Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars

The Good
A textbook example of why the mid-1990's were a golden age for computer games. HOMM 3 and 4 have more and faster-moving pixels, and more complex rules, but they have no soul.

HOMM 2 brings it all together -- the brightly-colored hand-drawn art, the beautiful atmospheric music, the charming content and the elegant gameplay, to make a perfect whole. The music, by the way, can be played by sticking the game in an ordinary CD player.

The personality of the game is light and playful. Unlike with Civilization II, I don't keep playing because I'm addicted, but because I'm in a universe that beats the crap out of the real world, riding a horse through green meadows and red and black lava fields, visiting witch doctors and haunted ruins, fighting zombies and dragons. This is how to do fantasy!

Interface-wise, a great feature of all the HOMM games is that you can right click on pretty much anything and get information.

The Bad
A little heavy on the battle. The scenarios are a lot funner to start than to finish.

The Bottom Line
Wonderful classic turn-based strategy fantasy game.