So, the good news first: Heroes of Might and Magic V is really quite good, and from what little time I could spend with it, I really like it.
It's a bit weird (good weird), because on one hand thankfully it does feel like a nice throwback to previous good HOMM titles like II and III. The mechanics that make a game a HOMM game are there, and they're virtually untouched. And on the other hand, since it's made by those crazy communists at Nival Interactive it has a certain, lingering taste to some of their other nice titles like Silent Storm and Etherlords. Which is always nice to have.
So there was a nice collusion of old things there, which managed to create a very nice new thing. It makes sense in my head, like most things in the world.
I haven't played much of it all. Why? Read on. But the thing is that this feels like a severe and crystalline cleansing mouthwash from the aberration that was HOMM IV. And that's so good I could cry. I suppose if the mapping community can get behind this one like they did for HOMM III, and the map editor permits, we should see the life of the game extended dramatically.
My only sort-of-complaint is that it does not have a random map/scenario generator. Not a sandbox mode like RRT2. I mean just a random map generator. That would've been great, given the relative lack of "skirmish" maps the game comes with (only 5 or 6 I think).
Plus, it looks the bomb bizomb.
Now why, you may ask, have I not spent as much time with as I would've liked? Three Four letters that should be in every PC gamer's lexicon by now. And they're dreaded. B-S-O-D. Apparently there's an issue, a known issue, that predominantly appears on Radeon cards where the game just happily and contundently destroys the space-time continuum, and the resulting hyperdimensional vortex locks your computer. A hard reset is the only choice. And of course this appears randomly.
However… since it's video related, I've been mucking around a bit and found out thanks to angry forum postings and some trial and error, that if you dive into the .inis and make sure the config tells it to start in windowed mode at 800×600, the sessions last longer. It doesn't eliminate the problem, mind you. But you don't get dumped every 3-5 minutes. Cutting edge technology + rushed release = Cubits of fun!
Anyway, I've read the issue has been identified and should be resolved in an upcoming patcharoo. So we'll see.
