Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars is a turn-based strategyvideo game developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Computing and published in 1996 by the 3DO Company. The game is the second installment of the Heroes of Might and Magic series and is typically credited as the breakout game for the series. Heroes II was voted the sixth-best PC game of all time by PC Gamer in May 1997.

An expansion pack, The Price of Loyalty, was released in 1997. Later, 3DO bundled Heroes II and its expansion pack in one box, released as Heroes of Might and Magic II Gold in 1998.

Let's not forget the horde of monsters, spells, events and artifacts that made Heroes of Might and Magic so memorable. Heroes II now has over 50 monsters, 60 spells and 70 artifact types. Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars official game site; Palm Kingdoms 2 (game inspired by Heroes of Might and Magic) Rating. In our March '97 issue (p79), we warned you against Heroes of Might and Magic, not because of the game, but because of the port quality. With the sequel, Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Prince of Loyalty, we can skip right to gameplay, because there's nothing wrong with this version technically.

Gameplay[edit]

For the most part, Heroes of Might and Magic II is largely a graphical overhaul to the first game. Gameplay in both games is along the 4X genre of strategy games, in that the player builds their kingdom from the ground up, securing resources, stronger armies, better generals, and then uses those assets to find and defeat opponents through capturing their castles and defeating their armies. Aside from the updated look, Heroes II added many new features that would become staples in the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise. Heroes II added the Necromancer and Wizard factions, joining the original four factions (Knight, Barbarian, Sorceress, and Warlock) from the first game. These two new factions also come with an army of creatures and a themed town that ties the faction together, and the six are divided down the middle to have 3 'good' and 3 'evil' factions.

Each hero still retains the 'primary skill' system from Heroes I but now can also learn secondary skills, giving each hero the ability to become more distinctive as they gain experience. Each hero can possess up to eight different secondary skills and once gained, a skill can be developed from Basic to Advanced and Expert levels. For example, the Wisdom skill allows a hero to learn spells of level 3 and higher, while the Logistics skill increases the hero's movement ability over land. In Heroes I, heroes had a single, fixed, special ability according to their class. The magic system was overhauled in Heroes II. Heroes I had used a memorization system in which each spell could be cast a certain number of times before being exhausted, where the player had to return to a guild to relearn the spell. Heroes II uses a magic point system that allows the player to apportion spell use as needed, while the varying point cost of different spells maintains balance. Another major feature introduced in Heroes II is the ability to upgrade certain army units, granting them improved statistics and, in some cases, important abilities.

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Lastly, Heroes II added more scenarios to the game and a proper campaign, where the player chooses the good or evil side and plays a series of scenarios using the three factions of that side. Victories in certain scenarios give the player lasting bonuses that carry over to future scenarios, and the player can choose a starting bonus before each scenario starts, based on what strategy they take.

Story[edit]

The canonical ending of Heroes I results in Lord Morglin Ironfist's victory. In the following years, he has successfully unified the continent of Enroth and secured his rule as king. Upon the king's death, his two sons, Archibald and Roland, vie for the crown. Archibald orchestrates a series of events that lead to Roland's exile. Archibald is then declared the new king, while Roland organizes a resistance. Each alignment is represented by one of the game's two campaigns. Archibald's campaign features the three 'evil' town alignments, while Roland's campaign features the three 'good' town alignments.

If Archibald is victorious, Roland's rebellion is crushed, and Roland himself is imprisoned in Castle Ironfist, leaving Archibald the uncontested ruler of Enroth. The canonical ending, however, results in Roland's victory, with Archibald being turned to stone by Roland's court wizard, Tanir. This event is referenced later in Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven, when Archibald is freed of the spell. He goes on to be a significant NPC in Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor.

Development[edit]

Much of the core programming of Heroes II was carried over from the original Heroes, thus the game actually took less time to develop than the original Heroes.^{[citation needed]}

Music[edit]

The soundtrack produced primarily by Paul Romero.

Expansion[edit]

The Price of Loyalty is the expansion pack for Heroes II, released on May 16, 1997. The expansion adds four new campaigns, new artifacts, new scenario maps, new in-map buildings and an improved map editor. The expansion also added a new structure for the necromancer faction - the shrine that enhances the heroes' ability to raise the dead (Necromancy Skills). Each new campaign had a totally different story that doesn't have any connection to the original game or the other campaigns.

