Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia

aka: HOMM 3, Heroes 3, Heroes of Might and Magic III: A Restauração de Erathia, HoMM3:RoE
Moby ID: 1494
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia takes place long after the ending of Heroes of Might and Magic II: Price of Loyalty and partially concurrently with Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven. Receiving news of her father's death, Catherine Ironfist, Queen of Enroth, sails for Erathia to attend her father's funeral. Fearing the worst, she assembles a military fleet as her escort. Arriving on the coast of Erathia, Catherine finds an allied wizard's tower, devastated from battle and abandoned. There she learns Erathia is falling to its enemies. Mustering local armies, Catherine marches to Erathia's capitol, restoring lost land along the way.

The Restoration of Erathia retains the bulk of the gameplay from its predecessors, with significant additions and modifications. It features 8 entirely distinct towns with 7 creature levels each, but this time all creature levels (save for neutral-only ones) can be upgraded. Also new are war machines, a total of 122 artifacts, overhauled spell list, new and edited map locations, an alignment mechanic which affects interaction with some of the map locations and spells, and 7 single-player campaigns with a vast set of single scenarios which can be played against the AI or other human players.

Spellings

  • Герои Меча и Магии III: Возрождение Эрафии - Russian spelling
  • 魔法門英雄無敵3 (主程式) - Traditional Chinese spelling
  • 魔法门之英雄无敌III:埃拉西亚的光复 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Linux version)

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Linux Version
  • Loki Entertainment Software
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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 87% (based on 39 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 169 ratings with 11 reviews)

A damn fine game.

The Good
Heroes III is without a doubt a great visual improvement over its predecessor, and also features digital music tracks (MP3s) as well as some modifications to the rules of the game. However, the game itself is essentially the same, and as such all that I said of Heroes of Might and Magic II applies, with the following difference:

Graphics! Heroes of Might and Magic III is simply astounding. Amazing! The graphics in this game are beautiful! Landscapes lush and realistic, cities simply magnificent. On the visual side, you just can't beat this game.

The Bad
Again, braindead AI (although somewhat improved over Heroes II) is the main problem with this game. And, as history would have it, the campaigns in Heroes III still suck. Sorry guys, just stick with the scenarios.

Also, I don't think a graphic overhaul justifies a completely new game in the series. Essentially Heroes III is just like Heroes II with thoroughly improved graphics - so why should you have to spend a fortune on the same game?



The Bottom Line
A great graphical improvement over an already well-established predecessor. Fetch this game - you won't regret it.

Windows · by Tomer Gabel (4539) · 2000

Classic game, but graphics really need improvement.

The Good
Well, it's a fantasy TBS, what's not to like? :) Addictive gameplay. Good music. Multiplayer support is great. Hot-seat rocks!

The map editor is great. The amounts of maps available on the internet makes this game last forever.



The Bad
The graphics are actually horrible, even in TBS standards. The world map looks to unrealistic. Some people may say this doesn't matter in this type of game, but realistic surroundings add to the feeling of the game. Compare with Age of Wonders.....

The number of resources is too big. I never found all this resource-hunting funny.

The Bottom Line
It's a classic game that everyone should have played. It has its ups and downs, but when you play it you get stuck for hours, and a game like that can't be bad...

Windows · by Grov (657) · 2001

A turn-based Strategy game that will fill many of your hours.

The Good
It flows. When playing HoMM3, you don't waste your time on minor things like extensive resource managment or deep experiance calculations, you simply play the game. The interface is clear, straight forward and easy to learn, and I believe it's the most powerful feature of the game.
Other nice additions- Excellent sound in .mp3 mode, so you'll be able to play it even while not playing the game, averge graphic and a good AI, that'll require some time to defeat.

The Bad
The game is almost identical to the other games on the series. The graphics are very similar, and most of the objects weren't changed at all, other than increasing their resolution a bit. Some of the armies are clearly better than the others, and on lower difficulty levels you can easily reach some of their more powerful units on the 1st or 2nd turn.
The campaign is terrible. The story is childish and uninteresting, each of the scenarios is easy and straight forward, and there is no real challange.
The greatest problem of the game is its multiplayer. Since it's a turn based games, you may wait long hours waiting for the other players to play, and for a game which supports up to eight players this can be a long wait... Actually, me and my friends started playing Talisman between our turns.

The Bottom Line
Although the game has many flaws, the single-player (and hotseat for up to three players) is f-u-n, and it's worth buying just for that.

Windows · by El-ad Amir (116) · 2000

[ View all 11 player reviews ]

Trivia

Mythology

Heroes of Might and Magic III made a complete major screw-up in Greek Mythology. This refers particularly to: the Gorgon and the Medusa.

In Heroes, the Gorgon is a fire breathing/death staring Bull from the swamps. In Greek mythology, the only creatures that closely fits this description are the Khalkotauroi. The Khalkotauroi were a pair of fire-breathing bulls forged from bronze by the Smith God Hephaistos as a gift for Aeetes, King of Kolkhis. These bulls were later killed by famous Greek hero Jason, in his quest for the Golden Fleece.

Now the Gorgon in Greek Mythology actually refered to a race known in Heroes as the Medusa. Gorgons are a race of vile creatures that had hair of live snakes, necks covered with scales, they have tusks similiar to of a boar, golden hands and bronze wings. Oh, and they're famous trade mark: anyone looking at them would be turned to stone (due to their extreme ugliness).

Initially there are 3 known Gorgons (other sources say there were more): Stheno, Euryale and their most famous sister: Medusa. Medusa was later killed by the Greek hero - Perseus.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by MAT.

Macintosh added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: Indra was here, tarmo888, Xoleras, Silverblade, DarkDante, Stratege, Paulus18950, Shu Nin, Patrick Bregger, Plok.

Game added May 27, 2000. Last modified March 28, 2024.