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Preview: Might and Magic: Heroes Kingdoms

posted by: Galados Tue 27th Jul 2010

Preview: Might and Magic: Heroes Kingdoms

by Ron Keith

Sometimes it seems that each new game tries to push the envelop of gaming just a little bit more. Luscious graphics, wowza animations, and hordes of combatants – both players and non-players – all seem designed to stress your graphics cards and overheat your processor.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Games don't have to be about the latest and greatest, super-spiffy graphics. Look no further than Facebook and Farmville if you're need proof. Farmville is pretty low-tech and yet thousands upon thousands of people play the game.

If Farmville proves anything, it proves there's a market, a strong market, for these low-tech games. Might and Magic: Heroes Kingdoms (MMHK) fits nicely into this market.

MMHK is the second offering from Ubisoft of an MMO based on its successful Heroes of Might and Magic franchise. The first was Heroes of Might and Magic Online (HOMMO) done in conjunction with TQ Digital Entertainment.

MMHK is a slower paced game than its sister HOMMO. That's like saying the tortoise is slower than the hare. In fact, MMHK is a totally different game despite being built around the same gameplay elements. HOMMO is a more traditional MMO with realtime gameplay; MMHK is more like chess-by-mail.

In MMHK, everything moves at a tortoise's pace. You set things in motion, building your city or attacking your enemy, and you come back later and get the results.

What is Might and Magic: Heroes Kingdoms?

MMHK is a browser-based MMO game. It plays entirely in your browser, working seamlessly with both Firefox and Internet Explorer. There's nothing to download and it's free-to-play (F2P).

The graphics are nice, but nothing that will tax your browser. There are no animations, no sound effects, and absolutely nothing happens immediately. This is not a live action game. MMHK is a thoughtful game, a strategy game, where you think out your moves in advance and set things in motion. Then you check back, sometimes an hour or more later, and see how your plans and moves have played out.

Starting out: Demons, Knights, Wizards, or Necromancers?

MMHK provides you with 4 different faction to choose from. You can play the Demons, the Knights, the Wizards, or the Necromancers. Each faction has advantages and disadvantages. For instance, the Wizards are stronger in magic and Demons have stronger troops.

After choosing your faction, you create your primary hero and then start a tutorial. The tutorial walks you through the basics of the game: Recruiting more heroes to aid your cause; capturing mines; and constructing buildings for your city.

The tutorial does provide the basics of gameplay, but it is a little sparse. It might take you a while to figure some things out, but be patient. Most of the gameplay is straightforward, but there are a few things that don't make sense.

One gotcha is your hero can't do a lot of things, like acquiring new skills, as long as he or she has combat units. Simply move the units to another hero or into your city and this will fix the majority of these types of problems.

Heroes

Your hero is key to every battle. Your hero can summon creatures to help in the fight, improve your troops defense, and detect spies, among other things. There's a wide range of abilities to choose from and at first you might actually feel a little overwhelmed by the range of abilities you can pick for your hero. A little reading through the online help might be necessary if that's the case.

You can also recruit additional heroes at your city's tavern. It's probably best to select heroes with different strengths and weakness. Some are better with magic. Some stronger on defense. Some stronger on offense. And all come with more troops to aid in your cause.

It's all up to you, though. Who is the right hero for your style of play? Choose wisely. The future of your kingdom depends on it.

Gameplay

MMHK is a resource strategy game. You need to capture mines and territory to get money and resources to construct buildings to recruit your army. In the beginning, you'll send your heroes out to capture mines and territory adjacent to your city. This will get you resources – gold, ore, wood – for your city and allow you to slowly expand your territory.

This will all be familiar to anyone who has played a resource dependent strategy game. If you haven't, don't worry – you'll catch on fast enough.

With these types of games, strategy is important, but often the key to winning is grabbing as much territory as quickly as possible. But how fast is the central conundrum of games like MMHK.

The crux of the problem is the same one gaming generals have faced since Risk: If you move too fast, you'll over extend yourself and be too weak to defend your territory. If you move too slow, you won't have enough territory to make yourself strong, and eventually someone will come along and wipe you and your city from the map.

MMHK differs from other games in its execution. Remember that tortoise? Once you decide on your action – whether it's conquering a new territory or constructing a barracks for your troops – go away. Really. Go away and let the game do its thing. Everything you do in MMHK, every move you make, takes time – sometimes a few minute, usually a hour or so, sometimes a day.

MMHK does not require your full attention. You make a move, go off do laundry, pay the bills, go to sleep. The next day you come back and see how your strategy is paying off. Your result are actually mailed to you via the in-game mail.

Realm versus realm

The real appeal of MMHK will undoubtedly come from the player-versus-player (PvP), realm-versus-realm (RvR), conflict. In the beta preview this wasn't available for sampling, but the real potential of this game lies in this conflict with other players. The ability to wage war against other players is the real fun of any game like MMHK.

Might and Magic: Herores Kingdoms' success ultimately depends upon how well the RvR is implemented. The game promises spies, alliances, and full scale wars. That sounds like good times. We'll have to wait for the game's release to find out for sure.