Reception[edit]

In December 1996, PC Gamer reported that Heroes of Might and Magic II was 'doing particularly well in retail, with every 3DO retailer reordering the product.'^[6] Combined sales of the Heroes of Might and Magic series, including Heroes II, surpassed 500,000 copies by October 1997.^[7] This number rose to 1.5 million copies by December 1999.^[8]

Next Generation reviewed the Macintosh version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that 'as role-playing games are few on the Mac, HM&MII, with its mix of character and Warcraft-like game elements is a welcome addition.'^[3]

Computer Gaming World called Heroes I a 'strategy game that amaze[d] everyone with its surprising, addictive qualities and amazing ease of use' and found that Heroes II was 'much better than the original Heroes of Might and Magic.' Apart from two gameplay issues - the lack of a wait function, and not being able to control your hero if all of your units are disabled, the reviewer found the game 'nearly perfect.' ^[9]

Awards[edit]

The editors of PC Gamer US named Heroes of Might and Magic II 1996's 'Best Turn-Based Strategy Game', and called it 'clearly a cut above' the rest of its genre that year.^[10] The game was nominated for Computer Gaming World's 1996 'Strategy Game of the Year' and Computer Game Entertainment's 'Best Strategy Game' prizes, as well as Computer Games Strategy Plus's award for the top turn-based strategy title of 1996, but lost in all of these categories to Civilization II.^[11][12][13] It was also a finalist for the Computer Game Developers Conference's 1996 'Best Strategy/War Game' Spotlight Award,^[14] which ultimately went to Command & Conquer: Red Alert.^[15] The editors of Computer Gaming World wrote, 'The simplicity of King's Bounty-style tactical combat is the perfect counterpoint to the surprising depth of the strategic game, and unlike Heroes I, the campaign is much more satisfying.'^[11]

Heroes of Might and Magic II was named the 25th-best computer game ever by PC Gamer UK in 1997.^[16] In 1998, PC Gamer US declared it the seventh-best computer game ever released, and the editors called it 'the most dangerously addictive turn-based strategy game in the history of PC gaming (with the possible exception of Civilization II).'^[17]

References[edit]

1. ^Chin, Elliott (February 1997). 'Classic Heroism'. Computer Gaming World (151): 216, 217.
2. ^Soete, Tim (1996-11-26). 'Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars Review'. Retrieved 2012-04-27.
3. ^ ^ab'Finals'. Next Generation. No. 33. Imagine Media. September 1997. p. 144.
4. ^Tafel, Kathy (October 1997). 'Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars'. MacAddict. Archived from the original on May 5, 1999. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
5. ^Klett, Steve. 'Heroes Of Might & Magic II: The Succession Wars'. PC Games. Archived from the original on July 11, 1997. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
6. ^Staff (December 17, 1996). 'Short Items.. Heroes of Might and Magic II Selling Well'. PC Gamer US. Archived from the original on December 23, 1996. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
7. ^Staff (October 30, 1997). '3DO in Flux'. PC Gamer US. Archived from the original on February 18, 1998. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
8. ^'3DO Ships Heroes of Might and Magic(R) III for Macintosh(R)' (Press release). Redwood City, California: PR Newswire. December 21, 1999. Archived from the original on April 25, 2001.
9. ^Chin, Elliott (February 1997). 'Classic Heroism - Heroes II Is An Amazing Sequel To '95's Best Strategy Game'. Computer Gaming World. Ziff-Davis. pp. 216, 217. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
10. ^'PC Gamer Reveals Its 1997 Award Winners'. Business Wire (Press release). Brisbane, California. February 6, 1997.
11. ^ ^abStaff (March 25, 1997). 'Computer Games Strategy Plus announces 1996 Awards'. Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on June 14, 1997. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
12. ^Staff (July 1997). 'The Computer Game Entertainment Awards 1996'. Computer Game Entertainment (1): 54–58.
13. ^Staff (May 1997). 'The Computer Gaming World 1997 Premier Awards'. Computer Gaming World (154): 68–70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80.
14. ^Staff (April 15, 1997). 'And the Nominees Are..'Next Generation. Archived from the original on June 5, 1997. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
15. ^'Spotlight Awards Winners Announced for Best Computer Games of 1996' (Press release). Santa Clara, California: Game Developers Conference. April 28, 1997. Archived from the original on July 3, 2011.
16. ^Flynn, James; Owen, Steve; Pierce, Matthew; Davis, Jonathan; Longhurst, Richard (July 1997). 'The PC Gamer Top 100'. PC Gamer UK (45): 51–83.
17. ^The PC Gamer Editors (October 1998). 'The 50 Best Games Ever'. PC Gamer US. 5 (10): 86, 87, 89, 90, 92, 98, 101, 102, 109, 110, 113, 114, 117, 118, 125, 126, 129, 130.

