What mostly leaves a certain perplexity is this experiment to bring Heroes on PS2, not the quality of the game in itself: can a game typically for PC be successful on a powerful console like this one? I guess this question is natural for the ones who played once (or more) HoM&M.
According to 3DO, it seems more than a possibility that Heroes will soon succeed, above all counting on the fact that in the world of videogames for PS2 there are not many strategic RPGs. Anyway, also according to the developers, the fact that Heroes has always been loyal to the tradition begun many years ago with the first chapter of the series, would represent another good reason for hoping into a big success.
For the enthusiasts of the series this game will probably be a must-have, while for the ones who still don’t know Heroes of Might and Magic, it could be a good occasion to fall in love with such a classic PC title.
We will see then...

The Story

Both for the ones who don't know Heroes and for the ones that already own other chapters of the series, is useful to say that the main elements of the game substantially didn't change: typical fantasy setting (forests, classical dungeons, castles, villages, lowlands and hills whether to fight or travel), typical characters of the old RPGs formula (ogres, knights, dwarves, magicians and dragons), gameplay based on turns, different categories among which to choose characters and so on. Besides all a huge series of side quests, there is a neat and fundamental mission: your king swallowed a powerful poison and for saving him you have to recover a rare artifact, the dragonbone staff, that has power to heal any accident. Unfortunately for you, the map that leads to the staff has been stolen by the bad guy, the perfidious Wyrm Dragon Malazak, and to get it back you will have to work very hard, fighting against 25 different typologies of enemies, a lot of them never seen in any of the preceding chapters of the series. Then, there are many different artifacts to recover, numerous castles and villages to conquer etc.etc...

The Gameplay

As I’ve already mentioned, like in the old episodes of Heroes, the game goes on with a turn-based system; players can also choose category of their own main character (the categories are four in all). In real-time you can follow the movements of the enemy, fights are based on turns and in this way you can also increase your strength and fortify your whole army. The characters that use magic, will be able during the battle to exploit spells from their own repertory, while other characters, as the warriors, will be able to exploit their own specific abilities. All this in line with the genuine tradition of RPGs.

3DO calculated that at least forty hours are needed to complete the mission!

The Graphics

This is probably the aspect that will be criticized of this game, because the graphics of Heroes didn’t evolve very much from one episode to another, remaining more or less at the same level from an episode to another. Anyway, there are some new features in this episode, like the third person view during battles and interesting pre-rendered FMV (surely not as spectacular as in other titles released for PS2, but however pleasant and loyal to the general atmosphere of the game).

Heroes Of Might And Magic: Quest for the Dragonbone staff will be released during this Spring.