A great puzzle RPG with a well balanced system, fantastic presentation and hours of brain churning fun.
A Might & Magic game on the DS, what is the world coming to. But this game is highly addictive and well put together.
CHARACTERS
Do you like high fantasy? You'd better because Might & Magic is pure high fantasy. The characters are all elves, demons, knights and mages. Everything is done through written dialogues and for the little that is written it really isn't too bad. The writing got a couple of chuckles from me and the characters are very simple and stick to their predestined roles. You get to play as 5 different characters all of who represent 1 of 5 different factions in the game and you get to see their different points of view.
One of the things that bugged me a bit was that each main character has this side kick who becomes a playable character in multiplayer when you finish a quest. However for the single player this character is usually a pain in the ass. They make inane comments and are completely useless when it comes to the actual combat in the game. It would have been nice if, instead of them standing around with their thumbs up their butthole while you get flayed alive by an opponent, they would have been able to provide some sort of support to the player character during a battle. It could have been contrived like you need
to create 2 links in order for "Blahblah" to do his special move or something. In the way they are now they are more of an annoyance or comic relief and more often than not you completely forget they are there. When you finaly realize that they were around the entire time you tend to be fairly grumpy when after a brutal encounter they kip some stupid comment.
STORY
The story is very simple, with betrayal and noble intent being the most explored areas. Some of the things don't really make a lot of sense, and sometimes you really feel that your side is getting the raw deal but in the end it feels extremely satisfying to lay your foes to waste.
GENERAL GAME DESIGN
The cleverly designed puzzle battle system is very robust and is the biggest surprise for me. It fits the DS perfectly with the player using either the stylus or the buttons and D-pad to accomplish the same thing.
One of the bigger downsides of the game is that you play each of the main characters one after the other.
This gives quite a bit of game to play but since all of the different factions are well balanced they all end up playing fairly similarly. Sure you create more walls with one, while another you create different combinations but in the end you're still doing the same thing. This is simply a drawback to the tightly
designed game system that this game utilizes. So if you're like me, it's a good idea to take a break every now and then. When you come back to it the appeal resurfaces rather quickly and you get a great kick out of the next story segment.
There is even a multiplayer component which is brilliant. This is truly the type of game that you would want to duke it out against your friends. Another great move is that you unlock a secondary character in each quest that can be used in multiplayer. It's a bit annoying that you cannot play with them in
single player but I guess we can't have everything and the length of the game is already pretty long with the 5 main quests.br />
CONTROLS
I preferred the D-pad and buttons for higher precision over the stylus. It's also much more comfortable to hold the DS while playing with the buttons than with a stylus... which frankly gives me cramps on most DS titles.
Extremely simple controls. On the map you move with the D-pad by pressing in the direction you want to move from 1 waypoint to the next, or you can hold down a direction for the character to move along multiple waypoints without stopping. You interact with the press of a button.
On the battle screen you can only move units that are at the back of a column or you can select any unit within a column to delete. Both occur at the push a of button. You also have a button for your main character's special ability. Real simple, really good!
COMBAT
The combat system is quite clever. You are on the bottom screen while your opponent is on the top screen. You and your opponent take turns. You start out with 3 types of core units.
You stack 3 of the same unit on top of each other to prepare an attack that launches in X turns. Each of the core units has different attack, defense, and activation time stats. Or you can place more than 3 next to each other to create walls. that move up in front of your stacking units. Each side has something like 8 or 9 columns into which 5 or 6 units can stack. (I don't quite remember the exact number, so sue me).
You can also call for reinforcements which accumulate as you take turns, deal damage and take damage.
Once your units timer is up they move towards the opponents zone. They fight their way through any of the enemies' units that are in the way and if they have any attack power left they smash into the opponent generals' life bar. Once that life bar is depleted you win. The enemy is doing the same things as you on their turn tyring to kill you first.
You also have other specialty units that require the combined efforts of core units of the same colour with a specialty unit. These units take up more space and have long charge times but will usually obliterate the opponent if you get the chance to activate them.
