Heroes Chronicles: Masters of the Elements

The Good
The Heroes Chronicles series was a line of games based on the Heroes of Might and Magic III engine, aiming for a short, story-based campaign. For the most part, this works. The story is of high quality, continuing the plot of Conquest of the Underworld. I was interested in seeing what happened next, and the game comes to a good conclusion. It's not necessary to have played the previous games in the series, by the way; the story is self-contained.

As can be expected from a game based on the HoMM3 (Heroes of Might and Magic 3) engine, the gameplay should be familiar to veterans of the series.

Finally, the battle animations have a bit of a "CGI/early 3D rendering" look to them, but most graphics look quite good, even today. Most of the art is clearly re-used from HoMM3, though.

The Bad
The biggest problem with this game is the length. There is only one campaign, with only eight missions. There is no random map option, no multiplayer, and no scenario editor. Really, this is a game that goes on the shelf after finishing it.

While the story is interesting, it doesn't play a large role in the game. All objectives are either of the "kill everybody" variety, or can be completed by killing everybody. Also, I would have appreciated a larger hand in the story. As it stands, there does not appear to be any ability to divert the plot from its pre-ordained course.

The Bottom Line
Elements is basically an extra campaign for HoMM3 that doesn't require the original game. If you can get the game cheap, it's worth playing through once. However, if given a choice between HoMM3 and Elements, go for HoMM3.