Heroes of Might and Magic IV: Winds of War

This review is based on the version of this that comes with the Complete edition. In case you're wondering about the summary… seriously, twice in a row, with this theme of titles? And they get at least a couple of painful puns out of it in this one. This doesn't actually follow, or particularly in any way relate, to The Gathering Storm, the first of these two expansion packs, in spite of them sounding like they might. It does leave be all that came with it, which is nice. This time, they really did not add a lot. The three(!) new creatures are the improved Catapult, the Megadragon(didn't one of the robots on The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers transform into that?) and the Frenzied Gnasher, that, as you might be able to guess, is constantly Berserk, so you don't so much use it to fight as you bring it to the battle-field and hope it can take care of itself. It's immune to magic… all of it… yup, including the beneficial stuff. Six new adventure locations, all of them recruiting stations for the troops added by the EP's. The Editor gets "all" of these new things, and is fully updated. There are 25 new scenarios, four of them multi-player(if there are any further ones specific to that mode, well, I wouldn't know, for either of these add-ons, seeing as how I never play this in MP). I don't know how many, exactly, but the manual informs that there are "a number" of new artifacts, and that new tactics will have to be developed to achieve victory. Sounds… vague. We are introduced to the plot by the opening, and, again… *sigh*… only, cinematic… and that is a mighty flattering term, as it is pans and such across drawn figures looking like cardboard cut-outs, posing in front of also still backgrounds. Five different Heroes, with each their reason, fight to conquer Channon, which bears the fascinating distinction of being the only country ever named after the sound of a sneeze. Among these are Spazz(that must be popular if you've got that bunch of letters during Scrabble) Palminteri… pardon, Maticus, a mad(…so it says, and if you don't believe me, check out the dudes eyes the first time you see him) king, Mongo the Barbarian, who's an L away from being a Hun, I wonder why… and Mysterio the Magnificent(!) (honest, I kid you not, I could not make this stuff up), who wants the recipe(I sure hope it doesn't have a drab aftertaste) for immortality, presumably because he thinks that, eventually, having a fishbowl on his head and a green cape *will* be a fashionable look, plus, if he can't beat your friendly neighborhood Spider-man, maybe he can outlive him(yes, I am, in fact, being facetious). You have to wonder how they come up with these. Anyway, each of them get a campaign, in which they fight their way towards the same goal… over 3 levels. No, really. In the final one, you get to choose one of them, and face off against the other four, which is an original, interesting and potentially awesome idea(exactly how it works out may vary, for each individual player… but that just adds to how cool that is, really). That's only for a single map, though, meaning that the total amount of new ones about the main story is sixteen. Or twenty, if you choose to count the different options for that last one as separate ones. The characters are well-written, if the less… easy-going Elven in this comes off as less credible than his counterpart in IV. There are next to no twists, almost everything unfolds as expected. The all-knowing narrator type who takes no sides is back, and this time… it's personal. Wait. That's not right. No, he's present at the beginning of all 16 bits, as well as after each of the 6 portions. That's it, yes. The "all of them come together in the last one" is here being done for the third time in one of these, the first being Shadow of Death, second of the ones for III, and then both of these for the fourth game. At least this one does put a spin on it. OK, the ideas behind how it works out aren't identical, but nevertheless… The text is fairly limited, again, and remains the extent of story-telling this goes for(which, I suppose, considering the audience is fitting). I'm not sure I spotted any breaks in the language this time around, it all stays in the appropriate tone for this. There's neither wisdom nor cheese in any of it. The voice acting is great, and you can tell the guy really gives it his all. One has to wonder why this was even made, if they had this little to give. Honestly, I can imagine that if this were a mission pack, it would still not feel all that worthwhile. If it were free. This adds the very bare minimum, if that. I suppose they *really* wanted to tide people over until the release of V(which I haven't tried), or wanted to milk this baby for all it was worth. I couldn't tell you if they were successful in accomplishing either, since I don't follow such matters, nor do I really care to. If you do, by all means, ask around. Before getting this, I would advise asking the opinion of someone you trust to properly be able to gauge it as good or bad, who has already had their hands on it. This is more than mild enough that anyone, of any age can try it. I saw no sexuality in any of it. All of the violence is completely PG-13. I recommend this to the biggest fans of the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise, and only those who already own and love #4 of the series. If not, I'd wager you can spend your money on something more satisfying. Perhaps a more recent entry? 6/10