Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes
Review
A magical experience
by Justin Snyder
reviewed on NDS
Graphics
And while the length and variety is enough to hold players' attention, there is much more to the game's experience. As far as the graphics go, the world takes a page from the Super Nintendo design books, combining map design akin to Super Mario World. The sprite onscreen moves from spots laid out on the ground, talking to people and taking part in battles located throughout. The attention to detail, however, is how you can tell that this game is not of a prior gaming era, with tiny animations for things like running water, combined with beautifully showcased castles, city streets, forest towns, and dark catacombs.
Downsides
For as great as the game is, it is not without its downsides. It has some anime-inspired elements, but a few of the characters look a bit too childlike which feels out of place for a game that involves a play style most children wouldn't want to play. With that said, there are a few things that could have made the game just that much better. There is no guide to the game's units. So not only do you not know what you are going to be dealing with in the later parts of each chapter, but you don't know anything about your enemy's units. Unless they are either of the same race, or you track them yourself as you progress, as you encounter most, if not all, unit types by the end of the second chapter.
There is also no way of picking what units you start with, which means a bad "draw" could throw off an entire battle. Since there is such a variety of units to choose from for each chapter, you get to pick which ones you will use. But you can't choose how many of each or which will actually spawn when you get into battle. The biggest problem with this is keeping your units. While the three base units are unlimited, "champion" and "elite" units can be killed, with more bought using resources. This does add to the difficulty, and calls for some varied strategic tactics, but it also makes luck a big factor. Most players will get into a battle and find it's better to just retreat and try again (you lose some resources when you retreat, but it's usually a minimal amount) in order to avoid losing too many of their advanced units.
Another problem is that the game often requires trial and error when picking battles. When you challenge an enemy, you have no way of knowing what level they are, or what units they have. You only find out after agreeing to a battle. This was especially a problem in the second chapter, when most enemies were several levels ahead. The boss challenges and objective-based battles pose a similar problem. The designs are always interesting, and present a different kind of challenge, but sometimes you can do nothing but set up walls, attacks and hope for the best. When one isn't pitted against a boss, though, winning only takes a certain element of strategy. Sometimes, though, battles were just too difficult. There were some that I had to attempt several times with different sets of units to finally get it, and even then I just felt lucky. This could just be because I'm not the greatest of strategists though, and I feel like players more oriented to games like this would not be as challenged. All of these problems are minimal, though, and the majority of the game's battles are fun, albeit difficult, challenges.
Hoping for expansion
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes is the best strategy title I have played for a while, and certainly the best one on the DS. Though the story, a seemingly typical fantasy plot, didn't really do much for me. The best thing about the game has to be the battle mechanic. The five races are pretty well balanced, units are varied, with interesting unique abilities, and the core of the system is an idea that works very well. This is one that I hope to see expanded upon in sequels to come.
8.8
fun score
Pros
Units are varied, with interesting unique abilities.
Cons
Seemingly typical fantasy storyplot.
