Might & Magic VII

                 Reviewed by Julian Gregory

Yet another in what is now one of the longest running series of
RPGs. Apparently it follows on from Heroes of Might & Magic III,
but as I haven't played that I cannot comment.

The game is what devotees have come to expect from New World
Computing. You control a party of 4 characters in the land of
Erathia. As usual your task is basically to kill anything that
moves to gain enough experience to gain greater or extra skills or
spells.  To win the game you must complete the tasks given to you
by the plot of the game.

Each of the characters can be one of the usual character classes,
Knight, Ranger, Cleric, Paladin, Archer, Thief, Druid, Monk or
Sorcerer. Each class has different characteristics and the manual
suggests playing through with different combinations.

The game divides into 4 sections. The first is relatively simple,
as you would expect, to enable you to become familiar with the
gameplay. You start on Emerald Island, as contestants in a sca-
venger hunt. You must win the hunt before you leave and to do so
you have to retrieve various items from a list and return them to
the contest judge.

The prize for winning the contest is a castle and if this sounds
too good to be true, you would be right. Apparently the castle and
the area around it is claimed by the Humans and Elves. How you
deal with both sides who will get ultimate control. By the end of
the game the decision will have little or no consequences,
although you can gain control of the castle for yourself with
careful planning.  Although the game appears to be fairly
non-linear the game guides you invisibly along a path where you do
have to have done certain things to progress. Indeed there are a
couple of circumstances which arise where you only have a certain
amount of time before something happens, which although not fatal
could result in you finishing without the best score.

I liked this game better than Might & Magic VI. One of the reasons
for this is that you can always get to a new locations and can be
confident that you would not be attacked immediately on arrival.
This was an aspect of MM6 which did not appeal to me at all.

The combat also, to me, seemed easier than in MM6, particularly in
the beginning. The enemies you encounter right at the end are
extremely difficult to kill. I played this part with the use of an
editor, but still found it very hard.

Overall I can well recommend MM7. I fell confident that anyone
playing it would have many months of difficult gameplay ahead of
them.






                              - o -