Overview

Heroes II continues 25 years after Heroes I left off. Lord Ironfist has passed away after settling the land of Enroth, and his two sons, Archibald and Roland, both wish to take his place. The result is a civil war pitting Archibald and his more sinister leagues against Roland's forces of Good. At the onset of the game you choose which side you will serve, starting one of the whopping total of 40 campaigns offered in Heroes II. Once started, you act as a lord in control of heroes. This is more of a strategy game than any other role-playing game I've come across, in that you have your hero scout the land for resources and build his or her forces in preparation to take over the enemy before the enemy defeats you. The game also offers a Standard Mode option in which you can play a computer-generated round and can select the difficulty level and who the opponent will be, either the computer or another player. Heroes II supports up to 6 people via hot-seat, modem, network, direct connect and Internet play. The game also comes with a level/map editor.

Gameplay

Simply put, the gameplay is addicting. This is one game that will cause problems with any significant others, if you know what I mean. You'll find yourself telling others as well as yourself, 'Just fifteen minutes more, I promise,' only to be followed by another such promise. The gaming environment is laid out exactly as before, only now the playing field is a bit larger. There are three gaming screens: 1) the castle where you add and upgrade structures to your base, 2) the land where you point and click your hero through gathering resources for the castle building, and 3) the combat screen.

The land portion of the game is similar to Warcraft II or Command & Conquer. You point your hero from one resource to another. Unlike real-time strategy games, Heroes II is turn-based. You can only go so far in one day, and while you do so, your enemy must wait for his or her turn. The advantage is that you can take as much time as you need on strategy without having to worry about the enemy attacking or building forces while you think. On the other hand, Heroes II doesn't offer the real-time action you get from other strategy games, or the kind of adrenaline rush real-time games provide when you know the opponent is just over the ridge somewhere and moving in fast. For me, this is the way Heroes of Might and Magic is supposed to be, and the way I would want to play it, but I imagine some of you would have liked the option to go real-time as X-COM: Apocalypse, another traditionally turn-based game, promises to be.

The controls and interface of all screens are as simple as they can be. If you are the type who hates spending time reading the manual rather than playing the game, the kind who just likes to jump in, you will be pretty happy with Heroes II. Everything is completely intuitive. Part of the fun to newcomers of Heroes of Might and Magic is learning the simplicity of the interface. If you've played Heroes I, the controls and layout are virtually the same with only a few minor aesthetic changes.

Graphics

The graphics for Heroes II are excellent and add to the overall feel of the game. They have improved greatly from Heroes I, but still have a similar feel. Everything is crisp and sharp with more detail than before. The colors have more of a holiday feel to them than a cartoonish or a hi-tech feel, which makes this game a perfect holiday gift or treat. This may sound like an odd comparison, but playing the original Heroes I reminded me of the feeling I had playing the children's board game Candyland when I was a kid. Heroes II is a magical game, to say the least. Pointing your hero across the land to pick up treasure after treasure is quite a treat. Pure eye candy.

Heroes II has all of this and plenty more. Along with the light, magical atmosphere of the original we are now treated, also, to the gloomy mood of the dark side, which almost has a Tim Burton feel to it -- think Nightmare Before Christmas and Beetlejuice. Instead of having the same border theme as in the original, you can now choose a dark or light theme which is different enough to give a slightly different feel to the interface. The dark side is cold and metallic, while the light side is warm and golden. Increasing the size of the landscape and decreasing the size of the objects on screen was a good way for the Heroes II design team to go as well. It makes things a bit sharper and hence more enticing. There just seem to be more treats to discover here than in the original.

