Heroes of Might & Magic 2 Millenium Edition (3DO/New World Computing, 1999) is the successful followup to Heroes of Might & Magic 1. These turn based strategy/fantasy mixed games--HOMM for short--are some of the best entertainment around and belong to a huge game universe, 37 games total though not all are for the PC.
HOMM 2: The Succession Wares starts the player off with a choice. The Lord Ironfist is dead and the realm is in the grip of civil war by his ungrateful, feuding sons. The player must decide to support the Heir or his villainous brother, then lead armies to take control of the land. HOMM 2 has 6 hero classes, 6 town types and 66 different creatures. (They really like those 6's eh?)
Improved from the first game are 14 secondary skills to give some measure of roleplay; maps are no longer the same size--four map scales to choose from means a lot more work to do winning those two full-length campains and finishing over 90 single scenario maps. Also the spell system got a major overall. Instead of using spell memorization, heroes permanently learn spells from Mage Guilds in towns but have a limited number of spells points.
The heroes from HOMM 1 (Warlock, Sorceress, Barbarian, and Knight) are returned to the fray, this time to be joined by a Wizard and a Necromancer, each with their own specialized followers that can be recruited by new additions to the towns. New World Computing didn't leave the town to stagnate though, many new fortifications and buildings can be added like: turrets, moats, drawbridges, a coliseum (for Barbarians), plus one can send all their heroes out into the land and set a caretaker captain to watch things. The recruitment type buildings can each be upgraded to gain more powerful types of monsters.
The graphics are even more stunning that in the first incarnation with more animations, death scenes and higher frame rates. Combined with the new map sizes makes for an even better game sure to please longer; in addition I found quite a few websites with player created maps to download, even a site that had a "Loaded" section to supplement the game's four sizes. Internet or LAN play is still available and with the ability to bring on these maps, beating one's friends will never go out of style.
The same simple yet intuitive interface along with better quality sound effects, background music and beefed up AI add to the already impressive improvements. One note to XP users, you will need to find a copy of WING32.dll and put in both your windows/system and the HOMM 2 directory. Don't install the v1.3 patch (if you can find it) if you plan to add HOMM 2: The Price of Loyalty.
Included on the Millenium Edition of HOMM 2 is the expansion, The Price of Loyalty which brings in 20 new standalone single-player scenarios, four new campaigns--2 full-length and 2 "mini"; missions are different from HOMM 2 in that they aren't the "go find resources, kill the foes" type of stuff but varied. Also added are new cinematic scenes, new heroes, events and artifacts plus a few new sound effects and abilities.
Written by:
~MrSoundMan
