The most popular version of HoMaM games and even if it's not my favourite one, I can't say it can give a lot of fun.

Many cities with unique units, many campaign, easy to use map editor and graphics which are not bad after many many years.

Balance of cities is a bit off in my opinion tho.

No grail. Necropolis only. Mandate of Heaven.

Is there anything as amusing here as a Scooby-Doo chase around the map, with one deathball vs. a bunch of under-supplied riders? That's the average HoMM3 late-game on some maps. You learn to fuck with the AI as much as possible, just in case some pathfinding manipulation buys you time to restock troops. Maybe beelining for those magic artifacts—a 5th level spells hat, for instance—can turn the tide in battle. The final scenario in Restoration of Erathia had me playing cat-and-mouse this way. It got frustrating at times, but persistence pays off in any of these games. I sunk more than a hundred hours to stop a cursed king, and I felt redeemed.

There's much I could say about HoMM3 in general, one of PC gaming's evergreen staples. As for the base game's campaigns, I'll note how well the scenarios inch upward in length & complexity. The first three campaigns, with three missions each, covers much of the basics & common strategies you'll need to master. Juggling multiple town types leveling up your heroes to cover more ground (before creating that aforementioned deathball) is all crucial to later success. I just have to laugh at the actual tutorial since it teaches you relatively intuitive actions while the early-game gives you useful hints in a story context. The difficulty curve is balanced enough, at least in the Complete Edition, to ensure you'll get through the game's first half.

Things get nuts once you reach Steadwick's Liberation. The game knows you've learned how Castle heroes, troops, & buildings work. But now you'll be fighting your own kind turned heel, with way more resources & action economy than you can muster. It's here where I learned just how much of a numbers game HoMM3 can become. Trading makes or breaks your game, low morale can ruin your battle tactics on a whim, and unit upgrades only work so well when you're running out of gold for other things. I got used to taking my spellcasters anywhere they could fight & then restock MP, just abusing their magic attacks to compensate for having so few units.

Compared to its predecessors, base HoMM3 already has a more muted, aged aesthetic that clashes against the story's cheesy moments. It's fun to witness characters & concepts derived from the main Might & Magic games (themselves derived from many late-night D&D pizza parties) utterly destroying each other. New World Computing clearly loves the world they're working with, no matter how simple & blockbuster in scope. For lack of an essential AD&D Birthright game, this era of HoMM feels like the proper off-brand equivalent, a realm of enormous warfare contained in charismatic personages.

It's a shame, then, that the post-game campaign is such a whimper. I love the idea of people from Erathia & AvLee joining up to form their own equitable, sovereign country. There's just not a lot to really do in these last few scenarios, however. Learning how to dig up the Grail is nice and all, and nothing here ought to match For King and Country's harsh skill wall, but I'm not playing this game for a victory lap. Any chance to reach high-level spells & army crafting, then go ham on my opponents, is much more fun.

Still, I've been loving my time with HoMM3 so far. It's living up to the hype and then some. Excellent map design, meaningfully diverse units & character advancement...it's all here. I grew up with HoMM4 and will hopefully still enjoy it, yet I can already see why others consider that sequel such a downgrade. Here's hoping the upcoming expansions keep this up.