There was never any doubt
that 3DO would release a second expansion for Heroes of Might and
Magic IV. The first expansion has introduced three new creatures
for three out of the six factions, and left the whole game
unbalanced. A second expansion was needed to fix this problem by
featuring three new creatures for the remaining factions. This
approach to expanding the game was also an indication that the
publisher planned both expansions from the beginning. And while with
the two expansions the game finally feels complete, at $110 for the
whole package they help to solidify 3DO's reputation as the company
that knows how to milk a dead cow into oblivion. As with the
previous expansion, Winds of War is not worth the price for
the casual gamer. Unlike The Gathering Storm, however, this
expansion offers much more challenge for the fans of the series.
The value of an
expansion
Before reviewing the game, let me make a few points about the value
of an expansion, as opposed to a value of a standalone game.
I am a very
price-conscious gamer. Unless a game offers enough high-quality
gameplay to justify its price, I will pull no punches when reviewing
it. I am also aware of the market prices for similar titles, and
generally avoid the most expensive games from each genre. What makes
valuing expansions so difficult is that they require the original
game, thus increasing the price for the whole package. On the other
hand, expansions can be viewed as separate games, which simply take
advantage of a previously developed engine, graphics and sound, and
whose lower production costs are reflected by their lower price.
With this particular
expansion, determining whether it is too expensive or not is even
more difficult. Winds of War takes advantage of the original
game, but includes nearly all features introduced by The
Gathering Storm, such as creatures, buildings and editor
improvements. As such, I should value the expansion at $80 (the
price of the expansion plus the price of the original game, which is
required). Buying it would be a much better deal than purchasing the
previous expansion, whose net additions to the game are now reduced
to a campaign, several maps and artifacts. However, people who
purchased the first expansion are forced to buy this one in order to
fix the game's lack of balance. 3DO is punishing its fans by forcing
them to pay $110 for the whole bundle, while more indifferent
players will pay only $80 and those who never purchased the original
game will spend only $50 if they choose to wait for the compilation.
As a consequence, I will refer to the price for the whole package as
being $110 and rate the title accordingly. If you never purchased
the previous expansion and thinking about buying this one, consider
the price to be $80 and add a point to the final rating.
Features
The main feature of the expansion is a new campaign, similar to the
other official Heroes IV campaigns. You have five campaigns
for five heroes, and only after you complete them, the sixth one
will be unlocked. However, that's where the similarities end. The
campaigns in this expansion are much more challenging, and they
offer one of the most interesting and original twists I have seen in
the entire Heroes series.
Where the maps in the
previous expansion were largely role-playing, here they tend to be
more on the strategic side. Gone are the narrow passages that
allowed just one direction of movement and prevented the enemy to
attack from behind. The maps are much more open here, and often you
find yourself surrounded by enemies. This allows the A.I. to use the
fog of war to stay out of sight and attack your weakest spot,
forcing you to split your forces. In addition, you will be under
constant pressure to not only win all the battles, but also to limit
your own casualties to a minimum. Moreover, because all campaigns
are limited to only three maps, the players will not be able to
develop their heroes as freely as in the previous campaigns, and
proper character development will become much more important.
The most unique feature,
however, is the result of the final twist in the story. In this
expansion you have five heroes, all of whom apparently suffer from a
low level of self-confidence, caused by their ridiculous names. The
barbarian Mongo, the insane Spazz Maticus (I'd go insane, too, with
such a name), the mage Mysterio the Magnifficent and the undead
Baron von Tarkin have all a good reason to feel hated by the world
and their parents, but not as much as the eleven hero, Erutan Revol.
His parents thought it would be funny to name him Nature Lover, only
backwards. These five heroes decided to prove that they are less
ridiculous than their names by conquering the wealthy kingdom of
Channon. (Personally, I would suspect that all their parents asked
for political asylum there, and the heroes just try to hunt them
down.) Because only one of these five can conquer Channon, the
designers introduced a new twist. You will need to develop all
heroes in order to be able to attack Channon, but at the end you
will have to pick only one of them and defeat your other four
creations. This simple concept is a work of genius; too bad that it
was never implemented well enough for the remaining four heroes to
present a serious challenge.
