A good old game
By blog on Jun. 24, 2009.
Of late I have been playing two games. Starfy, as I have mentioned, and an old favorite of mine, Heroes of Might and Magic III. This game was originally released way back in 1999, so I have to play it on a tiny little window lest it look absolutely terrible.
The Heroes of Might and Magic series has seen five incarnations, as well as two spin offs. With the exception of the latest version, I have played all the games in the series. Of all those, HOMM3 is my favorite, for a number of reasons. HOMM3 has by far the most ‘adult’ graphics. The first two in the series, for obvious reasons, have a kind of MS Paint colour scheme. It’s bright, and the graphics are extremely limited. Okay, that’s understandable. The fourth and fifth titles in the series, have a horrible, cartoonish feel to them. Now I love cartoons, and I love HOMM, but the two don’t mix at all!
I honestly can’t believe the way that HOMM5 looks, it is really, really disappointing. The thing that really irritates me about the graphics on HOMM5 is the fact that it looks like an updated World of bloody Warcraft. I hate that game, I dislike the WoW-kids that play it, and I bloody hate when other games try to emulate any aspect of it purely because it has such a high number of subscribers… it comes down to money. Now, I know that there is a possibility that that wasn’t what the creators of HOMM5 were doing, but why not go back to a graphics style that actually looks good!? I’m wearing my angry face, now.
Okay, back to what I like about HOMM3… The troop types diverged a little bit from the first two games, and I think it was for the best. The town view screens look good, and are clear and easy to use. I like fact that the hero isn’t used in the same way that it is in HOMM4 and HOMM5, he sits there up at the top, can cast spells, but isn’t in the battle proper. I also like that each city type, Rampart, Castle, Necropolis, etc, has it’s own play style. You really do need to learn exactly what each troop type is capable of, and it can make or break you in-game. So, now I am off to play some more of the game. Oh, and make my own map! That is so much fun, even if it takes about a year for a large map to be well done.
Category: Technology