Heroes of Might and Magic is a run-of-the-mill strategy game for the Game Boy Color. While fans of the series will be more tolerant than most, newcomers to the series or the genre may find the gameplay confusing and the learning curve too steep. If strategy games are your bag, though, Heroes of Might and Magic may be just what you are looking for if you should find yourself in need of a strategy fix while away from your console or PC.
Heroes of Might and Magic is slightly less than average in comparison with many of today's strategy titles, but it's actually a little too densely packed for the Game Boy Color, taking into account the limitations of the system. The gameplay in most strategy games, including this one, revolves around resource and troop management, battles with opposing forces, and simple quests for items that aid your party. Each world map contains 12 obelisks, each of which, when explored, yields a clue to the location of the ultimate artifact. And during your quest, three computer-controlled characters are also searching for this artifact. Whoever controls the most land, resources, and artifacts wins the scenario.
From the outset, you are given more than 30 scenarios to choose from, and you can customize the number of available resources and level of enemy intelligence. The difficulty level is a little too high, though, even if you start out with the highest available resources and set enemy AI to its lowest level. Even though the difficulty can be a bit frustrating, Heroes of Might and Magic retains some pretty decent replay value.
In the graphics and sound departments, Heroes of Might and Magic ultimately fails. The simple, tile-based art is overly simplistic, very dated, and often hard to recognize on the GBC's small screen. Nine times out of ten, you'll be left guessing what many of the graphics represent. To make matters even more confusing, descriptions of what the graphics represent are left out of the instruction booklet, save for a vague definition of what to look for. The soundtrack is also very simple and repetitive, and it is better turned on very low or turned off altogether.
In all, Heroes of Might and Magic is an average strategy game that tries very hard to bring as many aspects of the genre as it can to the Game Boy Color. While fans of the series will be glad to have something to take on the road, many will find the unattractive graphics and complex gameplay a waste of time on the small screen.
