New old "Heroes of Sword and Magic". Return to the origins
Feeling, I smile at the monitor with such tenderness and tenderness, as if it were Joel, and I am Ellie. Although on the screen, in general, nothing happens and in front of me only a static picture with shabby yurts, tattered flags and bone totems, randomly strewn the rusty color of the cliff. Torlets flicker, clouds swim. Eagles circle over the flooded sun.
Bravor carcasses thunder from the headphones, and I enjoyed the city, who had spread in front of me, as if in 1999, for the first time when I saw Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Sixteen years have passed since then, the seven replaced the three in the name of the game, we, as part of a large press tour, watch it at the headquarters Ubisoft in Paris, but the emotions are the same. Yes, these are the same "heroes"!
Real heroes
► We got a short game video with the main moments of the gameplay from alpha version, and we have embarked on several dozen screenshots specifically for you.
As you know, real heroes appear precisely when the world cannot do without them. Might and Magic In this sense, no exception. There is hardly a series in the industry, which has survived the same number of brilliant ups and crushing falls.
Canonical, gold, second and third parts – and the fourth series broke the foundations of the series; returning everything to his own fifth – and unwitted, overloaded, soulless sixth. Fans will not forgive new experiments, so Ubisoft, making the seventh part, has no choice: either they cover themselves with glory, or drowning along with the most popular step -by -step strategy of the 20th century.
The salvation plan is formulated by Ubisoft's creative director Ervan Le Breton: “In the seventh part we collect all the best that was in the previous. Everyone is well -known, all beloved gameplay – and no revolutions. We want this game to be like an anniversary album of rock bands: newcomers will hear the most powerful tracks, and old fans will penetrate familiar melodies ".
► In the seventh part, the global card will become a multi -level card. Mountains and deep cliffs appeared: developers add pathos to travel, and Unreal Engine 3, this allows.
The classic foundation is unshakable. Day after day, the player is rebuilt by the city in which a new portion of creatures is born every week every week. On the global map, as before, the heroes-heroes scurry, study skills, gain experience, divide mines, fight, besiege locks. The strategy, economics, battles and the development of the hero – the main ingredients are unchanged, and if usually in preview we tell that the new developers have added to the game, today we will talk about the fact that they returned to it.
Heroi cities
► A textbook example of a script scene: we destroyed a dam, and now the pushing water will wash off the evil spiders below, in the gorge, rolls the rock and open the way to the allies-centuals.
As you already understood, they returned city screens. Not long three-dimensional installations, as in a fifth part (today they are unjustified), but full-fledged, meticulously drawn 2D-settings. In the press, we were shown only the alpha version of the rebellious tribes, and it looks atmospheric and neatly.
Fortunately, they refused to turn the cities of a foreign faction into their cities. “If in the sixth part some player began to prevail, he easily crushed locks under himself and rebuilt them under his own faction. This not only unified all the armies on the map, but also ruined balance, ”explains Julien Piro, designer Heroes 7. – After all, then the weak player had to not only conquer the castle, but also save the resources to turn it back, and this is dishonest ”.
► Destroyed bridges – a new feature of gameplay. In the alpha version, very few wood and stone were spent on their restoration, but at the beginning of the game, when all the resources went to the castle, it was noticeable.
Resources, by the way, are seven again. Star silver, as well as shadow and dragon steel, but the essence not in names, but in mechanics were added to ordinary gold, wood, ore and crystals. We will have to run around the map again, capturing all the mines, and when building the castle – to save, bargain and save.
Mutually exclusive buildings from Heroes 4 They also returned, albeit in a lightweight version. Basic buildings-barracks, fortifications, chapels, market, tower of magicians-are always available, and between additional buildings you will have to choose. For example, the Order of the Order of the Procedure has a choice between the building that brings a rare resource and the building that increases the growth of creatures, and in rebellious tribes between buildings adding to offspring or centaurs, or harpies. Ultimately, this is a strategic solution: so the developers are trying to diversify the style of playing for the same fraction, and while the idea looks promising.
Twice heroes
► And here is the most important screenshot of the gameplay – the long -awaited city screen. Which building is responsible for what five minutes cannot be figured out, but, believe me, it looks like in the good old days.
