Might and Magic VI: Mandate of Heaven

Description

.com The Ironfist Dynasty is tottering on the brink of ruin. As endless calamities plague the kingdom of Enroth, evil doomsday cultists plan to overthrow child Prince Nicolai and claim the throne for their charismatic leader. Fear grips the land and the people wonder if their sovereign has lost the Mandate of Heaven--the divine right to rule. The enemies of reason are at the gate and only extraordinary heroes can stem the tide of darkness. Will you answer the call? From the depths of the deepest dungeons to the intrigues of the royal court, you lead a band of adventurers on a dangerous journey of amazing depth and intelligence. With a completely new 3-D graphics engine and a sophisticated nonlinear adventure system, Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven brings to life an intense role-playing experience. Review New World Computing's classic Might and Magic games helped to define the subgenre that grizzled old RPG grognards now affectionately refer to as "traditional style" role-playing games. All of the previous Might and Magic role-playing games were set in expansive gaming worlds, filled with exotic locations, tomes of spells, armies of enemy types, and hoards of magic items. But during the past couple of years, such traditional role-playing games have been rarer than orcs in Denver. The game takes place in the world of Enroth, a setting that will be familiar to veterans of the Heroes of Might and Magic spin-off strategy games. Good King Roland was apparently victorious in his battles with evil old Archibald, only to have his united lands fall prey to the ravages of an invasion of devils. When the King disappears after encountering the devilish horde, the ineffectual child prince Nicolai assumes control of the Kingdom. Your humble party of four adventurers has the onerous task of gaining the gratitude of the Kingdom's regional leaders, parlaying with a cryptic, omniscient Oracle in order to unravel the mystery behind Roland's disappearance and, along the way, carving a destructive path through a hellish legion of enemies. Welcome to the medieval jungle. As with previous games in the series, Might and Magic VI is a first-person-perspective party-based game. In a minor break from Might and Magic tradition, all of your characters are human (elves need not apply), and there are only six available character classes. Far more interesting is the game's character development system. Stomping monsters and completing quests will net your characters experience points. Gain enough experience points, and you'll be able to raise the levels of your characters, provided that you hook up with a capable trainer and have a few spare coins. With each increase in level, a character will gain a handful of points that can be used to increase that character's skills. Gain enough expertise in a particular skill, and you can train to become an expert and then a master in that skill, acquiring additional abilities in the process. The graphics in Might and Magic VI are the best yet seen in a 3D first-person-perspective role-playing game. At one point in the game's development, hardware support for 3D graphics cards was contemplated, which certainly would have been welcome. But even without 3D acceleration, the graphics are generally crisp and clear, with a minimum of pixelation. Like prior games in the series, the graphics are also very colorful, which takes a while to get used to for those of us accustomed to somewhat more realistic, but considerably more dreary, depictions of our fantasy gaming worlds. One of the best things about Might and Magic VI is that Enroth was clearly crafted with a lot of care and attention to detail. Although the game is huge, taking well over 100 hours to complete, each of the towns and dungeons was individually designed. There are tons of other little details that make Might and Magic VI special. You can fly like a Spitfire through the air and fire arrows at packs of monsters - miss them as they run by a stream, and your arrows will splash into the water. Go into a few too many shops without purchasing or selling anything, and you'll start to be rebuked by their keepers: "See ya, tightwad!" Walk into the right thieves' guild, and you'll be confronted with a Monty Python-esque "nudge, nudge, know what I mean, know what I mean...." knowing glance from the trainer. A big metallic-looking guy loaded with vicious-looking swords who looks like a walking Ginsu knife is appropriately labeled a Cuisinart. There are some excellent sound effects as well - shoot a harpy out of the sky, and you'll be treated to the sound of it falling like a crumpled bird. Gargoyles shatter into pebbles. The sound of your footsteps reflects the nature of the ground you're walking on, whether it's hardened rock, fresh snow, or a damp beach. Music isn't used a great deal in the game, but it works well when it appears. There are a few other minor disappointments. The interface is non-customizable, so you're stuck using the default key settings even if you find them inconvenient. Although it is basically a keyboard-controlled game, you still have to occasionally use the mouse, which is a bit cumbersome. The different geographical regions in the game don't quite integrate fully, meaning you'll occasionally be unable to loot the bodies of enemies that wandered outside of your current region. The main window for depicting the 3D gaming world is quite small, and even though there are hotkeys for all of the functions you need, there is surprisingly no "full screen" mode. The cutscene introduction is well done, but it feels somewhat disconnected from the rest of the game, and the introductory dialogue seems like it was scripted after the cutscene was already completed. Your interaction with the nonplayer characters wandering around town is quite limited, although you can get such NPCs to tag along to grant your party additional abilities, but such NPCs won't otherwise directly participate in the game. You might also be disappointed with the digitized character portraits, which sometimes don't seem to fit in with the other animated graphics. The voice acting of your characters is also of mixed quality, although I generally enjoyed it. Each of the characters has his own distinct expressions ("Chalk up another for the big guy!"), which is another nice touch. There are also a few bugs and graphical quirks. There are occasional clipping errors, which allow you to see, or even interact with, objects through walls. Certain spells, like Meteor Shower will occasionally not complete their animations if they are cast on an enemy who is on sloped terrain, causing the game to hang. Switch the game from real-time mode to turn-based while your characters are on inclined terrain, and you'll gradually trickle down the incline (as will monsters similarly placed). Some spells don't seem to work as intended - I was never able to even momentarily "Stun" the most ineffectual of enemies. But such quirks and bugs are really quite trivial. Overall, Might and Magic VI is a remarkably stable game - one of the most bug-free role-playing games in years. Even more importantly, it's tremendously addictive. There always seems to be one more quest you just have to complete, one more skill you have to elevate to mastery, one more region to explore... one more night to forget to sleep before dragging yourself to work. It's been a long time since a Might and Magic role-playing game was released, and many gamers questioned whether or not New World Computing could recapture the magic of past games in the series. We shouldn't have worried. Might and Magic VI is a classically designed role-playing game that features both a huge gaming world and lots of attention to detail. It's a standout game in what should be a great year for role-playing game fans. Might and Magic is back, and it's better than ever. --Desslock --Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot Review