Heroes of Might and Magic V

aka: HoMM5, Might and Magic: Heroes V
Moby ID: 22483
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

Today a marriage is to be celebrated: the Griffin Empire celebrates Emperor Nicolai and the tomboy-like Isabel who are soon to be united. But... something goes wrong and Demons emerge from the darkness, interrupting this joyous celebration! So, now Nicolai has to lead his army to war; while Isabel is carried away and treated like a poor defenseless girl.

She cannot sit still for long, so she breaks free from her escorts at the first opportunity and tries to seek some help for her Nicolai. While her escort, Godric, leaves to seek the powerful mages of the Shining Cities; Beatrice tries to contact the Elven armies of Irollan. Will she succeed in bringing help to her soon to be husband, Nicolai? Will Godric convince the mages to help the Griffin Empire?

This is the first Heroes of Might & Magic to feature 3D graphics. The turn-based system for tactical battles has been restored to be more like in earlier games in the series, but with square tiles instead of hexes. Heroes themselves can either cast spells or directly attack enemy units, but can no longer be targeted by enemies. The game also features campaigns set in an entirely separate universe to the prior games, called Ashan. Towns are more akin to those in Heroes of Might and Magic III in terms of organization and unit rosters (7 levels + 1 upgrade each), but this time with fully 3D overviews that can be rotated at will. Finally, the hero skill system has been overhauled entirely, represented by a skill wheel for which the game supplies separate documentation in the installation directory.

Spellings

  • Герои меча и магии V - Russian spelling
  • 魔法門英雄無敵五 - Traditional Chinese spelling
  • 魔法门之英雄无敌5 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

668 People (587 developers, 81 thanks) · View all

CEO
International Production Director
International Content Director
EMEA Director
US Director
Third party Manager
Executive producer
Producer
Associate
World manager
Scriptwriter (scenario and dialogs)
World Artist
World development
Design & AI consultant
Gameplay consultant
Graphics consultant
Creative director
Gameslab manager
Gameslab
Concept Artists
Art Director / Manager
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 82% (based on 44 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 58 ratings with 2 reviews)

A good continuation of a great franchise

The Good
I got hooked on the Heroes series right away with Heroes II. Heroes III was even better, with 3D rendered versions of their 2D graphics. I eagerly awaited Heroes IV, but was disappointed with a Zaxxon-like movement and an awkward combat system. It was obviously shipped by the floundering 3DO before they went under, but I couldn't even see where the designers were headed. What were they trying to accomplish with such an awkward attempt?

Enter Ubisoft who bought up all of New World Computing's IPs. They assigned a veteran game designer to re-establish the series. And he did. Ubisoft's treatment introduced a 3D movement and combat system. The mangled storyline was discarded a new one introduced. New towns and hero types were introduced to re-interest tired players.

I have to point out that the game had huge problems before patches were released. Not only did they fix bugs (both cosmetic and functional), they included the scenario editor, which allows players to build their own maps. My impressions are based on the patched version of the game, not the version fresh out of the box.

While Heroes III had a decent 2D movement and combat system, Heroes V replaced it with full 3D versions. I didn't see the benefit of a 3D movement system until I started using it. Not only can the world be rotated and otherwise adjusted, but you can zoom in and out to better view your current context.

The combat system is a real treat. The combat area is larger than in either of the previous games and--one huge gripe I had with the previous games--setting up your army before an attack is much, much simpler. While you can't see the opposing army's formation before the battle (as you shouldn't), you can see all battlefield obstacles before attacking and avoid them by strategically placing your troops. Also, certain troops can be left out on a per-battle criteria, if you so choose.

The combat system in also in 3D, which greatly improves fighting. The battlefield can be rotated to see behind obstacles and zoom in on details. One of my favorite features is the cinematic attacks. The game will occasionally zoom in on an attack, so you can see it close up. It really draws you into the game, a feat the 2D battles of the previous games couldn't pull off. The battles can even be saved for later viewing.

Many new creatures were introduced, but many of the existing ones were given makeovers. They have new attacks and new looks that further improve the game's appeal.

The game (via patches) comes with a level editor, an expected feature with most modern PC games. It is full featured and allows the user to create maps with any assets found in the game.

Overall, Heroes V is a great game and a worthy addition to the Heroes franchise. I keep coming back to it again and again.

The Bad
I hate to nit-pick with such a great game, but...

While it has an expansive campaign with dozens of scenarios, the stand-alone scenarios are sparse, about half a dozen. With the scores of stand-alone scenarios that came with Heroes III, this feels like a rip-off. Of course there are scenarios available (for free) off the Internet, but it'd be nice to have had more shipped with the game for those times you feel like playing, but don't want to invest in the entire campaign.

The level editor, while full-featured, isn't intuitive in the least. The eManual doesn't explain well how to use some of the more advanced features. It's obvious it was meant only as an in-house tool and wasn't really intended for consumer use.

