It's decent, but HoMM3 has much more going for it. It had more town types, a lot more unit types, and a really important factor is the combat grid. In 3, it was a very easy-to-read hexagon grid, but in 4... I'm not sure WHAT they've got. No random map generator and other stripped-down features made this game overall underwhelming compared to its predecessor.

I initially hated this game due to how it changed from its prequel but grew to somewhat respect it. The magic system is lamer, the unit list is smaller, and the hero presence within battles is mostly frivolous. On the other hand, I do think the way unit trees are handled is really cool and I dig some of the qol changes such as the caravan system. Unit management is a lot more tedious, but I do dig it in the sense that it allows you to keep your heroes on the frontlines.

Come tutti i giochi della saga è avvincente e una volta iniziato diventa difficile staccarsene (la famosa sindrome da "ultimo turno e poi smetto"). Certo la grafica ormai è datata e le animazioni sono realizzate piuttosto male, per non parlare del fatto che manca la griglia dei combattimenti; anche le storie delle campagne non sono particolarmente brillanti o connesse tra loro. Insomma non uno dei capitoli migliori della serie, ma la giocabilità resta il punto di forza.

There was an attempt. The franchise had peaked, they tried to recreate the same feeling with different mechanics, it didn't work out that well.

I played this for a while, but just went back to HoMM3, a much better game.