A step forward from HOMM 4. But still two steps back from the great HOMM 3.
This game has a few ups and downs. For a true "homm". lover it's partly disappointing but still has some nice new features. It's hard to get used to this if you compare it to homm3, which I completely love. But is it worth playing? Well, you have to like the up blown graphics and the controls to live through it. If you do, you'll have a nice time with this one.
Graphics: 5.5/10
The biggest problem I have with this game is the FAT graphics. Almost everything is big - which just makes everything look fat when you don't have anything else to compare with. The cursor is fat, the adventuring hero is fat, the menus are fat, the trees are fat. You don't get the same feeling of exploring a giant world as you did in homm3. But if you don't mind the fat-ness and the "kind of" plastic feel of games like Warcraft 3, you will like the general look of this game. The world is still NICE but when showing a lot of the landscape at the same time will be really LAGGY even on never computers, (I wonder if they could have coded the graphics differently). The unit pictures could be much nicer in my opinion. The graphical effects are nice, but then, I se them with all graphic settings on high. On low graphic setting this isn't that nice. And as for the title screen, doesn't it look just like the one in Warcraft 3?
Sound: 4.5/10
The sounds are OK. But then the music is kind of BORING most of the time.
Game play: 6.0/10
There are a lot of INTERESTING skills, spells and units. The different races are ok but perhaps a bit to similar from each other. But there are HOLES in the game play, for instance there is no "wait" button in battle mode - which force you to use the keyboard when you otherwise just could use your mouse. The invert mouse option makes the controls good in Y axis but bad in X axis (or vice versa depending on what you are used to). I also miss some information of the different units when I really need it. Also, it seems like you can't dismiss units when running around on the map.
Idea: 8.0/10
The general idea of the game is the same as its prerunners. It's a step forward in game play if you compare to homm4 where the armies mostly wiped each other out because of the simultaneous retaliation. Now it's more like the turn based originals, with a NEW and interesting turn order depending on the units "initiative". But I wouldn't mind if the game just were a more nicely looking copy of homm3.
Story 3.5/10
The game is really LACKING a sense of engagement in the story. The single player campaigns is glued together, but not very strongly. There are some cool events throughout the storyline but everything about the story feels half done. You don't really connect with your heroes or their cause.
I really do hope that the general menu system is a bit smaller and user friendly in the next Heroes game. If it is, I think it will overcome most of the errors in this game and be a great success!