Heroes of Might and Magic 2 - Review
Title: Heroes of Might and Magic II
Genre: Turn Based Strategy
Platform: PC
Publisher: New World Computing
My Grade: 4/5
Players: 1-8
Homm II holds great memories for me, not only because the game was something new and exciting but because of what was happening around me while I was sat by an ancient laptop fiddling with it. The first 30-40 times I played Homm II I only had a demo with two scenarios, but I played those scenarios to death.
Story:
In the campaign you will be faced with a choice, two brethren are competeing for their fathers throne, you may choose from the good-hearted who holds nature, law and order above all. Or you can choose to support the evil brother who contorts with the blackness of dragons, the fury of the barbarian tribes and the indifference of the undead.
Then there are Scenario games which all holds their own story.
Gameplay:
Homm II is a 2d strategy game set in three different stages. You have the castle where you can build recruiting grounds for creatures, this is also where you make some of your money and recources required to buy troops and contructions.
You also have your hero who is the commander of armys assigned to him, he/she travels the map fighting monsters and taking over recource centers in order to make you richer and more powerful.
Then there is the combat phase. Combat is based on ancient style combat where the armies group up on two different sides of the map :D. You will then start to move your characters in some very clever and tactical ways to deal as much damage as possible and take as little as you can. There are both melee and ranged characters and some of them has special abilities like double strike or first strike. Your hero's role in combat is to cast spells, he can cast anything from buffing you to damaging your enemy.
There are of course a number of races in the game all with their unique creatures and castles. These will be a lot mroe fun if you explore on your own. :D
What I think:
Well since I have such a wonderful history with this game I may not be the most objective observer. The only few negative things about Homm II is probably the boring multi-player option, it is hard enough to wait for the computer to make their moves (takes about 10-15 sec). Imagine having to wait for other players who might take up to a minute!? crazy boring. And that is probably why I won't give tihs game a 5. Aside from crappy multiplayer options everything else is brilliant. Despite what everyone says, the balance between the races is great, the AI is incredible ( this game was published in 1996).
Thank you and goodnight ! (gonna go wait for Haven and Hearth to reset)
Genre: Turn Based Strategy
Platform: PC
Publisher: New World Computing
My Grade: 4/5
Players: 1-8
Homm II holds great memories for me, not only because the game was something new and exciting but because of what was happening around me while I was sat by an ancient laptop fiddling with it. The first 30-40 times I played Homm II I only had a demo with two scenarios, but I played those scenarios to death.
Story:
In the campaign you will be faced with a choice, two brethren are competeing for their fathers throne, you may choose from the good-hearted who holds nature, law and order above all. Or you can choose to support the evil brother who contorts with the blackness of dragons, the fury of the barbarian tribes and the indifference of the undead.
Then there are Scenario games which all holds their own story.
Gameplay:
Homm II is a 2d strategy game set in three different stages. You have the castle where you can build recruiting grounds for creatures, this is also where you make some of your money and recources required to buy troops and contructions.
You also have your hero who is the commander of armys assigned to him, he/she travels the map fighting monsters and taking over recource centers in order to make you richer and more powerful.
Then there is the combat phase. Combat is based on ancient style combat where the armies group up on two different sides of the map :D. You will then start to move your characters in some very clever and tactical ways to deal as much damage as possible and take as little as you can. There are both melee and ranged characters and some of them has special abilities like double strike or first strike. Your hero's role in combat is to cast spells, he can cast anything from buffing you to damaging your enemy.
There are of course a number of races in the game all with their unique creatures and castles. These will be a lot mroe fun if you explore on your own. :D
What I think:
Well since I have such a wonderful history with this game I may not be the most objective observer. The only few negative things about Homm II is probably the boring multi-player option, it is hard enough to wait for the computer to make their moves (takes about 10-15 sec). Imagine having to wait for other players who might take up to a minute!? crazy boring. And that is probably why I won't give tihs game a 5. Aside from crappy multiplayer options everything else is brilliant. Despite what everyone says, the balance between the races is great, the AI is incredible ( this game was published in 1996).
Thank you and goodnight ! (gonna go wait for Haven and Hearth to reset)
Diablo II - Review
Title: Diablo II (Expansion: Lord of Destruction)
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC (generally)
Publisher: Blizzard
My Grade: 4/5 (dont want to waste my 5's)
Players: 1-¿
So I never played a game with more than 4 players but I know you can play many many more.
Diablo II is such a well established game with a huge fan circle that it still has a huge number of active players, and probably will for a while still. I have to admit I have not played Diablo II for very long, only the last 5 or 6 years and never played it before the expansion came out. That is why I inculde the expansion in this review.
Story:
Diablo has once again broken loose and is causing trouble in the world, it is up to you to track him down and once again banish him back to hell. This time however, he brought backup in form of his brothers Mephisto and Bhaal. Assist the Archangel with defeating them all and save the world stone from corruption.
Gameplay:
Diablo II is an RPG with different classes.
Druid: A diverse character which can be used as a melee fighter by morphing into a werewolf, a supporting hero through summoning various creatures to aid you and the party in a number of ways. And finally as a spellcaster using the elements of wind and fire to wreak destruction upon your enemies.
Amazon: A skilled marksman able to use bows, crossbows and javelins. She can also be used as a melee fighter but her specializations lie mainly at ranged combat. She is a versatile and challening character.
