Without further ado, let's head to the first game on our countdown from the same creators as a previous game:
21. Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars
3DO/New World Computing
PC
1996
GameSpot Review - 8.2
Strategy
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/heroe...2_gold_edition
The GameSpot evaluation is a travesty, in my opinion. They gave HOMM3 a 9.1 and even the woefully problematic MOMM4 an 8.6, but HOMM2, which is absolutely the definitive version of the game just got a 8.2.
When you read the review of the third game, it's almost like they admit their mistake in evaluating the second game so badly. Here's a quote:
Quote:
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Best known for its long running Might and Magic role-playing series, New World has since created the offshoot Heroes of Might and Magic turn-based strategy series, which has nearly eclipsed its role-playing progenitor with the sheer amount of critical and popular acclaim it's earned. It's no coincidence - the Heroes formula is one of the most brilliant strategy game designs ever conceived, with its careful blend of micro- and macromanagement within a distinctive fantasy setting.
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This shows that HOMM2 was an amazing game and recognized as such, despite the poor GameSpot rating. You don't say, "(O)ne of the most brillant strategy game designs ever conceived" unless you mean it or you're full of it. I think the former is true in this case.
What is HOMM2 all about then? Heroes of Might and Magic is a strategy game with several levels. You begin by selecting a "caste" but its not really like that. You can be a Warlock with a town that makes Hydras, Gargoyles, Centaurs and more. Or, you can be a Necromancer with a town that makes Zombies, Skeletons, and more undead. There are several choices.
Then you can select a Might or a Magic hero, unless you chose Barbarians, because they don't get Magic heroes. The Might heroes specialize in helping their armies win through arms while Magic heroes specialize in learning and casting spells.
As you adventure, your hero learns and gains experience. They will have an opportunity to learn new skills and advance in those they already know. Magic Power, Magic Knowledge, Tracking and Pathfinding, Morale, and more are all skills your hero can learn.
Your heroes also will likely accumulate various artifacts with a variety of effects. These gadgets and trinkets can sometimes wrest victory from the jaws of defeat. While adventuring, you can also come across a variety of fountains, huts, towers, ruins, and more, and all of them are different, with effects, items, information, and such.
So, on one level, you have one or more heroes traipsing through the wilderness and gaining expereince, skills, and items in an RPG sort of way. That's one level.
Here is a pic of the overland map with the hero adventuring through it:
One the next level you have resource management. There are a lot of resources in the game (gold, wood, iron, crystal, mercury, crystal and sulfur). There are mines and raw materials in the world and you need to harvest them so you can get certain monsters in your army and certain buildings in your town. On a second level, the game is about resource managment.
On a third level, the game is about town management. You have a town with a variety of buildings you can build, and you will slowly figure out what to build. Some buildings allow you to recruit monsters. If you are a Wizard town, and you build a Golem Foundry, then you can begin recruiting golems. Later, you can upgrade the Golem Foundry and recruit more powerful golems. Likewise, you can build a Mage's tower and being recruiting Magi. Later, you can upgrade the tower and begin recruiting Archmagi.
Some buildings may help with resource gathering. The Sorceress town has a crystal fountain that makes a bit of crystal each game week. You can build a a statue that brings in a bit more gold each week.
Yet other buildings help your hero. All towns can build a Mage's Guild levels one through five. Each level allows your heroes to get a spellbook if they need one and learn spells up to the level of their magic proficiency. High level spells can alter the course of battle with one go.
Here is a fully built up Barbarian town:
Therefore, the game is also a city management game.
Lastly, there is the army management and battle level. You are recruting monsters in an army that your hero leads, but does not fight in. Your hero will add to the battle prowess of your army, and some skills come into play during battle. Once per round, your hero can cast a spell or take another action, like firing a bow into the fray.
Your units are in stacks and are move as a unit, fastest unit first, in a turn based setting similar to chess. Units can move, and attack. Some units are archer units and can fire a weapon. Some can fly anywhere on the map and attack. Tons of units have special abilities. For example, the Crusader attacks twice and the Unicorn, in addition to attacking, has a chance to Blind the defending unit afterwards.
After attacking a unit, it then has a chance to counterattack. Therefore, you have to be careful who you attack. After a unit has counter attacked once, it will not be able to counter again until it next takes a turn. This gives you an opportunity to get in a few free hits.
Here combat is being waged in the desert. This is at the beginning of combat, and the player on the right has three units of Titans and two units of Archmagi - all ranged combatants. You can see the chess-like grid that covers the area. Monsters have a range they can move.
There are two factors helping or hurting your army - morale and luck. You could get positive or negative luck through spells cast, items and hero abilities. When luck struck, you would either deal double or half damage (based on whether you were lucky or unlucky.
Like luck, you could either have positive or negative morale. Some monsters never benefited from or suffered from morale. A negative morale would cause a unit to lose its turn and a positive morale gave it a seocnd turn after it completed its first. There were more factors that affected morale than luck. If your army was all from one faction or caste type, it got a morale bonus. The more troops from different factions were added to the army, the more morale would drop. Living creatures fighting alongside undead would suffer a massive morale drop.
As you can hopefully see, the game was a complex combination of a variety of elements that came together to give it a tapestry that really felt like it fully involved you. There are tons of things I haven't mentioned, little details. For example, you could sail at sea with a boat. You could capture other cities through sieges that were much different than normal combat. There were dungeon places onteh map where you had to defeat a certain number of monsters in order to raid the spot. There was a necromancy skill that allowed the hero to raise a certain percentage, based on skill level, of killed monsters as skeletons. This is just the prophetic tip of the iceberg.
Multiplayer is great with the game, and I loved playing it hotseat.
I hope you can see the detail that this game provided. In fact, the most recent iteration, HOMM5 was released a few months ago. They've added a lot since HOMM2, like underground travel, new cities, new monsters, and a 3D overland view. Still, the HOMM2 game was the absolute essential version of the game. It was the one that got the formula down.
-Anxiety
EDIT: I forgot one thing. The music. The music is amazing, and sometimes I'll just play the disc as a music disc. The music writer wrote these classical piece for the game, and many of them are OPERA. If you think I'm kidding, I'm not. The operatic parts of the soundtrack makes the HOMM2 soundtrack one of the most distinctive in all video games.