The second feature
included in this expansion is three new units. The catapults are
without any doubt the most devastating long-ranged units in the
game, and before you are half through the main campaign, you will
hate them with passion. The Frenzied Gnashers are simply beefed-up,
magic-resistant berserkers. Good thing the player has no control
over them; otherwise they would greatly unbalance the game. The last
new unit is the Megadragon. This creature, which looks like the Loch
Ness monster has the highest number of hit points in the game and an
extremely powerful fire breath. All three units and the three units
from the previous expansion now also have dwellings assigned to
them, where they can be purchased.
Probably the most
controversial feature is a series of fan-made maps. This has created
quite a stir on many gaming Web sites, where 3DO was accused of
being cheap and scouring the Internet for additional maps. People
claiming this should do their homework next time, as 3DO's reasons
for including these maps were quite different. The claims that these
maps were widely available before the expansion's release are false,
too.
Driven by the need to
justify the existence of Might and Magic Guild and to create some
buzz among fans, 3DO has decided to hold a contest for fan-based
maps. Twenty winners would get a free copy of the game, and their
names would be featured in the credits. Might and Magic Guild is a
fee-based fan site ran by 3DO, but until now it only offered several
free maps for the series, two interviews with 3DO employees and a
few desktop wallpapers. The site became the ideal platform for
announcing the contest. Whether the maps that won are really the
best that fans have created is an open question, but due to the
contest rules, the maps were not supposed to be available on-line
until the game was released, and thus they still count as original
content.
The map editor has been
improved, too. While still lacking a random map generator, it
features a new tool that makes it much easier to paint the map with
objects. This, and a few minor improvements to the editor have
streamlined the map making process, allowing the fans to create new
maps much faster. In addition, considering the fact that all
factions are balanced again, mapmakers can use the new features from
both expansions to create high-quality maps.
Unfortunately, this
exhausts the number of new features offered by the new expansion.
While there are new single-player maps from 3DO as well, the
expansion lacks new spells or at least a few artifacts, which were
featured in the previous expansion. Comparing new features
one-by-one, Winds of War actually offers less content than
The Gathering Storm.
Gameplay - 7
The largest improvement is the increased difficulty of the maps.
While I liked the role-playing nature of the previous expansion, I
am glad that the traditional focus on strategy has returned. In
addition, I found the ending campaign very original and
entertaining, as I had to battle four of the five heroes I
developed. However, these improvements are greatly offset by the
lack of more new features that would actually improve the original
game. The expansion simply throws in more new maps and a few
creatures, offsetting the lack of game balance caused by The
Gathering Storm.
Sound - 7
The title offers a single new tune, which is featured in the main
menu. The series has always had a very good soundtrack, and so I see
no reason for replacing or improving it. The only reason I have not
rated the sound higher is the slightly misleading description on the
box, which says that the expansion "includes new music". While
technically this is true, several people already told me that they
expected the old music to be replaced, which is not the case.
Graphics - 6
With the exception of the three new creatures and their dwellings,
the expansion features no new graphics. As with the sound, I cannot
really complain about the graphics from the original game. However,
I found many of the new maps to be a little more confusing than
usual. They were full of haphazardly placed mountains and trees that
could hide a hero or monsters, and often featured deceptive terrain,
which seemed impassable until I was ambushed by the A.I. While the
biggest culprits were the fan-created maps, I ran into such problems
in some of the campaign maps as well.
Replay value - 4
Heroes of Might and Magic has always been known for their
'one-more-turn' replay value, and this expansion is no exception. I
was glued to the screen into early morning hours, and I have gotten
more than my $30 worth of the expansion. However, when considering
this expansion in the context of the original game and the other
expansion, it is not worth it. At $110 total price, Heroes of Might
and Magic IV has finally become what it was supposed to be from the
beginning. This makes it the most expensive game I have ever
purchased, and no amount of hours spent playing the game will ever
offset the price.
Overall - 6.0
Winds of War by itself offers enough value to justify its
purchase. However, it does not improve the original game, and only
fixes some balancing issues that were introduced by the first
expansion. Only those who purchased The Gathering Storm
should consider to buy this title. Hardcore fans will be pleasantly
surprised by the increased difficulty, and those who like to create
maps will get a bonus in the form of a much more user-friendly map
editor. Others should simply wait for the inevitable Heroes IV Gold,
which I expect to include the original game and the two expansions.
