Heroes III is one of the most polished turn-based strategy games ever made.
I first picked up Heroes of Might and Magic III without having played any other game set in the Might and Magic universe, nor did I really have an idea about what separated great games from the average ones, but I did feel it when I stayed up till midnight for the first time, even though I didn't understand it. Years later, I finally could really appreciate what Heroes III did for me.
So now we are done with the sentimental parts, let's get right down to it. Heroes III is a whopper of a game. The single player campaign itself takes a huge amount of time to complete, and after that, players could delve into the numerous single player scenarios that could take days to complete just one of them. An scenario editor means that more user created content could enhance the experience. Add in with some multi-player functionality such as internet and hot seat play plus five difficulty levels, Heroes III is definitely one of those games that one would still play from time to time for years. To top them all off, the game is a terrific turn based strategy game to boot with great narrative thrown in.
The story isn't too complex since it's the old tried and true story about some hero (the queen) bringing peace and justice to her fallen empire and banishes the invaders, but it is well told even if the someone-reading-lines-with-background-music-and-animation-thrown-in gimmick was a bit archaic. I personally enjoyed the story tremendously, but that's not guaranteed for everyone. Then again, strategy games aren't RPGs or Adventure games, so as long as the plot doesn't detract from the game play itself, it's all good. Nonetheless, anyone who is remotely interested in fantasy literature and movies and doesn't mind strategy games should check out Heroes III because it's definitely your cup of tea.
The game is basically played in two stages: one is the town building stage, which you can build up your castle, recruit troops and heroes, manage your resources, scout and move your heroes around the big campaign map , and the other stage is the actual battles. When your hero engages the enemy, the game loads into the battles and then you can command your army. Anyone familiar with the Total War games should understand this mechanic.
To go into details about what kind of things players can do on the big campaign map would take a long time, so let's just say, Heroes III adds t o the strategy genre numerous other elements such as those of adventure games and even RPGs through hero development, as well as other game play mechanics to the already robust empire management options. Everything is pretty straight forward. Units, artifacts, and spells have detailed explanations and stats, so players would always understand their advantages and disadvantages.
The battles themselves are typical affairs. Your hero can carry troops with him, each unit type takes up a slot on his roster of troops. Units are stacked, so on the army screen or the battle map, you will see only one actual soldier with a number next to him, designating how many people are in that group. groups are commanded and behave as one single unit to accommodate the turn based combat mechanic. Thus, splitting and joining the same group of troops plays a pretty important role. The combat is fairly simple, but there is great depth, and since the battles are number based, people could always anticipate how a battle could turn out, making the tactics in a battle that much more important.
All in all, Heroes III is a terrific game with great production value, and an even greater achievement based on a simple but dynamic formula. Go ahead, try it, odds are, you won't stop playing for a long time.