First thing’s first: I know nothing of the Might & Magic franchise. I just couldn’t ignore the buzz surrounding Clash of Heroes, but now that I have it in my hands, I’m not sure what to make of it.
The numerous comparisons to Puzzle Quest are apt, but only in the regard that this is a puzzle game and RPG hybrid. While Puzzle Quest plays more like Bejeweled and sort of haphazardly incorporates RPG elements into its design (and to its credit, making for an addicting adventure), Clash of Heroes genuinely feels like a perfect combination of its parent genres. The puzzle aspect, at its core, utilizes the tried-and-true “Match 3″ mechanic, but instead of jewels, you’re matching up troop units to launch attacks at opposing troop units, or the commanding leader. At your disposal are several different kinds of troops with different abilities, and matching the troops in different ways creates Links, and Fusions, and Walls. Developer Capybara Games really thought this through and put in considerable effort to distinguish itself from Puzzle Quest, likely knowing comparisons would be inevitable, and unquestionably created a unique and engaging puzzle/battle system. It really is a lot of fun.
Additionally, the game looks great (although sprites generally face forward, giving the appearance of characters walking backwards or shuffling oddly to the side). Lots of bright, colorful areas, and the character stills are nicely detailed. It really appeals to me.
What confuses my feelings on the game is just about everything else. My biggest problem is that it’s just straight up tedious. The environments are essentially set up like a board game with little spaces to stop on and everything, rendering your movement a plodding affair. Your opponents’ turns during battle seemingly takes forever; I feel like I can map out the computer’s moves and my own in half the time the computer takes. And this is even if you can find a properly balanced fight. Clash of Heroes makes no effort to tell you the difficulty of the fight you’re about to face, and when it comes enemies that further progression, this is no big deal because they’re usually fairly leveled, but the game also tosses a number of optional enemies all over the maps, most of which are significantly more powerful than you. Of course, they’re optional, but you have no way of knowing their level beforehand, and you’re left wasting time fighting a losing battle (or restarting your DS) if you decide to give them a go.
To further cement the suspicion Clash of Heroes simply likes to keep you out of the action, the battles take time to load. From a DS card. It’s only a few seconds, but when you just slogged through Candy Land, read a bunch of boring dialog, restarted your DS a couple times to bail out of unfair fights of which you had no foreknowledge… well, it’s a few seconds I could do without.
Honestly, I really enjoy the story-based battles because they offer me a respectable chance of winning. It feels good to win them because they take real strategy. But all the time I waste in between those fights is absolutely dreadful. At about three hours in, I’m trying in earnest to like Clash of Heroes, but I’m hanging in a state of indecision. Hopefully the game opens up more in the coming hours, because I don’t know how much more of this I can take.
