Well, this is it. My very first blog! I figured it'd be about time I started blogging here as well, so I suppose now's the best time to start with it

Picked up Heroes of Might and Magic V some time ago, and it's an exciting game with good-looking graphics. The only problem I find with it are the few maps for both single and multiplayer, as well as the map editor. I mean, if you go back some years to Heroes3 there were WAY more maps and also much more diversity of objectives then there are in Heroes5. Heroes3 also had a nice and simple map editor, which Heroes5 also comes short of. Second, the ghost mode. It's cool, don't get me wrong. But in my opinion, it feels a bit off for me. I mean, you can't give your ghost any specific orders or see what your ghost did with for example a neutral creature stack (did it just curse them or possess them) The duel mode on the other hand is cool. With the right build in the right hands you can beat anyone! I can remember scoring a lot of victories with Ossir in the Heroes5 demo, even though I haven't done any duel runs with the retail version. I've been focussing mainly on the campaign with some online games as a distraction until now, but I figure I'll be going multi more often when the campaign is all done.

Speaking of single and multiplayer, let's get into that a bit more. First off, the campaign. It consists of 6 chapters, one for each faction. each chapter consists of 5 missions. Each faction chapter tells the tale of one specific hero, and you get to follow it's story as it develops. Although the 6 chapters seem to have nothing to do with each other, they all fall together one way or another sometime. But apart from several 'chapter-related cameo appearances' I have to say I've seen little of it yet. After finishing the campaign, you have the choice of several skirmish missions. These are fairly good fun, but there are only 6 maps and they all have a set faction. So after playing each map over and over with the same faction, you'll soon find yourself memorising each map and taking the exact same route every time you play a specific map. And then there's also the multiplayer. There are basically two modes, the standard turn-based RPG style we're all used to seeing in the Heroes franchise, and then there's the duel mode. Duel mode lets you pick a set piece of army lead by a high-level hero from any of the game's 6 faction and fight another player with his own. Each army build has their own strengths and weaknesses, but all are effective in their own right and have as much chance in winning a fight as any other. The armies all seem to be well-balanced, so the outcome is really decided by the players themselves. These duel modes are designed for short and action-packed battles which are generally a great deal of fun.

The units in Heroes 5 are all cool in their own right. They all look great and alive, especially the higher-level creatures. They've really done a great job in giving you a sense of awe when you see something like a Titan or a Dragon or an Archangel. Another thing I noticed is the way the designs show a unit's strength. When you see a creature, you can tell how strong they are just by the way they look. From the frailness of a Skeleton to the massiveness of a Dragon, you get a sense of what you can expect to face in terms of strength and decide if your army would be up for the challenge or not.

So there you have it, my personal Heroes of Might and Magic V blog review For a more experienced review, be sure to check the official Gamespot's Heroes of Might and Magic V review. But my personal verdict would be an 8.7! A nice piece of work by Ubisoft and Nival Interactive, let's hope we get to see more of this!