We will also storm cities as before. From the idea with multi -stage battles, first in the outskirts, then by the walls, and then they refused inside. Everything is like in the good old days: the hero-defender pickles the army in the castle and spits out with magic, and the collector hero lures enemies behind the walls in all ways to turn the siege of Plevna into Mamaeva Battery.
It is beneficial to pull the opponent out of the castle not only because the whole non -lethal army can attack him in the field. The fact is that in the seventh "heroes" bonuses are of great importance in the battles. So, the detachments sheltered behind the fortress walls receive advantages for protection, and making them more difficult to remove them is more difficult. The army, which was the first to kill a group of enemy creatures, receives a plus to the morale, while the army, the first to lose the detachment, falls into disclosure.
These bonuses are very important in the balance sheet of fractions. It's no secret that " Heroes of Sword and Magic »Rarely by the heroes of both at the same time. In the third part, few army could compete with the wizard Solmir or warlock Dimer with comrades, and in the sixth even a good magician hardly managed with the commander of the middle hand.
► The hiring screen is conveniently made (eat the “hire” buttons and “hire everyone”), but not atmospheric, there are too many empty fields everywhere. Let's hope these are the features of the alpha interface.
And in the seventh part, all things being equal, the hero is weaker than the magician from the Academy, because neither the ice arrow nor the destructive beam will be compared to meteorite rain or chain lightning. This is where racial bonuses come in handy. Say, creatures from rebellious tribes to all magical misfortunes will meet with resistance to spells, advantages to protection and health and other enhancing abilities. This time, they say, racial differences will be truly noticeable.
Another good news: the seventh part is balanced by the same person who saved from distortions Heroes 6. Having eaten the dog in all kinds of patches, from the very beginning he limited the strength and number of therapeutic spells and returned many classic skills. For example, non-chromant heroes will now revive the fallen only after the battle, and not during it, so as not to undermine the balance.
Place for the feat
► as before, the battlefield can be scaled and rotated. By the way, pay attention to the chained troll on the left. This is a living combat vehicle, an orc catapult.
The battlefield is still divided into squares (alas, not hexagons!), but its dimensions increased, and the filling has changed. If earlier it was a plain with one or two puddles or snags, now it is just right to hide the ambush regiment: the “field” is replete with cliffs, boxes, flower beds, trees, walls, ruins, sometimes even giant dragon skeletons for half a screen.
“The new sites for battles are real mini-cards with many obstacles that differ in size, height and location,” says the leading game designer Xavier Penin. “We sought to diversify them so that the players used not only gross force, but also tactical cunning”.
Unfortunately, in our alpha version, the main trick was to not get stuck between two cliffs and not to lock the whole army with a large creature. While the battlefields are literally cluttered, and the troops simply confuse each other.
► NOTPICAL FOR THE SEET “Heroes” of the battlefield – empty. Typically, the dragon skeleton occupies half the available area, and the bones are scattered everywhere and block the passage.
However, coupled with another small, but long -bearing innovation – blows from the flank – the idea with obstacles and fortifications should be played with new colors. The fact is that the attack on the side or from the back inflicts much more damage than a blow to the forehead. Smile? The rocks are good not only because they can be hidden by archers, but also by the fact that they can obscure the rear of the "tanks".
Heroic return
In the spirit of the third-fifth parts-that is, gradually-the player’s acquaintance with the mechanics and the world occurs. “The difficulty in the sixth“ heroes ”increased exponentially,” says one of the developers, a passionate fan of the series at the presentation. – There was too much content, and he fell on the player too large. Not everyone was ready to understand gameplay deeply, so many quit playing, drowning in the sea of new skills and spells. This time, the first missions will not be so rich, but creatures will be less for creatures ”.
► This is the wheel of skills of the hero of the 23rd level. It consists of ten branches, the names of which are determined by the class of your character. Each branch is crowned with a super -powered manner, and all of them can be learned three.
