izigame.me

I'd beaten this one on Nintendo DS thrice, but only got to a PC version years after its release. If I had to guess, I was probably admitted to a mental institution at the time. Always a safe bet, am I right? Here I am, even more years later, playing it for the fifth time. Match my freak. I suppose it won't hurt to (re)write a quick recommendation for, I hope, a truly definitive version that won't go away like the previous one published by everyone's favourite Ubisoft who screwed things up for everybody. The whole HoMM series and itself, in the end. This edition is free of their influence. It doesn't seem like it changed much, except the game runs again at last. It probably also cleaned out a few bugs or something, but I don't remember encountering that many anyway. The brushed-up graphics I never deemed necessary, still considering the original spritework timeless. But it was a pleasure to see that CoH's charms and addictive mechanics haven't aged a day. It's easy to pick up due to how self-explanatory and sensible every aspect of it is. You'll comprehend it in no time, for the ball-buster is deviously easy to learn. This isn't Heroes of Might & Magic, however, so the map you see on screenshots is mostly cosmetic. It has nothing to give apart from shopping and primitive exploration. The main attraction are tactical battles that sound simple on paper, but can blow your socks off.
There, your goal is to make your units reach the opposite end of the screen, damaging enemy heroes and units who stand in their way. To do so, you have a limited number of moves per turn to shuffle your units around, linking them together in a match-3 fashion. Create a vertical link to make units charge at the enemy after a certain amount of turns, link horizontally to turn them into a wall, defending your side of the screen. The power of charges and walls depends on many variables since numerous factions have vastly different fantasy creatures sporting an array of stats and abilities. You'd often have to restructure your army between battles, looking to find just the right combination of everything to crack the toughest nuts. In combat, the linking order and timing are paramount - do it right and you'll get to combine links together into powerful chains, which unfold in a highly satisfying manner. Do it wrong and have a lacklustre fart instead, which will probably lead to a defeat. It won't be a cakewalk, so be ready to replay battles ad nauseam. Happily, I must say! Because this game is still one of the best tactical puzzles in existence. I don't say it lightly. Just don't ask me about the plot, I still have no idea. Also, don't look at the rating right now. Most of the complaints are about multiplayer, which doesn't constitute even 1% of the value this game brings to the table. Don't dismiss it based on someone's hissy fit.
P.S. It's so f#cking hard I forgot how to play again and sucked an elf c#ck ten times in a row despite it being my fifth playthrough. And don't get me started on the final gauntlet! I don't know whether I look forward to it or hope to somehow perish before it humiliates me again. My mind is in puzzle heaven, but my ass burns in hell for all the sins that mind commits every time I lose. And you thought this game looked cute, right? That adorable wanime facade hides the Devil himself, I swear to God. It's cutthroat, it's nasty, it's evil. It's also really cheap for the 25-30 hours of sweet suffering it can give. And I perhaps exaggerate a bit. Unlike your dad, it gives you plenty of breathing room between the beatings.
My curator Big Bad Mutuh