Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes Review

Matthew Scullion

In the videogames industry there are many genres on offer, but none so guaranteed to sell by the bucket-load as Strategy and Puzzle. Throw in some JRPG and you've got a guaranteed best seller. As if on queue to the above, we get Heroes of Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes.

I suppose I'll deal with the Elephant in the room right away- no, the box art doesn't make it bear any resemblance to the traditional Might and Magic series and honestly I think that's for the best. This being my first experience with the series, I can't pass judgement as far as comparing the quality of the game to older instalments, but I can infer that its different based on readings from the huddled masses. Storytelling takes the form of a traditional Japanese RPG over-world, complete with clichéd story about humans overthrowing humanoid armies other-throwing a demon army through use of a legendary maguffin leading to the protagonists' parents and home village being burned down upon the demons' return. To be brutally honest, the story isn't the selling point of this sort of game any more unless you have a medical case of extreme japanophillia – as with any RPG or strategy game, the battle system is the main selling point.

At this point I feel obligated to mention Bejewelled, a puzzle game so deeply ingrained with gaming culture that it is the basis for about 33% of all puzzle games on the market today. You line up three of any given colour gem and they then disappear, giving you points. In Might & Magic this provides the basis for the battle system, you are given three different types of basic troop, to which you can assign a different colour, linking them horizontally creates a defensive wall, vertically queues them up into an attack position. You then launch waves of these troops against the enemy, who is doing the same on the top screen. As you proceed through the tutorial you are given access to units that can be any colour- specially the epic units, infantry with a bit more punch (such as druids) and Champions, including dragons and Treebeard's knock-off cousins. In order to get these units to attack you line up the infantry of the appropriate colour behind them. Despite them unleashing hell, by no means are these the bread and butter of your army- the epics need two units to begin their assault and the champions take up four times the space of your everyday attack-bear, needing a force of four others behind them to start throwing their breath about. Throw in a system of lining up units without moving them leading to bonus rounds and extra strength if you align two different columns of the same colour, and you have a deep, yet intuitive battle system on your hands.

If you look at the evolution of the JRPG from Final fantasy I to the 13th issue, you'll have noticed the gameplay becoming increasingly focussed on making the player do something more involved than clicking a to hit stuff, then waiting to bit so they can hit stuff again. Modern day RPGs work through a combination of standard menu-navigation and action commands, placing the user more into the battle. While most strategy player be content to simply click and point  at where they want their tank to shoot, it'll feel a lot fresher to them if they have to genuinely think and plan even their unit formations through puzzles. The fact the artwork is animé-influenced, and taking so many elements of a game traditionally identified as JRPG only serve to add to the experience. Maybe its not the traditional fantasy strategy experience, or even a standard Might and Magic game, but Clash of Heroes doesn't really need to be. The uninformed player can get into this game without knowing a comprehensive history of the universe, and can play through a long, slightly clichéd story about unification of humanoid species in a fantasy setting without tiring of selecting an attack and watching a short animation 2000 times per chapter. Between this and the looming re-release of the crowning gems in the Pokemon crown, it's a great time be for a RPG player to have a DS.

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