Heroes of Might and Magic VI Returns Fantasy to Strategy in 2011

[Tom Goldman]

Heroes of Might and Magic VI Returns Fantasy to Strategy in 2011

More top-down strategic Might & Magic gameplay is coming in 2011 from Ubisoft's just-announced Heroes of Might & Magic VI.

Ubisoft recently updated the Might & Magic Facebook page [http://www.facebook.com/MightandMagic] with a short teaser video showing an angelic character with wings that were burning away, which ended with the message: "A new Might & Magic era begins." It turns out that the era being spoken of was for Heroes of Might & Magic VI.

Heroes of Might & Magic is a spin-off of the classic Might & Magic RPG series that began in the mid-1980s. However, Heroes, inspired by King's Bounty [http://www.amazon.com/Kings-Bounty-Legend-Pc/dp/B0012N2AB6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1282079111&sr=8-1], is much different as a top-down strategy game that has players commanding various groups of heroes to accumulate resources, armies, and new cities in the quest to dominate all opponents.

The series has been on a roller coaster since the release of the original Heroes of Might & Magic in 1995, with critics either loving or hating each entry in the series, though Heroes of Might & Magic V [http://www.amazon.com/Heroes-Might-Magic-IV-Complete-Pc/dp/B00199589Y/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1282079055&sr=8-4] brought the game back up to par in 2006.

Heroes of Might & Magic VI is under development by Black Hole Entertainment, known for real-time tactical game Warhammer: Mark of Chaos [http://www.amazon.com/Warhammer-Chaos-Battle-March-Bundle-Pc/dp/B001DW00YU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1282078070&sr=8-1] and its expansion. The game is promoted as "remasterized" to "keep the original Heroes spirit, while enhancing the RPG elements." HOMM VI takes place 400 years before HOMM V during a war between the Angels and the dynasty of the Griffin Dukes.

Gameplay is said to include a "brand new reputation system" that will give players choices on the paths they wish to take, and not just between going for the gold mine or the wood mill on a critical turn. It will have "extra-large adventure maps" and an "exclusive bestiary" as well. Finally, Ubisoft says HOMM VI players will be able to "post content and compete with your friends using a new and intelligent, online community interface" to tie in a social gaming aspect.

The small selection of screens released show grid-based battles that take place just like they used to, and gorgeous graphics. Strategy fans should have a new game to look forward to next year.

Permalink

 

[phoenix352]

hope it will be great..

 

[Shycte]

I loved HoMM 2 and still play it sometimes, but I'm not too sure of these new ones.

4 and 5 seems meh.

 

[DarkPanda XIII]

Wow, I guess playing too much Blizzard made me miss something here.

Meh, haven't really had the time to get into other series, so instead of tossing my opinion, he's a bag of Doritos.

Enjoy.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I was just playing 5. Yay! I was wondering when they'd announce this. As much as I love V (and probably this) it doesn't quite capture the charm that II and III had. I didn't mind IV, but it made a lot of poor decisions (although I liked the hero system in it).

Hopefully the towns will remain beautiful (especially the Haven ones).

I never got around to playing 5 but the fact that even if you won the fight but you hero died, you lost the game was the worst part about HoMM IV. Now that I have a computer that isn't shit I think I will pick this game up when it comes out. But the Barbarians best be in there or I won't be happy.

That's only on the campaigns. On the scenarios they are ressurected when you get back to town.

And umm... you might be dissapointed about barbarians. In V you cna only get them with the Tribes Of The East expansion and they're all just orcs, there aren't any human barbarian units or heroes at all.

 

[GrimTuesday]

HoMM was one of the first games I ever played so I am pretty excited for this. I never got around to playing 5 but the fact that even if you won the fight but you hero died, you lost the game was the worst part about HoMM IV. Now that I have a computer that isn't shit I think I will pick this game up when it comes out. But the Barbarians best be in there or I won't be happy.

 

[UnravThreads]

Tom, you've linked to the wrong King's Bounty. That one is a much more recent reinvention of the series. You want this one [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_bounty], which was done by the same people as HoMM, but predates the HoMM series by four years.

Pedantry aside, I'm very excited for this. Now to wait for information from the 1C booth.

