Nukezilla Review: Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes (DS)

Puzzle games always seem to walk a tight rope between clever, addicting gameplay mechanics and overall presentation; some excel in the areas of visuals or music/sound design while others focus entirely on their one core mechanic. Rarely is a puzzle game released on any platform that strikes the perfect balance of play and style, however Capybara Games may have nailed it with Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes on the DS. On first impression the game appears to have a lot in common with games like Puzzle Quest, offering simple match-three puzzling mechanics along with simplified RPG elements and a fantasy storyline, but as you progress through the singleplayer campaign and start to peel back the layers there’s much more complexity here than a re-skinned version of Bejeweled.

First off, while the character and art design may be off putting to some on account of the clear anime/chibi inspiration, I found the look of the game to be lively and inspired.  Characters are shown as large sized portraits during the dialog sequences which precede each battle. The plot is divided into several long acts in which you play one of the game’s central hero characters.  The story is somewhat predictable, but it’s delivered through quick, well written scenes, which are book ended at the start and end of each act with a longer segment to keep the overall story moving along nicely.

Each hero character has his/her own unique play style and army type.  These units are more than just art swaps for each race (elves, human, undead, demon and magic) as most of the unit types feature their own special attacks and defenses.  Adding onto the basic army units are the more advanced units, which can require more space on the battlefield and therefore more matching units to activate.  Once activated, a group of units will either form a wall or assume an attack stance and begin a countdown.

The game constantly plays with the tension of preparing units to attack or defend all the while watching your opponent preparing a seemingly more powerful attack (this mechanic adds extreme stress to the later boss battles as the timing of your actions will turn the tide of a hard fought match).  There’s also a highly customizable local multiplayer mode for anyone lucky enough to have a friend with a copy of the game.  Even considering there’s not much to offer once you complete the story, I’d still highly recommend Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes; it kept me busy for over twenty five hours, some of which were long sleepless nights of puzzling greatness.

This review is Day 14 of the December Review Nukestravaganza.