It's Christmas Eve, and do you hear those bells a' ringin'?
Well, I don't. All I hear is the war machines a' rollin'. Because it's time for a...
DUEL REVIEW!
Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars (PC)
vs.
Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia (PC)
"Magic. *snort* *snort*" - Mr. Bean
"The empires of the future are the empires of the mind." - Winston Churchill
It's the first of many battles of the ages to be heroically chronicled on this not-so-humble review topic! So, to start this review out, I will be comparing these two games in numerous categories, such as: Gameplay, Graphics, Story, In-game Content, Music/Sound, Map Editors, and Expansion Packs, some of which are unique to these games. So, with absolutely NO hesitation, let's begin!
GameplayHoMM II plays like an updated version of the original game, and that's exactly what it is. I give them credit, though: they did improve upon much of what was wrong with the original. They got rid of the blood, though.
Playing HoMM III after playing either of the first two is like playing Ocarina of Time after playing A Link to the Past! Woah! It's so non-archaic! I think that sums it all up pretty well: HoMM III is the obvious winner in this case.
HoMM II Score: 9/10
HoMM III Score: 9/10
GraphicsHoMM II looks like an updated version of the original game, and that's exactly what it is. I give them credit, though: they did improve upon much of what was wrong with the original. The graphics don't look squashed, nor cartoony, and this is very evident, in both the battle and castle screens. It's a clear improvement. They got rid of the blood, though.
In HoMM III, the town screens are beautiful, the map screen is beautiful, the battle screens are beautiful, the map screen is very beautiful, and the town backgrounds are simply gorgeous. Playing HoMM III after playing either of the first two is like playing Ocarina of Time after playing A Link to the Past! It's all like: Woah! Nice graphics! I'm glad I got my hands on this game! I can safely say that HoMM III BLASTS the competition away.
HoMM II Score: 7.5/10
HoMM III Score: 9/10
StoryHere's the story summary of HoMM II (and I didn't just rip it from Wikipedia!):
After Morglin Ironfist's (that guy from the first one) death, his two sons, Archibald and Roland, fight to become king, but Archibald plays dirty and ends up winning the crown, but Roland (who was exiled), protests, and fights for his right to be king! He's all like: "I just can't wait to be king!" I mean that literally. He's so overconfident, he just sits back most of the time and makes YOU do all the work! I wonder what kind of a king he'll be...
On the other hand, here's the story summary of HoMM III:
After the assassination of King Gryphonheart of Erathia, Catherine, the wife of Roland Ironfist (and King Gryphonheart's daughter) travels back to Antagarich in order to unite her people against the forces of evil that have taken over, including the dungeon lords of Nighon, the Kreegans of Eeofol, and the Necromancers of Deyja. Eventually, the Necromancers plot to revive King Gryphonheart as a lich, but he proves to be too powerful for even them, and they're forced to ally with Catherine in order to stop him! And all while these events happen, numerous side plots are going on. How enthralling.
HoMM II Score: 8/10
HoMM III Score: 10/10
In-game ContentIn talking about the length of the campaign in HoMM II, I say this: There are technically only two campaigns, and each of them is about the same length (which I think is about ten or twelve levels?). This is impressive, until you see that HoMM III has
seven different campaigns, albeit of different lengths (the shortest, if I recall correctly, only having about three maps, but most have more). Now, THAT is variety.
Now, if you want to know about factions and creatures, I say this: In HoMM II, there are six factions (the Barbarians, Knights, Sorceresses, Warlocks, Wizards, and those dastardly Necromancers), with several creatures (but not all) having an upgrade, and the Warlocks' Green Dragon having TWO upgrades! Wow! This is impressive!... until you see the selection in the sequel. Watch and fall to your knees! There are a total of EIGHT factions in the original HoMM III, and one added in the expansion packs! WOW! Nine factions! And every creature has an upgrade! And what about those neutral units? In the expansion packs, you have... dragons, dragons, and more dragons! So many dragons to slay! You're got Faerie Dragons, Rust Dragons, Crystal Dragons, and Azure Dragons! And that's in addition to all the other dragons already in the game! Wow! So many dragons! What does HoMM II have, on the other hand? At best, Ghosts and Genies... and you can't even recruit the Ghosts until the expansion pack! Boo...