 

[Plinglebob]

The small selection of screens released show grid-based battles that take place just like they used to, and gorgeous graphics. Strategy fans should have a new game to look forward to next year.

Finally, proof there is a God. Sadly, the release will probably be ruined by people complaining about turn based combat being slowand boring. Will probably end up buying this on release day.

I have various different release of all the games since 3 with the best one being the HOMM Collectors edition. I have fond memories of doing 4 player hot-seat of HOMM III on a mates aging PC. Now, if they could only release a patch to make HOMM IV work on 64bit systems, I'd be a very happy bunny.

I loved HoMM 2 and still play it sometimes, but I'm not too sure of these new ones.

4 and 5 seems meh.

HOMM III was the best of the bunch. 4 introduced the hero more into things which I didn't like and while I liked 5, it felt a lot like it was a case of "3 lite".

 

[Jared]

Oh wow. Cant believe I missed this. Thats epic news. Something to look forward to now, for sure!

 

[Infinatex]

Excited... yes! I still play HOMM3 every now and then. I've played and loved this series since I was a kid with Heroes 1. Can't wait for this new addition, hopefully it can bring back the glory days of Heroes 3!

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

5 was great but I was also one of the few who liked 4

5 also had issues where you could lock up your computer by turning the camera to the wrong angle (unless you were on a quad sli hydrogen cooled cray or something)

I have three beefs with that kind of gameplay. 1 is that you can't meaningfully defend because unless you have the majority of your army on offense you lose too many troops to each fight. 2 you have to have a delivery boy hero transporting the weekly supply of troops to your main hero while he explores the map. 3. you need lots of chump heros to just go back and forth between building to capture the weekly sawmill, weekly gem pile, weekly creature output etc or else you aren't playing optimized, that is a lot of annoying micromanagement.

 

[Stormz]

This is great, but will it have the famous Ubisoft DRM?

If not maybe I'll look out for it. I suck at these games but hey, whatever.

 

[UnravThreads]

This is great, but will it have the famous Ubisoft DRM?

R.U.S.E. doesn't, so we could be lucky and get Steamworks or "better" (i.e. Impulse or nothing more than a disc check).

 

[gibboss28]

Woop, can't wait. I hope its good.

 

[Amphoteric]

Highly doubt it will match might and magic 3. That was my favourite game for a long time.

 

[sturryz]

knowing Ubisoft I wouldn't hold your breath, their support for the PC in recent times has been very questionable. Feeling rather disappointed with Disciples 3 (which decided to ditch the approachable and streamlined gameplay of Disciples 2 for a Heroes of Might and Magic inspired gameplay system, with very mixed results.) but pushed on by the Kings Bounty games (which were pretty good.) I can't wait for HOMM 6, But you know what? I am really sick and tired of all these spinoffs, Give me a REAL Might and Magic game. I mean how is this a new "era"? It's the same game series you've been releasing for years. Give us Might and Magic 10

 

[Draithx]

Nice, HoMM is one the few great turn-based strategy games for the PC and I can't wait for it to get released. I actually enjoyed 4, but 3 is still my favorite.

 

[GothmogII]

That's actually kind of funny, Dave, since the -original- Heroes of Might & Magic [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_of_Might_and_Magic:_A_Strategic_Quest] was based on the original King's Bounty [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_bounty#King.27s_Bounty_and_Heroes_of_Might_and_Magic] both by New World Computing. How the wheel turns. Not very far it seems...eh Dave?

Also, is 'remasterized' a word? This bodes not well.

Tom, you've linked to the wrong King's Bounty. That one is a much more recent reinvention of the series. You want this one [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_bounty], which was done by the same people as HoMM, but predates the HoMM series by four years.

Pedantry aside, I'm very excited for this. Now to wait for information from the 1C booth.

I thought that too, but...something tells me they aren't going -that- far back, and most likely are looking at the success of the new King's Bounty and Armoured Princess, both of which got pretty excellent reviews.

 

[Worgen]

hurray, I loved me some heroes of might and magic V, I hope they dont fuck it up and make you use the ubisoft drm, cmon steam, STEAM FOR THE WIN!!

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

It's the same game series you've been releasing for years.

No it isn't. Ubisoft only got the rights to M&M when 3DO went bust.