Jogo originalmente de Nintendo DS e que utiliza o fato de existirem 2 telas para dividir o campo de batalha ao meio.

Teve lançamento posterior para os consoles da época e agora, em 2023, ganhou uma remasterizarão com gráficos atualizados que foi chamada de Definitive Edition.

Sua campanha é dividida entre os personagens que aparecem na introdução, o que faz com que tenhamos que começar o jogo do level 1 com personagens diferentes cerca de 4 vezes. Isso pode parecer chato e repetitivo, mas é feito de uma forma que nos faz ter que aprender a usar novas habilidade e recursos, pois cada campanha é feita com uma temática diferente. Acaba sendo algo bem positivo que te faz conhecer todas as unidades e estilos de batalha das unidades de cada "reino" do mundo.

A medida que a campanha avança, alguns personagens são liberados para serem usados no modo multiplayer, que infelizmente acabei não conseguindo experimentar, mas ouvi excelentes relatos sobre seu fator diversão.

A estratégia é muito importante não apenas no campo de batalha, mas também na escolha de quais unidades e itens você seleciona antes dela.

Mas apesar de ser um jogo estratégico, o level do seu personagem e de suas unidades contam muito durante a batalha. O que pode levar a necessidade de um pouco de grinding em alguns momentos do jogo.

A fun little strategy game worth the money. The combat is very strategic in a...how shall I say it...well it's like Tetris where when your army comes on the field they are in rows, you can move around only 1 unit at a time and the idea is to match a set of 3 for that unit to attack. you also get more powerful units that require two core units of the same colour then really powerful ones that require four.

The story is pretty standard with the "Oh no, we're being attacked by monsters" then it being revealed early on that there is more to it than that, but the gameplay is quite addictive. Anything with quests you get from bountys gains points in my book. There are also the puzzle challenges where you are given units to defeat the enemies units and the idea it to beat all the units in a single round action, which is harder than it sounds. I managed to do 6/8 without using a guide and it's a nice brain teaser that rewards you when you've completed it. Buy only if you like strategy.

Easily the best game in the DS library. My only gripe is that there are no options to either mute or turn down the awfully limited and predictable music. I absolutely love the pixel art, the colour palettes and designs are beautiful. I own the Steam port, but the DS version is the original and the best. It’s painfully obvious that the game was developed for the DS then ported to other systems. Although it’s a good thing that other ports exist, the charm does not translate. Apparently they’ve implemented rebalancing for subsequent releases, but I didn’t feel that it was necessary nor have I noticed the “improvements.” Also the game studio is called “Capybara Games,” literally the best name and logo for a game company of all time. Every time I boot it up and see the 3 Capys I :)

It's fascinating to witness how game franchises can transform over time. Case in point, take the Might & Magic series, initially developed by New World Computing. It was one of the formative RPG experiences on PC in the 80's and early 90's, and by the time the company was acquired by 3DO in 1996, its combined titles had sold over 4 million units, and had already begun its now long-running spinoff series Heroes of Might & Magic. The 3DO contained HoMM2, the series's breakout title, and was generally viewed as a golden age for the PC-based franchise. But that stability would only last so long; The 3DO Company would go bankrupt only 5 years later, and Ubisoft would acquire the rights to the Might & Magic series in 2001. Since then, there's certainly been no shortage of mainline titles and spinoffs, even if many of them failed to capture the acclaim of the earlier games in the franchise. But every so often, an unlikely success would appear out of the mangled corpse of the once great franchise. And there might be no better such success than the Nintendo DS's Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes.

Now, to be fair, by the time Clash of Heroes released in 2009, the series was a long way away from its origins in 1986. So for fans of the earlier M&M games, it should be made clear that this game is part of the series in name only. The gameplay of M&M:COH is virtually unrecognizable from mainline entries. But where for many games that would be a mark against it, here it's not, because this game actually manages to be an impressively fun match-3 puzzle strategy game-which is about as far from the series roots as you could get. But any trepidation about the game's approach wears off incredibly swiftly, because at its core, it's an impressively addicting title. The main campaign takes you through 5 characters, each with their own units and special abilities, and as a result, a seemingly basic title turns into a surprisingly deep and intricate game. And it's a pretty unique concept, too-it merges ideas of strategy RPG with the styling of a modern arcade puzzle game, making it a game with both a low skill floor and an extremely high skill ceiling. It's fun to learn, hard to master, and as with many things, the best part is learning.

And on the original DS hardware, its visuals-as a modern take on an old SNES style-works perfectly, and its soundtrack feels pulled from that era as well. Aesthetically, from the game's pixel art to the hand drawn character portraits, the game is impressive. Less so from a story side, but to be fair, the character designs are nice enough, and some of the dialogue is actually quite impressively written. It's mainly a vehicle to deliver gameplay changes though, and in that regard it does a fine enough job. It's also good at delivering more unique gameplay challenges than just "defeat the enemy," and that variety prevents that game from getting too stale initially. It is a 25 hour game though, and that's a lot of time to devote to what is, for all its impressive feats, a match-3 puzzle game. You'll likely find yourself plowing through the first 1 or 2 chapters, only to feel it linger by the last one. It's probably not a coincidence that the last chapter, even out of context, is the game's worst by far, and feels very poorly fleshed out compared to previous ones. In fact, it feels completely disconnected to the philosophy of the game as a whole, and it's, unfortunately, tremendously unsatisfying. The game's difficulty can also be a bit all over the place, and lack of a consistent difficulty level curve doesn't help with it feeling more concise.

It also likely would have helped if the heroes you commanded felt more unique. They do get their own abilities and units, but differences are in most cases minor, and it seems only in limited preset battles are they able to be used to their biggest potential. In fact, more preset battles-where enemy units are defined each time, instead of random-would likely do this game more good than harm. As a puzzle game, it of course can become a bit of an RNG-fest, and the few preset battles in the game are when it feels M&M:COH is testing you the most, and as a result, feel most satisfying to succeed in.

It also has a relatively strong competitive scene, and with its port to mobile phones in 2013 & modern consoles (and Steam) in 2023, Might & Magic: Clash Of Heroes is a great title to pick up for some casual quick battles or online multiplayer. It introduces players to its combat mechanics smoothly enough for even the puzzle novice to appreciate, and yet it contains an unexpected amount of depth that can certainly keep you coming back. While the length of the title and the extremely poor final chapter will likely leave a bad taste in your mouth come its conclusion, that's nothing a few quick battles of this great and uniquely implemented battle puzzler can't fix.