Necromancer: Using his skill of necromancy he can conjure up creatures of death to fight for him or protect the party. He can also be used as a caster specializing in bone spells and poisons or curses.
Barbarian: a fighter of brutal strength which is of vital importance for any party. He specializes in melee combat and has the ability to crush his opponents with very little effort.
Paladin: the Paladin is also a versatile character who can specialise in offensive or defensive combat as well as auras to aid himself and the party of adventurers.
Sorceress: The sorceress is the ultimate caster whose second name could be destruction and mayhem. She can specialize in the categories of Frost, fire or lightning, or why not all three?
Assassin: is the warrior of darkness among the characters, she has a number of abilities at her disposal and can specialise in straight out melee combat, combos to annihilate enemies in a various number of ways and also traps to destroy your enemies wave after wave.
All characters has three seperate skill trees where you can spend one point per level (and on some certain occasions you get them for completing missions).
the game has 5 different acts, each act conatins a completely new area with new types of enemies and missions. After completing the 5th act you get to restart the game and continue in a different difficulty with new tweaks to the enemies and also new loot.
Speaking of Loot, there is no way that I can go over all the loot in the game so I will refer you to a site used a lot by diablo fans: http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/
Just let me say, there is a ton of loot adding yet another layer of interest for the dedicated player.
There is also a multi-player option in Diablo 2 which enables you to get on Battle.net and play with friends or just with random people. You can also play in the old fashion way through direct connect.
What I think:
Well, what can I say ? Diablo 2 is like most Blizzard games, bloody brilliant. There is hardly anything that is not done well. The story line is amazing, the gameplay is so well made its riddiculus and yet I have only given it a 4/5. I will tell you why, it is mainly due to the exploits that can be found in internet play.
Even though you cant use your internet character when playing single-player it is still way too easy to boost low level internet chars so that you can get the WoW farm syndrome. You get a high level character that cant play :/ anyway, its a small problem and hard to do anything about.
There is also a slight issue of imbaness, there are character builds combined with gear that can make characters so overpowered they cant be killed.
But hey, getting the items you want isnt easy so if you managed to become invulnerable you are more than welcome to it.
Thank you...
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC (generally)
Publisher: Blizzard
My Grade: 4/5 (dont want to waste my 5's)
Players: 1-¿
So I never played a game with more than 4 players but I know you can play many many more.
Diablo II is such a well established game with a huge fan circle that it still has a huge number of active players, and probably will for a while still. I have to admit I have not played Diablo II for very long, only the last 5 or 6 years and never played it before the expansion came out. That is why I inculde the expansion in this review.
Story:
Diablo has once again broken loose and is causing trouble in the world, it is up to you to track him down and once again banish him back to hell. This time however, he brought backup in form of his brothers Mephisto and Bhaal. Assist the Archangel with defeating them all and save the world stone from corruption.
Gameplay:
Diablo II is an RPG with different classes.
Druid: A diverse character which can be used as a melee fighter by morphing into a werewolf, a supporting hero through summoning various creatures to aid you and the party in a number of ways. And finally as a spellcaster using the elements of wind and fire to wreak destruction upon your enemies.
Amazon: A skilled marksman able to use bows, crossbows and javelins. She can also be used as a melee fighter but her specializations lie mainly at ranged combat. She is a versatile and challening character.
Necromancer: Using his skill of necromancy he can conjure up creatures of death to fight for him or protect the party. He can also be used as a caster specializing in bone spells and poisons or curses.
Barbarian: a fighter of brutal strength which is of vital importance for any party. He specializes in melee combat and has the ability to crush his opponents with very little effort.
Paladin: the Paladin is also a versatile character who can specialise in offensive or defensive combat as well as auras to aid himself and the party of adventurers.
Sorceress: The sorceress is the ultimate caster whose second name could be destruction and mayhem. She can specialize in the categories of Frost, fire or lightning, or why not all three?
Assassin: is the warrior of darkness among the characters, she has a number of abilities at her disposal and can specialise in straight out melee combat, combos to annihilate enemies in a various number of ways and also traps to destroy your enemies wave after wave.
All characters has three seperate skill trees where you can spend one point per level (and on some certain occasions you get them for completing missions).
the game has 5 different acts, each act conatins a completely new area with new types of enemies and missions. After completing the 5th act you get to restart the game and continue in a different difficulty with new tweaks to the enemies and also new loot.
Speaking of Loot, there is no way that I can go over all the loot in the game so I will refer you to a site used a lot by diablo fans: http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/
Just let me say, there is a ton of loot adding yet another layer of interest for the dedicated player.
There is also a multi-player option in Diablo 2 which enables you to get on Battle.net and play with friends or just with random people. You can also play in the old fashion way through direct connect.
What I think:
Well, what can I say ? Diablo 2 is like most Blizzard games, bloody brilliant. There is hardly anything that is not done well. The story line is amazing, the gameplay is so well made its riddiculus and yet I have only given it a 4/5. I will tell you why, it is mainly due to the exploits that can be found in internet play.
Even though you cant use your internet character when playing single-player it is still way too easy to boost low level internet chars so that you can get the WoW farm syndrome. You get a high level character that cant play :/ anyway, its a small problem and hard to do anything about.
There is also a slight issue of imbaness, there are character builds combined with gear that can make characters so overpowered they cant be killed.
But hey, getting the items you want isnt easy so if you managed to become invulnerable you are more than welcome to it.
Thank you...
