Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes

Available on - DS and soon an updated visual version will hit XBLA and PSN
Score between 7 and 10 - 7(average)
You may like Might and Magic Clash of Heroes - Games that blend puzzle and RPG gameplay such as Puzzle Quest and Geomancer. You may also like it if your a fan of old school RPGs such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI but are open to a new style of game play.

About the game - Clash of Heroes basically takes a match three puzzle games style then mixes it with typical RPG elements. You will wander around various locales finding treasure chests, fighting enemies and advancing the story of Demons who are trying to confuse the good races of the worlds(Elves, Humans typical fantasy stuff)into going to war with each other while everyone seeks a mystical blade with the ability to control the demons. The big twist lies in the fact that when you fight enemies you do not get the typical turn based RPG but instead a mix of a puzzle and a strategy game. Your troops start out scattered and to get them to do anything you must match rows of three left to right or down to up. A row of three left to right will create a defensive wall that will help protect you from getting hit, and a row from top to bottom creates an offensive line who after so many turns will charge and attack your enemies. Its a system that offers a fair amount of strategy as you have to balance defending yourself with attacking the enemy! When you then add in the fact that you can link your forms together, combo similar units by matching multiples in one turn and that any time you attack or are attacked you will lose troops which you must spend a turn calling for reinforcements and you have a game that truly makes you think about your decisions!


Pros
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The battles are extremely creative and can be fun! - Many people are sick of playing RPGs where you just mash X either to make your character attack in typical turn based games, or swing his sword in typical action based games. Might and Magic shakes things up much as Puzzle Quest before it did with innovative and fun puzzle game play!

Graphics are bright and stylized - Clash of heroes may not push the DS's graphical abilities, but the game is still very enjoyable to look at thanks to the games stylized art and attention to detail.

Multiple characters to play as - Unlike a lot of RPGs that put you in the shoes of your hero or group of heroes from begging to end, Clash of Heroes puts you in charge of several unique factions. This both lets you see the story unfold through several sets of eyes, but also allows some varied game play since each main character has their own special attack. So, just as you get used to playing as an Elf with the special ability of a huge damage attack as her special ability you will be thrust into the reverse rule of a human with the ability to prevent all damage to himself for one turn!

Lots of unit types - I mentioned in my opening how Clash of Heroes has a lot of depth since you have to debate things like defense vs offense and when to call for reinforcements, but having so many unit types really puts it on another plain! Honestly every single race/faction in the game has 4 or 5 basic units with different strengths, defenses and turns they take to attack, but then they also have another 3 or 4 special troops that are as large as 2 normal troops and when attacking do something special like hop over the enemies walls or attack multiple times . Each race/faction also has an elite troop that is the size of 4 normal troops and does something horrifically powerful like a giant area attack that leaves a poison trail or leaches life from enemies killed. All these varied units offers the player the ability to customize their army to fit their play style and to try out many sets of tactics!

The game is challenging, but at least death is forgiving -The game has a good challenge at times and most gamers will probably die, however death is pretty fair in this game as you generally lose nothing and just get booted from battle to try again!

Several different types of battles -Throughout the game most of the battles may be of the same type, but every few battles you will be thrown a twist. Sometimes you may have someone on your side you have to defend against the enemies, sometimes there may be someone on the enemies side of battle you have to be careful NOT to hit, or someone that the only way to win IS to hit them! There are also special "puzzle" battles that are more akin to a typical puzzle games puzzle mode. In these battles someone will have given you very specific troops and put very specific enemies in front of you, using a limited amount of moves you must figure out how to arrange your units so that it kills all enemy units. These puzzle battles and the other special battles come just often enough to be a breathe of fresh air, but not so often as to frustrate the player.


Cons
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No explanation of enemy types - You get an explanation of your own enemies as they become available, but never of what the enemy has in their army. This means you must learn through trial and error what enemy units do. This can be horrid as you spend 7 minutes on a battle and think you have it won just to find out that one of the enemies special units has an area of effect attack, hits multiple times or jumps over your walls.

Battles can run far too long - Some of the battles, especially those involving more defensive characters like the second you play as can run pretty darn long.

Too easy to bump into higher level enemies! - You can take on quests as well as fight some non random story encounters that put you up against enemies several levels above you and near impossible to beat with absolutely no warning. Given that as I said even battles at your level can drag on for quite some time, this can be incredibly frustrating as you have no choice but to press start and retreat,(which costs you resources)or to push on with a battle you will probably not win....and even if you do will take forever to complete!


Closing Comments - Whenever Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes came out I saw/heard numerous people I respect rant about the game. I wanted it so bad, I LOVED Puzzle Quest and hearing the comparisons as well as the changes made to MM:CoH had me salivating at the mouth to get my hands on it. However I found it left me feeling disappointed. I honestly do not think either that it was high expectations altering my view of the game, I just found the battles running too long, grinding taking too long and some characters(Godrick!)frustrating to play as. This however was just my experience! Given how much others enjoyed the game and that I can clearly see it is still a high quality release(that I did have some fun with) I can not stress enough that this game is totally worth a look! I would just recommend going into it with tempered expectations and the realization that the battles can run long at times and that some characters are more fun to play then others!