to master). However, multiplayer champions cannot be fooled so easily. Unbalanced factions (just take a pick at: the undead with the necromancy skill + no rest for the wicked, inferno with gating skill), disproportionate level-up (stroll to level 25 and crawl to the 30th), inadequate creature skill representation (for instance the Minotaur should inspire terror through its skills), high system requirements, a fully 3D adventure map that forces the player to overuse the rotate camera option in order to spot even the most insignificant objects are just some of the essential problems of the game. And they are right. Even if it is a beta version, these problems shouldn?t be experienced if the overall features of the game would have been thoroughly thought over.
All ?Heroes Of might And Magic? communities and fan sites have allied to convince the publisher to postpone the release of the game. They have also written a petition in which they beg Ubisoft not to release the game on the 31st of March. They believe that if Heroes V will be rushed out on the market, it will share the same fate with its predecessor.
Superstition or not, if this game will prove a failure once again, it is probable that it will die forever. While once HoMM was the pride of TBS games (being one of the most adored games at that time, even occasional gamers referred to HoMM as one of the best game experiences in their entire lives), today it is just a secluded ruin of its former self.
I believe that Nival is a studio formed of talented programmers and artists, therefore up for the task to revive this forsaken and forgotten game and its universe and bring it back to its former glory. Moreover, I am certain that ? no matter what Nival?s product value will be - Ubisoft has enough resources and willpower to sell Heroes as it is ? by just removing those watermarks ? and still hit jackpot. And this will devastate the last bastion of Heroes fanatics (around ten thousand).
We, conservative gamers must understand that times have changed, people have changed and values once prized no longer exist. The HoMM myth has died out long ago and it will never come back as a new game title. It will always survive in our minds as our youth does. Heroes V will only refresh this beloved (and adorned) memory and that is it. Some of us must accept the fact we do not represent the bulk of the game buyers anymore. Therefore, our opinions do not matter as much as they did in the past (which, to be honest, not even than mattered as much as we like to think).
From what I have seen, Heroes V is true to its third counterpart, as winter resembles summer. However, this doesn?t mean I am not proud of it. Excellent or lousy, it will write another page in game?s history as one of the most cherished, debated and long lived TBS of our times.
As a true fan of HoMM, I will buy it no matter what. This is the only way to give MYSELF another chance to see the Heroes I grieve and yearn for. Every true supporter of HoMM must realize that only a financial success will SAVE the series.
Additional Note (January 31st, 2006):
After consulting with an UbiSoft representative, we have obtained an official position about the importance of the HoMMunity input. The release date of the Heroes of Might and Magic V has been postponed for the Q2 of 2006 fiscal year. Ubisoft is deeply concerned about the future titles under the Might and Magic brand. This decision allows Nival more time to thoroughly analyze the results of the beta testing, therefore ensuring that the game will meet the high standards that Might and Magic fans expect.