Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars

The Good
A textbook example of why the mid-1990's were a golden age for computer games. HOMM 3 and 4 have more and faster-moving pixels, and more complex rules, but they have no soul.

HOMM 2 brings it all together -- the brightly-colored hand-drawn art, the beautiful atmospheric music, the charming content and the elegant gameplay, to make a perfect whole. The music, by the way, can be played by sticking the game in an ordinary CD player.

The personality of the game is light and playful. Unlike with Civilization II, I don't keep playing because I'm addicted, but because I'm in a universe that beats the crap out of the real world, riding a horse through green meadows and red and black lava fields, visiting witch doctors and haunted ruins, fighting zombies and dragons. This is how to do fantasy!

Interface-wise, a great feature of all the HOMM games is that you can right click on pretty much anything and get information.

The Bad
A little heavy on the battle. The scenarios are a lot funner to start than to finish.

The Bottom Line
Wonderful classic turn-based strategy fantasy game.

The Good
My feelings towards Heroes of Might and Magic II are a mixed bag. I both hate it and love it. How come? Difficult to answer... I guess I just keep comparing it to the glorious Master of Magic, and it consistantly fails to match it. But truth to be told, Heroes of Might and Magic II is an excellent game in all respects.

• High resolution, extremely sharp and smooth (on a P166) graphics. Animations are very good, landscapes and cities simply spectacular. While its sequel improved this aspect of the game considerably, Heroes II's graphics are certainly something to gawk at.
• Great music! Without a doubt the aspect of Heroes II I most appreciate is its music. Terrific MIDI soundtrack (which sounds particularly good with my AWE32), which has a few masterpieces and many great tracks.
• Good user interface. While I reckon it could be slightly improved, a lot of thought had been put into Heroes II, and to good use - the interface is very convenient, simple, easy to learn and makes a lot of sense.
• Great gameplay! Campaigns aside (I don't particularly like built-in campaigns anyway), Heroes II has great gameplay, without a shadow of a doubt. This game is addictive, so much in fact that I spent the better part of two months playing it and it alone.

The Bad
I'd say that the real caveat in Heroes of Might and Magic II is the pretty daft AI. Even in the most difficult setting the game isn't particularly hard (once you get past the computer's incredible spreading in the beginning of the game), and at the lower settings the game is particularly easy. The worst that the computer can do is annoy you.

Another caveat is the pretty lame in-game campaigns - they're just plain boring.

The Bottom Line
A true classic. Everyone knows this game, most people love it and everyone will remember it in years to come.

The Good
The music is GORGEOUS. CD based, hell, I'd cut me a copy just to listen to in the car.

The graphics are quite attractive.

I think the spell system is an improvement over the original (spell points instead of memorization). And certainly the wide range of abilities now available to characters is great fun.

I think the campaigns are EXCELLENT. In fact, I played them to the exclusion of the single shot scenarios. During a lull in work I got so hooked on this game that I spent 10 days straight, from the time I got up to the time I went to bed just beating the campaigns.

The Bad
The strategy becomes early apparent. Build up one hero to disgusting levels, lump him with all your most powerful monsters and stomp some computer ass.

Other than that, flawless. I prefer this game to Heroes III.

The Bottom Line
One of the all time best fantasy strategy games.