Audio

The audio to Heroes of Might and Magic II adds just as much to the game as the graphics. The musical pieces change from one scenario to the next and the feel appropriately varies from light to dark castle. Music in the light castles has a cheery, melodic feel, while in dark castles it's more ominous. Lots of harpsichord in both. The feel of the music is enchanting and magical, appropriate for the days of knights and magic. The only thing I found in Heroes II that I did like better in Heroes I was the audio selection while in the open land screen. In Heroes I there was a little music wafting in and out in the distant background, while in the foreground you heard birds chirping and other natural sounds. This offered a nice transition from the castle to open land, it gave you the sense that the land and the objects there were alive. It was refreshing, it gave you the feeling that your were out in the open, ready to explore. Although Heroes II does have such sound effects, the music continues when players leave the castle, diminishing the sense of transition when moving to open land and lessening the refreshing effect of all the outdoor sounds. I found myself turning down the volume every now and then because of this. Too much of any music over and over can rack the nerves. One nice feature of Heroes II, though, is that you can select between MIDI, Stereo w/o Opera, and Stereo w/ Opera which sounds pretty darn good compared to just plain MIDI. You can also completely adjust the volume of both music and sound effects, though unfortunately these settings are global in that if you were to turn off the music while in the open land screen, the music in the castle screen would also turn off.

Enemy AI

Although Heroes of Might and Magic may look light and although the controls are intuitive and simple, the gameplay and AI is tough to say the least. Unlike Warcraft II, in which you are pretty much given the first scenario, the first scenario of Heroes II is definitely a challenge, especially if it is the first time you've played. Enemy AI basically does what you would do, and sometimes does it better. At times I found myself cursing the AI for being so irritatingly clever. Fortunately, you can adjust the difficulty levels in Standard Mode. Not in Campaign Mode, though, unfortunately. Card hunter free download. New World Computing claims to have improved the AI, and I think it is fair to say they have.

Originality

No other game even comes close to the feel of +Heroes of Might and Magic II_ except for Heroes of Might and Magic I. Unlike Command & Conquer and Warcraft II, there are no clones for Heroes of Might and Magic II.

Parental Warning/Rating

Heroes II is appropriate for all age groups and makes a good family game. Youngsters can learn basic resource management as well as basic strategy skills without being exposed to adult material and unnecessary violence. This is definitely a game that the entire family can enjoy.

Documentation

The documentation in Heroes of Might and Magic has more than you will ever need. 120 pages for any game, especially one as intuitive as this, is more than I'll ever go through. Simply put, it covers everything you need to know and more in order to play the game.

System Requirements

As you can see below, the system requirements for Heroes II are not as demanding as other games. One thing I did notice in my system was a slight flicker that ran through the screen while playing. I didn't notice it until after a couple of games, so it's pretty minute, but it is there. I do not have this problem outside the game. I just installed a Rendition-based board, Intergraph's Reactor 3D -- which is killer, by the way -- so it might be a driver incompatibility issue or the like with the chip or the board. I've had other display related problems with the board, mainly DirectX release 3, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was the problem.

DOS System Requirements: IBM 486/66 or greater and 100% compatibles, 8 MB RAM, 2X CD-ROM drive, 60 MB hard drive space, SVGA graphics card, DOS 5.0 or greater, Microsoft compatible mouse

Windows 95 System Requirements: IBM 486/66 or greater and 100% compatibles, 8 MB RAM, 2X CD-ROM drive, 60 MB hard drive space, SVGA graphics card, Windows 95

Macintosh System Requirements: 68030 or greater / Power Macintosh (Power Macintosh Native), 8 MB RAM, 2X CD-ROM drive, 50 MB hard drive space, 13' or larger monitor (minimum 640x480x256), System 7.x

Bottom Line

Heroes of Might and Magic I has already been deemed a classic by many, winning strategy gaming awards from almost all the major gaming press. Now, in Heroes II, you get more characters, more artifacts, more terrain types, two new character classes (Necromancer and Wizard), nicer graphics and 6 rather than 4 person multiplayer capability. The graphics are great, the music is great and the gameplay is extremely addictive -- consider yourself warned. Heroes II is destined to be a classic. If you want to get a feel of the game, try the demo for Heroes I for the time being, and realize that Heroes II is even better. This game will sit on my current system's hard drive along with X-COM: UFO Defense and other classics for as long as the hard drive lives. Overall, Heroes of Might and Magic II earns a 94 out of 100.