When junegore asked me to review this game, I had never heard of it and all I really heard was “Might & Magic”. I am a huge fan of the M&M series, especially the old Heroes of Might & Magic Games, so I went into playing this game with a preconception of what to expect. My advice to you? Don’t do the same. When I first loaded the game up I had a bit of a “wait, what?” moment as I realized I was wrong about what to expect.
The games is set in the world of Ashan and details the events leading up to a Blood Moon Eclipse, where Demons are freed from their prison land of Sheogh and roam the world sowing chaos and destruction. There is a shadowy figure behind the scenes pulling the strings of each chapters final bosses to further his goal of obtaining the Blade of Binding, controlling the Demons and basically fulfilling the standard video game bad guy requirement of wanting to take over the world through evil and nefarious means. His actions kick off the story when he sends some Demons to Irollan, the land of the Elves, to get the Blade of Binding. Well the Demons bungle the job, but kill Anwen and Godric’s parents thus motivating them to stop the Demons. There is more to the plot than I had anticipated as the game is very similar to Puzzle Quest but much richer and deeper.
The battles consist of turn based puzzle combat which has an element of chance in it. You have your core units and your secondary units. Each of the five factions has three core units, for example the Elves have Hunters, Pixies, and Bears. You can use three of one type or one of each or any combination therein that suits your style. Then there are the secondary units of which each faction has five. Secondary units come in two varieties, in the Elven example let’s go with Deer and Green Dragons. Deer are the size of two core units and are known as Elite Units, they are basically stronger core units with a useful ability. In the case of the Deer it is the ability to jump over enemy walls. The Green Dragons are Champion Units which are the size of four core units and their special abilities are usually more powerful than elite units. Which you choose can radically affect how the game plays out (at least in terms of specific battles).
In addition to the campaign there are side quests within the campaign that offer bonus resources or units, these range from bounties to battle puzzles. Of course their are achievements tied to the various side quests, all in the vein of completing them all. The Battle Puzzle’s provide perhaps the most genuine strategic challenge in the game requiring a firm grip on the game mechanics and the ability to see combinations that may not appear to most.
The other two game modes are Quick Battle in which you pick your hero and units and play out battles against the computer and then of course Multiplayer. Multiplayer is a fun option in this game, especially if you are really into the strategy aspect of it. There are 1v1 and 2v2 matches and both are very interesting and entertaining. Heroes that you can use for multiplayer mirror those in the campaign, and you also can play as some of the secondary characters by beating each chapter of the campaign. Also the special units you unlock in campaign as well as artifacts are carried over to multiplayer, so completing the campaign fully for the hero you intend to use in multiplayer is probably a good idea.
Overall I would say that M&M Clash of Heroes is a fantastic game worth picking up if you enjoy strategy and puzzles. If at first you are not sure about it, play it a little bit more. It will grow on you, very quickly. I wound up putting close to 40 hours into this game last week without even realizing it.
