Might & Magic Heroes VII (PC) Preview

It is a familiar formula: slowly build up a town while sending hero units around an overworld map. Those heroes will take part in battles, gain abilities and acquire artefacts as they explore. When they are strong enough they can be used to take over other towns, which can then be built up to get different troops and abilities...thus slowly gaining map dominance.

The gameplay is solid and has been honed over the years. It's hard to fault anything mechanically, as it all "just works." The battles have a nice bar at the bottom to show which units have their turns next. The risk/reward of most battles is well balanced, and there is almost always incentive to go back to map points after getting a bit stronger.

On the other hand, those who have experienced any other version of Heroes might not find enough here to warrant a purchase unless they're looking for more of the same. Indeed, given the availability of the other games in the series at discount prices, Heroes VII might find its strongest competition is itself.

That said, there are a handful of changes sprinkled about. The "skill wheel" in this version is an interesting take on a skill tree, whereby abilities are unlocked converging on a few key abilities in the middle. Judging by some of the menus, it looks like there will be sub-quests within campaigns, too, although this couldn't be tried during the beta.

The beta version is, in fact, very limited - no campaign was shown and there were only a handful of maps. It's quite possible that story, lore and other unrevealed aspects of the game will make up for its overly familiar feel to the previous entries.

Additionally, it's of note that, at this point, turn times are extremely slow. When waiting for the various AI factions to move their units, it's worth taking out a 3DS and playing something else for a bit. It's literally about a few minutes between each turn. It's likely much of this wait time is due to it being a beta, however.