Darren S
ClioSport Club Member
Picked up HOMM5 Gold Edition from Play earlier this week. It's a rare find as the HOMM series has never really been mainstream. And while the core game itself is not common at all, the expansion packs were virtually impossible to pick up from the high street.
The exception to this was HOMM3, which is still common in many a bargain bin at the likes of Game, HMV, etc. It was arguably the 'peak' of the series - finished off with some truly superb music and backdrops that added much depth to the game overall. It was also (iirc) one of the last titles made by New World Computing - one of the pioneers of RPGs from the mid-80s.
HOMM4 naturally replaced it and that sucked - big time. It was truly awful and failed in literally every sense to expand and develop upon the legacy of the series.
Thankfully, HOMM5 returned to the great days of old and for a bargain £15.99 this week, I managed to get the core game and both the expansions - Hammers of Fate and Tribes from the East. The latter itself is almost an new game in its own right - being over 2.5GB in size - you could almost class it as HOMM5.5.
Anyways, for those unfamiliar (or even remotely interested by now
) with HOMM5 - it is essentially a typical RPG-fare, but focused within two distinct game modes. One is the adventure map, where you move your hero(es) around the map, collecting various resources, capturing towns and garrisons and ultimately getting involved with a bit of combat.
Combat itself is the other half of the game - which is a turn by turn affair where you aim to maximise your unit's abilities against those on the other side. This part is where the charm of the HOMM series really lies. There are literally hundreds of units to recruit, upgrade and take into battle. Each unit type has a stats page, detailing the usual hit points, movement, shots, mana, etc - together with any unique abilities. It's quite easily to fumble through HOMM clicking one of your units to fight another unit, but to get the most out of it - careful planning is much better - layering your attacks so that the most powerful adversery is either limited in its ability to fight back or rendered useless during the battle.
Time for a few pics.....
Titles screen of the main game and the first expansion....
Early campaign mode. Not much going on here, but it's typical of the adventure mode part of the game. It's in full 3D too, so 360 scrolling and in-and-out zooming are possible.
No choice in your hero at the start of the campaign. Skirmish mode allows you to pick any hero within the game and the maps can be randomly generated to - adding masses of replay value.
Plenty of tutorial tips earlier on....
Level up!
Units can be upgraded also. In this case the standard footman can become a squire, who's unique ability allows him to provide shield cover from arrows for adjacent units.
Upgrades like the cavalier below...
....can become the much more potent paladins, for example...
Pint of, please. The first settlement you get in the game - Strongbow.
A few more adventure map screens....
Combat phase. Again, this is in true 3D, but I tend to keep it in the default side view. My units on the left, the opposition on the right.
I did quite well that round.
Not all combat is based on one powerful unit against another. Sometimes pure numbers can be thrown against you...
Lastly, one shot of the underground cavern section that I got to before saving it...
All in all, HOMM5 is a very, very good and unique type of RPG game. As I mentioned, the Gold Edition in particular is a rare find and Play has a couple left - though the guy selling one at £55 must be on bloody crack - lol.
http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/338...old-Edition/Product.html?ptsl=1&ob=Price&fb=0
Still not convinced? There's a demo located here....
http://www.gamershell.com/download_13278.shtml
D.
The exception to this was HOMM3, which is still common in many a bargain bin at the likes of Game, HMV, etc. It was arguably the 'peak' of the series - finished off with some truly superb music and backdrops that added much depth to the game overall. It was also (iirc) one of the last titles made by New World Computing - one of the pioneers of RPGs from the mid-80s.
HOMM4 naturally replaced it and that sucked - big time. It was truly awful and failed in literally every sense to expand and develop upon the legacy of the series.
Thankfully, HOMM5 returned to the great days of old and for a bargain £15.99 this week, I managed to get the core game and both the expansions - Hammers of Fate and Tribes from the East. The latter itself is almost an new game in its own right - being over 2.5GB in size - you could almost class it as HOMM5.5.
Anyways, for those unfamiliar (or even remotely interested by now
) with HOMM5 - it is essentially a typical RPG-fare, but focused within two distinct game modes. One is the adventure map, where you move your hero(es) around the map, collecting various resources, capturing towns and garrisons and ultimately getting involved with a bit of combat.Combat itself is the other half of the game - which is a turn by turn affair where you aim to maximise your unit's abilities against those on the other side. This part is where the charm of the HOMM series really lies. There are literally hundreds of units to recruit, upgrade and take into battle. Each unit type has a stats page, detailing the usual hit points, movement, shots, mana, etc - together with any unique abilities. It's quite easily to fumble through HOMM clicking one of your units to fight another unit, but to get the most out of it - careful planning is much better - layering your attacks so that the most powerful adversery is either limited in its ability to fight back or rendered useless during the battle.
Time for a few pics.....
Titles screen of the main game and the first expansion....
Early campaign mode. Not much going on here, but it's typical of the adventure mode part of the game. It's in full 3D too, so 360 scrolling and in-and-out zooming are possible.
No choice in your hero at the start of the campaign.
Skirmish mode allows you to pick any hero within the game and the maps can be randomly generated to - adding masses of replay value.Plenty of tutorial tips earlier on....
Level up!
Units can be upgraded also. In this case the standard footman can become a squire, who's unique ability allows him to provide shield cover from arrows for adjacent units.
Upgrades like the cavalier below...
....can become the much more potent paladins, for example...
Pint of, please.
The first settlement you get in the game - Strongbow.A few more adventure map screens....
Combat phase. Again, this is in true 3D, but I tend to keep it in the default side view. My units on the left, the opposition on the right.
I did quite well that round.
Not all combat is based on one powerful unit against another. Sometimes pure numbers can be thrown against you...
Lastly, one shot of the underground cavern section that I got to before saving it...
All in all, HOMM5 is a very, very good and unique type of RPG game. As I mentioned, the Gold Edition in particular is a rare find and Play has a couple left - though the guy selling one at £55 must be on bloody crack - lol.
http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/338...old-Edition/Product.html?ptsl=1&ob=Price&fb=0
Still not convinced? There's a demo located here....
http://www.gamershell.com/download_13278.shtml
D.
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