The campaign forces the player to be evil, at least for part of the storyline. I prefer to play on the good sides and being forced to be evil really bugged me. I'm not a religious nut, but I hate being forced to play on a side that isn't my normal inclination.

Of course, like most modern games, Heroes V uses their spiffy 3D engine to display in-game cinematics. While this is okay, it doesn't really add much to the game. The graphics are fine, but the voice acting is atrocious. It sounds like the actors didn't understand the lines they were reading. The voices are fine, but the acting is almost non-existent.

Some of the explanatory text for spells doesn't make any sense. It's obvious the French developers of this game need to hire some native English speakers to clean up their translations.

The Bottom Line
While the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise was nearly destroyed by the sorry Heroes IV installment, this game re-invigorates the series with good 3D graphics, a new storyline and an intuitive and cinematic combat system.

Windows · by Frecklefoot (188) · 2007

Fantasy TBS has never been so addictive.

The Good
As you may already know, after 3DO "failed" in their quest to continue the HOM&M Franchise, Nival decided to take care of the HOM&M future, and so, they created HOM&M 5. Nival made Heroes 5 look like Heroes, play like Heroes, sound like Heroes. In short, a great game that keeps the feeling of the famous series. That is one of the things I liked in the game. The graphics are now much more improved, and H5 now has a 3D engine, a camera position, and a zoom options. The environment looks quite good, and the design of the characters and buildings in the game is again, good. The AI is okay, it does act according to the Difficulty level you selected. The Voice acting through the cutscenes is okay too. Not the best, but okay. The in-game sound is absolutely PERFECT. The music is nice too, and combined with the sound effects it offers a unique atmosphere, that only a HOM&M game can offer. I also liked that Nival kept most of the gameplay aspects intact. So, as usual, we have a hero, an army commanded by the hero, tons of artifacts, resources, mines etc... The most important thing in this game is the FUN. The game is so damn fun and addictive, that I play it every day. I've been playing it since I got it off the shelves and I don't think I will stop soon :D

The Bad
I didn't like the new combat system. Even if it is quite the same as the old combat system that we found in Heroes 3, it suffered some modifications. The hero cannot move on the battlefield, but can attack or cast spells. Also, while moving the "attack cursor" over an enemy you will see the estimated number of enemies your creature can take down with that attack. So no more damage counting, no more calculations... it's over. You will know from the very beginning what will happen next. There are some minor bugs present in the game, and some artifacts have no description. So you cannot know how they affect your army, only if you look at every change on your creature/hero stats. That's annoying. Also, the game has no map editor. That's quite bad, since one of the franchise's strong points was the possibility to add custom made content to the original campaigns and single-player scenarios. Also the UbiSoft multiplayer servers are laggy and it isn't worth a multiplayer match on internet. Nothing can compare with a good LAN game with your friends.

The Bottom Line
Even if it has it's bad stuff, the game is fun and addictive. And that makes it better than any other game in the world.

Windows · by Hypercake (1310) · 2008

Trivia

Controversy

Prior to the release, scheduled for 3 April 2006, there was an open beta. The overall quality was perceived poor, and major fan sites decided to launch the "Save Heroes" movement at saveheroes.org (now also wesavedheroes.org) to persuade Ubisoft with a petition to push back the release to fix all the major bugs first.

A news entry by GameSpot, however, revealed that the game had already been delayed before the beta test even started. This is what the movement wanted, but as it had happened silently, they signed a "News Suppression Pact" to not post about the game anymore until Ubisoft would publicly announce the delay.

The postponement was eventually announced, but afterwards it was suggested, yet unproven, that the delay and the Save Heroes movement was an orchestrated Ubisoft PR tactic to draw attention to the game.

Development

The game was originally meant to be 2D and based on the Heroes of Might and Magic IV engine, but New World Computing was closed following the bankruptcy of their owner and publisher The 3DO Company in 2003, and the license was subsequently acquired by Ubisoft. They let Nival handle the development and used a 3D engine right away.

Online servers

The game's online servers were shut down on 6 October 2015.

References

While Ubisoft claimed to start a whole new Might and Magic universe without any ties to the previous one (and its science-fiction elements), the game contains lots of references to old stories and heroes. Characters Sandro, Solmyr and Crag Hack are referred to, as are the refugees from Erathia (from Heroes of Might and Magic IV) in a town's description. Not to mention the storyline which begins in a very similar way as the one of Heroes of Might and Magic III (even if it takes a different direction later on). Fans have had mixed feelings about the inclusions of those "easter eggs", often considering it a cheap way by Ubisoft to appeal to the older fans audience.

Information also contributed by Pirou Julien and Sciere

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by MDMaster.

Macintosh added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Sciere, DarkDante, Zeppin, Paulus18950, SGruber, Patrick Bregger, Plok, Zhuzha.

Game added June 1, 2006. Last modified March 12, 2024.