You can also create attacks and defenses by deleting existing units or walls and you gain extra turns in this manner. The best is when you can create chain reactions when multiple sets of attacking and defending units are created. Better yet are those that cascade like in tetris when units you haven't touched are shuffled into the correct configuration by a set you've placed. These give you even more extra turns.
You can also link units by having them attack the same time if they are the same colour augmenting their attack power or by merging two of the same unit if they stack vertically in a column.
Since each main character has a unique army from one of the 5 nations the way that the different units play has a significant impact when you're facing one of the other nations in battle.
Certain enemy units and armies will provide some really nasty surprises to you when you play against them the first time. For example the demons have units whose timer drops every time another demon unit deals damage to you or your troops. This means that if you're not careful the army that was going to attack you in 4 turns time suddenly all launches one after the other against your defenses pulverising you in a single turn.
However in general because the rules are set in stone once you know what to expect the only reason you will lose is either because of random bad luck of unit placements, an insurmountable difference between your and your opponent's levels, or more likely a bad move on your part and a strategy that simply doesn't work against your present opponent.
USER INTERFACE (UI)
Extremely intuitive and simple. The only thing missing to make this game more perfect is the ability to load your save file. It's very quick to get into the game and practically everything is self explanatory.
CAMERA
The camera is straight forward. The environment is a highly stylized isometric sprite based flat map so there are no nasty surprises or problems with the way the player is presented either the world map or the battle map.
ART & ENVIRONMENT
One of the weird things that you'll have to get used to is that the 2D sprites always face the same direction on the world map. At first this is very bizarre and takes some getting used to, but they are well drawn and animate well so in the end it really doesn't cause any lasting visual unease.
The environments are very cute and diverse, colourful and well drawn to represent the areas where your current adventures are taking place.
On the battle screens the units are all cute 2D sprites that are well animated and move precisely how they should in this type of game providing the player with the ambiance they need.
There are even some surprising animated segments for a couple of cutscenes which show the polish that went into the overall game.
LEVEL DESIGN
Thank god you can level up. Not only does your main character level up increasing in Hp, wall power and the number and speed of reinforcements gained but you can level up your units as well.
You can also equip 1 unique artifact out of dozens which you can find and win during each quest. Some are specific to the character you're playing boosting their unique skills or are more generic.
Losing core units isn't a problem since they are infinite but the more powerful units have to be purchased and this is where the money system comes into play. I still find it a bit expensive for some of the most spectacular units especially considering that the units themselves arrive on the battle field in a random manner. Meaning that you can get really hosed and lose a bunch of expensive special units simply because of bad luck. And unfortunately you cannot reload the game. It only allows you to save so when you get snake eyes you simply have to turn off the power and reboot which is a major design flaw as far as this type of game is concerned.
You cannot play random chance with a player and not give him the opportunity to play with the save game, not in this day and age anyway, because we will use the save game anyway but we will curse the designer every time we have to restart our DS.
There is nothing more satisfying than crushing a significantly more powerful foe with very few losses and gaining a major EXP boost as a reward.
There are also special puzzle battles where you're given a particularly tricky situtation and 1 turn with 3 moves to complete it. These really make your head hurt and you really have to use your noggin to figure them out. What is most important is to think outside of the box and to use the delete feature and the ability to create more than 1 active unit (like an attack line and a defense wall line) in a single move. I applaud the designers who came up with these tricks because they are very well executed and must have taken some brains to create properly.
The game is extremely linear which in this case is rather nice because the only way to really miss something is if you choose to ignore it. Other than that until you beat the final boss of a Character's chapter you are free to leave a difficult quarry behind and come back later to paste his ass.
MUSIC & VOICE ACTING
I found the music to be very intrusive and so I turned it off. As with all DS games it grates on your nerves within a matter of minutes, especially considering that battles can stretch out for sometimes up to 15 minutes as you wrack your brain to save your units and deliver the death blow.
CONCLUSION
This game really surprised me. The puzzles are clever and will make your brain hurt, and the puzzle based fighting system is well balanced and engaging. I really didn't expect something like this to come out of the Might & Magic franchise and frankly I can't help but recommend it highly for those who like puzzle RPGs.