HoMM II Score: 8/10
HoMM III Score: 10/10
Music/SoundHoMM III is a newer game and thus has more superior sound. Do I need to say more. No? Now, for the music.
Necromancer Castle HoMM II
VS.
Necromancer Castle HoMM III
VS.
VS.
Sheer brilliance on the part of HoMM III. Oh. OHHHH! So expressive! Captures the mood so well! OOOOHHHHHHHH! I must say, though, the music of HoMM II has its merits... but it's a bit too
archaic for my tastes. Pew.
HoMM II Score: 9/10
HoMM III Score: 10/10
Map EditorsBoth map editors are so wonderful, I don't think I can say much in terms of how b... oh wait. The HoMM III Map Editor is SOOOO much more advanced and user friendly. I mean, what, was HoMM II's map editor made in 1996 or something? Seriously, who could even bear to use such an unfriendly map editor even in such a time long past!? Do you mean to say that... back then... people had more patience?
The thought... it shocks me!
Zap.HoMM II Score: 8/10
HoMM III Score: 8.5/10
Expansion PacksIt's all down to this. HoMM III has been fighting a winning game since nearly the beginning, and at this point, my fingers are tired, and I'm just ready to declare HoMM III the instant winner... but wait! There's something more! I saved the best for last! It's a two against one fight! That's right folks: HoMM II only had one expansion pack, but HoMM III had two!
This is going to be good!Let's start with Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Price of Loyalty. This expansion adds FOUR new campaigns, new artifacts, new scenario maps, new in-map buildings and an improved map editor to bind it all together! But, really, this expansion was essentially the developers' way of saying "Screw the game balance! We're the developers!" Why, you ask? BARROW MOUNDS. Here, you could recruit ghosts, which, whenever they kill a unit, incorporate them into their ghostly ghost ranks. Needless to say, after some bouts of peasant-killing, this leads to some amazingly large stacks of ghosts. Lol. It's pretty gutsy to include such a thing without first balancing the creature (never mind that it can also be interpreted as lazy).
HoMM III had Armageddon's Blade and the Shadow of Death. Now, Armageddon's Blade is an interesting case, because of
a little controversy amongst fans involving a new town. I, personally, think that it's a shame that it was scrapped... but hey! I'm not here to give you too many interesting tidbits and honest opinions! Quite simply put, Armageddon's Blade significantly advanced the content of the game, but had a somewhat lackluster story/campaign (though not necessarily disappointing), and the Shadow of Death only made a few minor changes to gameplay/content (being shafted and losing a new castle due to Armageddon's Blade, although there
were a number of gameplay improvements), but had an exciting story/campaign (who doesn't love Sandro!
).
Quite simply put, even though the Price of Loyalty Expansion pack for HoMM II puts up a fairly good, long, and entertaining fight, the dual expansion packs of HoMM III ultimately beat it to a pulp. And when I said "entertaining" earlier, I meant, "entertaining to watch Price of Loyalty get the goblins beat out of it." And when I said "long" earlier, I meant "long because Armageddon's Blade and The Shadow of Death really want to teach it a lesson." By this point, I think you know what I meant when I said "good" earlier.
If you want the Price of Loyalty's beating to turn into a "tearing-apart-limb-from-limb-session," you can even count the fan-made In the Wake of Gods expansion (Wikipedia mentions it, so I thought I should too). But now, now, that would just be absolutely
cruel and
vile, and it IS Christmastime, after all (and I haven't tried WoG yet)!
HoMM II Score: 9/10
HoMM III Score: 9/10
ConclusionThese are both really good games, but in the end, there is, and can be, only one winner. After a brutal mauling, HoMM II gets thrown into the Skeleton Transformer- and while most of you probably don't know what that means, I can assure you that it's not pleasant for anybody involved (depending on what you throw in, but I digress).
HoMM II Final Score: 8.6/10
HoMM III Final Score: 10/10
Reviwer Notes:
- #nostalgiabias
- #beatingsforall
- In a hypothetical battle situation, I suppose HoMM II would win, because all of the world's peasants would be sacrificed to the ghosts in order to propel their numbers to ridiculous heights, but then, the ghosts would get out of control and kill everybody. Then everybody would be ghosts, and this would be "Ghosts of Might and Magic."
- HoMM II IS clearly better in one regard, though: Its sequel was better than HoMM III's sequel.
