HoMM 5 - Hammers of Fate - Ships to NA Retail
 

Nival's expansion for Heroes of Might and Magic is on its way to NA retail:
More information.

Farmers of Hate finally ships! Turn-based combat still lives, even with massive system-slowing modern graphics.
Life is good ; )
Everybody has issues with the big game developers—and rightfully so—but I have to admit that Ubi has done a pretty good job of resurrecting a dead franchise.

First, they picked Nival to do the game, about the only devs doing turn-based strat games not in the war genre. Then they patched HOMMV four times since its release a few months ago, each time adding a few fan-based requests. And now this crazy concept of an expansion that actually expands the game-with:
"A new faction, the dwarves
• 15 new missions, new heroes, and improved cut-scenes(Thank god for that—those cutscenes were embarassing)
• new spells and abilities, 5 new single-player maps, 10 new multiplayer maps, new buildings, new artifacts, and new neutral creatures, …
• New features, such as Caravans and a random map generator,(fan requested-I should proably say fan demanded) …"etc,etc, etc

Too bad its such a system hog, but I guess that's something you have to resign yourself to these days.

I know there probably will be a lot of issues that disappoint the hardcore—there always are-but at least somebody is giving us the game back.

I got to play a bit of HoMM5 on a friend's PC (he's a total addict of that stuff) and it seemed pretty good - I don't track it so I had no idea that a add-on was coming. Too bad I have so much other stuff on my plate.

I never managed to get the retail release on my video card, though I did manage to start one of the early betas, and I like what I see.

It's very addicting, and very faithful to the old games I think. If I can remember right, the old series (HOMM I)started as a little program that Jon Von Canegham (of the now defunct 3DO) invented and played in off moments at work—then everybody in the office started hanging out on his computer playing it…it's very hard to put down. It's a lot prettier these days, but the game mechanics are virtually identical.

I liked HoMMV although I didn't finish the SP campaign. I thought the cutscenes were ok. Not so distracting or pointless as they've been done in other games including HoMMIV.

I remember There was a lot of flack over poor MP and lack of a toolset. Have these been addressed?

I don't want to, but I feel obliged to bring up the old 2d vs 3d debate. While 3D may be nice in some kings of games, it is of little necessity to TBS games. Biggest example, Worms. Worms 3D and onwards are have only a shadow of their anscestors, notably Armgeddon. On the other hand, in Heroes V it may not be a burden (apart from sys reqs) and some of the art itself is nice, I still believe the now 'bout 10 years old HMM titles to look prettier than Nival work.

Couldn't agree more. To be fair to Nival, Ubisoft just wouldn't have backed a non-3D game, but the 3D aspect adds nothing.

It was addicting 'til I kept falling asleep sitting up!

Well, that's one heck of a recommendation right there ladies and gentlemen :lol:

That is when I know it is time to turn off the DS / PSP and go to sleep ;)

On the 2D/3D debate, I agree 100%, but publishers think you need eyecandy to sell a game—any game.

I think the graphics are indeed somewhat of a burden in HOMMV, but at least the core elements of the game remain the same. All the window-dressing does slow the play, tho-and once you are actually playing the game you don't notice it anyway.

Still, I think Nival did a fairly good job of not turning it into "Etherlords III of Might and Magic" either artwise or play-wise.

The art of the old titles is charming, but some of the effects the fan mapmakers are getting with the new map editor are pretty amazing.

It's amusing that the fan base wrote a better manual, are constantly coming up with all kinds of mods & tweaks that enrich the game, and often make better maps than the people who are getting paid for it. You see this with a lot of games—once they come out, they get better through the efforts of the players and not the publishers who wash their hands of it once the title is sold. That's why I was giving a bit of a tip of the hat to Ubi for at least making an effort to do something after publication.

@Lucky Day
The cutscenes were okay, except for the non-moving lips thing and the swooping dramatic spell-casting gestures at the end of each sentence. ;) As pure cinematics, some of them were stunning at times, especially the ones for the Sylvan campaign.