This also returns the series to the origins. The developers have removed the opportunity to hire all creatures in any city – we are greeting the caravans of the armies. The scrolls of the spells returned in the guild of magicians – Long live pleasant surprises and bitter disappointments. The specializations of the heroes were restored: some will again bring additional resources, the latter – to increase the growth of creatures, and others – be born with pre -learned spells and create them with greater benefit.
The skills will return to the wheel of skills, divided into ten branches: leadership, land magic, air magic, economics, diplomacy and so on. What branches your hero will have depends on its class (six classes correspond to each castle – three combat and three magic ones). Each branch will have ten skills, and the hero will be able to study any of them for the game. Thus, the development of the character can be planned, but the eyes scatter from the number of options.
The country of the heroes
► I want to hope that the developers will still convert the interface. Tiny icons with character characteristics look not at all in a heroic.
Given the unsuccessful experience of the sixth part – there the player often could not understand where he could go on a global map, and where not, the developers abandoned radical experiments with the landscape.
Theoretically, the Unreal Engine 3 engine supports high cliffs, and a change in lighting, and even advanced terraforming. Before the nose, the enemy hero can arrange a collapse, flood the valley or drop the tower, but the developers use all this if not timidly, then certainly care.
“When we saw how beautifully on the map day and night they replace each other, we just howled with annoyance, not having the opportunity to include this in the game. But we decided not to exchange the gameplay on beautifulness: in the "heroes" one move is daylight hours, sunsets-drives there are superfluous, "explains Xavier Penin. “We are actively using triggers in the campaign,” Le Breton echoes him, “however, they are rarely found on non -packet maps. Do not grind us the whole game ".
Scripts fit into the plot cards organically. Here is a gorge in neutral monsters. It would seem – throw yourself, hit! But normal heroes always go around: why sacrifice the troops when you can bring down the Damoy and bury the creatures at the bottom of the sea?
► There are many objects on the global card, but it still makes the impression of a stolen. If you increase the scale, heaps of resources are lost on endless desert spaces.
The only option for terraforming, accessible to the player on any map, is the destruction and construction of bridges. Running away from the native castle, you can cut off all approaches Black Magic Casino to it, and then the rivals in a hurry to profit from your absence will have to spend time and resources on restoring crossing. We failed to evaluate the idea during the press tour, but, you see, it has a huge potential.
At the same time, two alpha versions we saw looked unusually empty. The developers guessed with style and color, the picture became more saturated, but the magnificent visual wealth remained in two -dimensional Enrotes. In three -dimensional Askhan, pretty special effects, shadows and water, but the sensations of the Christmas fair, when you want to grab everything and visit everywhere, does not arise – and so far this is the biggest claim to the atmosphere.
The heroes of your time
► But the graphic style is excellent: the picture is bright, cartoon, lively. Perhaps now Visually Askhan is close to Enrot as never before.
Finally, the most important thing: simultaneously with the announcement of the game Ubisoft launched the website www.MMH7.COM, from which he heroically collects the opinions of fans and where he regularly pursues.
A recent example is a complete redesign of a lich and a vampire, two creatures from the army of necropolis. The developers announced them in mid -March, choked in an avalanche of dissatisfied comments and instantly presented three new concepts for each class. Although a lot of copies breaks in disputes about what color, purple or green, ideologically closer undead, and arguments rarely go further “Yes your vampires are not vampires at all, but ghouls!", For the community of this game there is nothing more important than participating in its creation.
The star of American cinema Robert Duval once said that if you had no heroes in childhood, you will never grow up. In childhood, everyone who ended up in the Paris pressed tour had “heroes”, but it turned out that we would never grow out of them. Having sowed about the map about eleven, we barely reopened from it two, and when we still spoke, we exchanged only two words: “you stick” and “clinging”. And in the head of everyone, the same tambourine chime sounded to open a chest, as sweet as sixteen years ago.
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And it is probably important for you not to find out about green or purple larch, but about this: the seventh part marks the most holy – nostalgia, and hits right in the heart. The gameplay is addictive, the whole classics are returned, from the music of Rob King the soul, the editor of the cards will be given out, the Hot-Eat will be almost sure … in a word, if they will not be tapped with the balance, the highest degree of reigree Heroes 7 Provided. You and your girlfriend will have a second worthy lesson at night.