Customer Reviews:
 The series has redeemed itself November 28, 2008
K. Lowe (Halifax, NS)
As a long time Heroes of Might and Magic player I was delighted by version V and its expansions. I was disappointed with version IV but the series more than redeemed itself with this version. It would be hard pressed to top version III for multiplayer but I didn't play any to know for sure. For single player, version V is my favourite of the series and has the best campaigns. It has a vastly improved skill tree over all previous versions.
 Beware of flaws! July 27, 2006
Curio (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
With the collapse of 3DO and New World Computing, fans of this series were left in limbo--what was to become of this iconic series, known for its simplicity and clarity of gameplay, yet deep strategy and replayability that offered up astounding value?
Well, the rights were picked up by Ubisoft, and developed by Nival. From what is usually regarded as a bleak (but different) Heroes 4, there came the fully 3-D, absolutely gorgeous, and very enjoyable Heroes 5. The earlier games always had such charm, and a rousing, instrumental fantasy soundtrack. 4 just seemed...off on everything, so it was a relief that 5 went back to its roots, taking on the best aspects of the benchmark 3, and the rather innovative but badly presented 4.
The mix should have made for a near perfect title.
Unfortunately, the game is riddled with little bugs and spelling errors. Nothing terribly game breaking, but fans were shocked at some of the by now classic elements to be expected from games of the series--a Hall of Fame, multiplayer maps, a map editor (perhaps the most disappointing), a proper manual, and properly working multiplayer. Additionally, the AI is laughably inconsistent--ignoring artifacts, resources and mines, they sometimes wander aimlessly, or go after low priority things; yet, every once in a while, they make decisions that threaten to end your game.
Actually, it's been determined that the AI cheats, granted a resource bonus, and view of the map. This is amateur that an insufficient AI could not be scripted, so it gets unfair bonuses to be "challenging." Most of the time, you'll wonder at how their armies get so big.
However, the game is still very enjoyable, and so appealing visually and aurally. Just be warned that Nival is already notorious for faulty patches that create as many problems as they fix, but there is a large supportive community to be found, fan mods, and internet resources. Quick to learn but hard to master, this title has great value in replayability.
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