SC443 Computer Game Programming

Assignment I: Review a Computer Game

[Due: Tuesday, July 29, 23:59PM]

Heroes of Might and Magic, Armageddon’s Blade III. Expansion pack.

Are you into adventure and strategy? This game will fulfil all your needs. Everyone who is interested in role-playing games and strategy are the main target for Heroes of Might and Magic, since that is what this game is.

The plot of the game is very trivial, it’s like in every other role-playing game; you have to kill all the others, take their towns or solve a quest. But never the less, is this a unique way to experience the thrill and feeling of being someone you’re not and do things normally not possible in the real world. Heroes is a game witch you can play up to 8 players, you can play through a hub or over the internet, or just play against the computer. Before you start a new game, a tutorial is offered for new players, where you learn everything worth to know before you launch the new game. The experienced players can choose to play a campaign, in different levels of course.

You can choose if you want to play against each other and the computer or you want to have teams. There are a lot of heroes to choose from and 8 different towns, with their 7 specific creatures (8 for one town). All towns have their good sides and downsides, so there is no town to prefer over another. When you start a new game, you can choose the game to be one where you have to kill all opponents or a big quest, such as finding an artefact or kill a specified creature.

The game is seen from a bird’s perspective, you have the whole map in front of you (you have to push a button to see the underground if there is one) and it’s all covered in black, except for the town(s) you own. When you move your hero(es) around, more of the map will be shown to you. It is now the strategy part of the game takes in, because you want to see the whole, know where the other are and be the first to conquer as much as possible. But you also have to stay home and protect your town, build up defence and troops for attacking. Exploring is a lot, but not for any price.

As mentioned there are three different things in this game; killing your opponents, take their towns or solve a quest. These can of course occur at the same time, in almost every game, there will be small quests for you to solve, none that will have any negative affect on the game if you don’t solve them, but you usually get something good if you do.

The more times you play the game the better you will be to use a good strategy, choose the right heroes for the job and figure out what will happen in the future.

When you buy the game, only one cd has to be installed (two if you buy the expansion pack too), so there are no special things to take care of. The user interface is very good; a lot of time has been used on this part. It’s easy, it looks good and its way to use is very logic.  Even though it’s a large game, it’s pretty easy to learn, the most important part is your fantasy. If you know anything to role-playing, the creatures will not be a problem to understand or imagine. The game is for people of all ages, but is only published in English, so you have to know the language.

When you play the game, there are lot of setting possibilities, witch you don’t have to concern about if you are new to the game or your English is not too good. But for those who want to try it out, you can set and remove grids, decide yours and the opponents speed etc. You can of course choose between several different levels; the easiest level consists of weak creatures and you are provided with a lot of resources and gold to start with. Combined with this, you can choose to play on a small map. When the level increases, the strength and number of your opponents will increase as well. The size of the map is independent of the level you choose, but the bigger the map is, the longer time the game will take and with that, the opponents will have more time to build up their army.

There are just so many different landscapes (app. 100) to choose from, and after you have tried them a couple of times, you might wish that there were more, because now you know where everything is on the map. And there are more! You can create your own landscapes, precisely the way you want it to look like. Or you can just change one of the existing ones. A feature that is quite fun and useful when you get tired of playing all the time.

The graphic in the game is very good, when you are making your own landscape, you will see the enormous amount of different sculptures you can choose between. The amount of heroes, creatures and sculptures makes the game fluent to look at and different from every time you play. Since the whole game is seen from the air (the battles are closer though), there are not many details concerning the hero or creatures. This seems natural and not something you will notice, since details always disappear, the further away you go from the target. 

One thing I do miss and definitely appreciate in the newer version (Heroes of Might and Magic IV), is the sound and music part. In the version you are reading about now, the music in battles last for a couple of minutes and then restarts, this can get quite boring in the end, and if you turn the music off, you will miss the atmosphere in the battle. The music in the game is also the same tune repeating itself over and over again, luckily the designers have decided that there are different sounds for different parts of the map, e.g. you walk by a waterfall and you hear water running, you walk by a farm and you can hear the animals etc. The sounds are really realistic, you get the feeling being there, riding your horse, listing to the birds and fighting with sword or bow.

All requirements and everything worth to know about the game, are to find at http://homm3.strategy-gaming.com.

Heroes of Might and Magic is also available for Linux users, check out this webpage to find out more about requirements and demos: http://www.lokigames.com/products/heroes3/. You will also find screenshots and other interesting stuff.

If you don’t have a mouse, shortcut keys are provided:               

A = Adventure Options (View world, Puzzle map, Dig, Scenario information, Replay opponent turn).

C = Cast Spell (View spell book).

E = End Turn.

H = Hero, shift.

I = Scenario Information.

K = Kingdom Overview (Hero/stat and skills).

L = Load New Game.

N = Restart Scenario.

O = System Options.

P = Puzzle Map.

S = Save Game.

T = Town (view on map).

V = View World.

W = Wake Hero.

Z = Sleep Hero.

Arrows are used to move hero (and choose between spells), and enter to confirm options.

Enjoy the game.