Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes review

As a follower of Might and Magic, you probably fall into two categories. Either you’re maturing in years and wistfully remember first-person dungeon crawling and four color graphics, or you’ve invested countless hours strategizing with grid-based, turn-based combat. Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is neither. Well, that’s not completely true; you’ll spend much of your time with familiar Heroes of Might & Magic-style top-down exploration. Here, you unravel the story, collect resources, recruit troops and pick up combat-boosting swag.

The big difference (cutesy Japanese RPG graphics aside) is with the combat. Like the equally addictive Puzzle Quest, the key is matching three of a kind. You and your opponent have a stack of troops on each screen; join three of the same color vertically and they’ll combine and charge up. Match three horizontally and they’ll form a protective barrier. Once their charging countdown has elapsed over a set amount of turns, they’ll launch an attack. Any attack points left after plowing through enemy units (or walls) will reduce the hitpoints of the opposing commander.

It’s simple but compulsive stuff. Forming a three-man unit is easy enough; the trick is launching them from the right place in the screen, charging up larger troops (‘champion’ units like dragons and mages require several smaller units to activate) and having enough defensive troops in place to soak up enemy attacks. Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is a devilishly addictive game that blends RPG and puzzle elements into one deep, devious and delightful package. Love it.

Dec 2, 2009