Heroes of Might and Magic II Gold Review

Heroes of Might and Magic II Gold Review

Review by Alex

Heroes of Might and Magic II Gold is a fantasy based strategy military game that continues the addictive and fun gameplay of the original while adding tons of new features. Heroes of Might and Magic II Gold gives you not only Heroes of Might and Magic II but the expansion, Price of Loyalty, as well which means you have over 100 maps available to explore.

Turn-Based Fantasy Strategy

The gameplay still consists of the same system of controlling hero units around a grand adventure map with a turn-based system, collecting resources, recruiting armies of fantastic creatures, casting a variety of spells, and with the ultimate goal of capturing all the enemy castles on a map. The graphics are greatly improved from the original title and do a great job of drawing you into the action.

Heros and Great Fantasy Units to Recruit

In addition to the previous hero classes, which include Warlocks, Sorceresses, Barbarians, and Knights, there are now Wizards and Necromancers under your command. There are also new creatures which you can recruit for your army, like stone-flinging Halflings, Giants, Vampires, Lichs, and Bone Dragons. Add into this fact that your castles have many new upgrade options, such as protective phenomena like the Barbarian's coliseums which raises the morale of your defending troops, the ability to assign captains to magically protect your castles while your heroes are out adventuring, and upgradeable monster dwellings to make your units even stronger, and there are whole new layers to the strategic avenues you can explore.

Great Combat Spells

Let's not forget about the spells either, and there are plenty to whet your appetite. For starters, there are adventure spells which you can use on the world map to perform all kinds of actions such as the “haunt” spell which allows you to leave ghost-guardians in mines and “visions” which let you determine if a neutral creature you encounter will join your ranks. Then there are the combat spells which help you to decimate your foes such as “chain lightning” to knock down several enemies at once.

Missions Can Get Repetitive

There were a few small issues though, such as the fact that the original game's mission tended to get a little monotonous since the objectives are mostly the same for every one and pretty much once you found a decent strategy you could tackle most of the missions. The expansion pack, Price of Loyalty, does a decent job of mixing things up with new mission parameter and objectives to make up for this though. Also, the multiplayer mode is a nice feature but the games can take several hours to actually complete and may be a bit too much of a commitment.

Conclusion - Well-Designed Strategy Game

Overall, Heroes of Might and Magic II Gold greatly improves this classic game series and does a great job of balancing a variety of strategic elements. The interface is very easy to use and the option to auto-battle means this is a great title for new players, and the new features add an even greater level of depth to the strategy and combat that is sure to appeal to more experienced turn-based strategy fans.