Spring announcement Might & Magic 10: Legacy It sounded like a thunder in the middle of a clear sky, but his peals exclusively caressed his hearing. It would seem that such Old Believers RPG, where a party of heroes with a look from the eyes explores the world and beats lizards, spiders and skeletons in step -by -step mode, today only fans in their free time or independent developers (as not to recall Legend of Grimrock). And herself Ubisoft After not very warm technique might & Magic: Heroes 6 seemed to have decided to finally transfer the famous game universe into Online and Free-to-Play-it was for this purpose that the conventionally paid Action/RPG was announced Might & Magic: Raiders and browser Might & Magic: Heroes Online. And is it really an unexpected return of the classics? IN Ubisoft assured that it would be exactly so, but

after what they did with the sixth “heroes”, not everyone believed them. Early version Might & Magic 10: Legacy Partially disperses these doubts, but leaves a number of important questions ..

Things such as Personality and Speed ​​have disappeared from the set of characteristics, and the Perception parameter is now responsible for the accuracy of distant attacks.

All faces are familiar

What is waiting for us classical RPG in style Might & Magic, It becomes clear already in the starting menu proposed to choose three options for creating a batch: by default, generate the composition by accident or do everything yourself. Naturally, we chose the last option and immediately found that the role system Legacy In general, it fits in tradition, although it has not escaped (in any case, for now) of some abbreviations.

As in most games of the series, the party includes a maximum of 4 main characters that can represent well -known fans Might & Magic races: people, dwarves, elves and orcs. Each of them, of course, has its own advantages: for example, the orcs cause increased damage to demons, dwarves receive two additional health points with each level, elves have bonuses to evasion from attacks, and people begin the game with additional skills of skills.

The latter are divided into groups. Some are responsible for the skill of owning different types of weapons (there is a sword, dagger, mace, spears, onions, crossbow, ax), others for magical art (in total 7 schools are represented, including the magic of water, earth, air, dark witchcraft). The third, united under the sign of “different” are equally familiar: they increase the level of health or mana, a chance to avoid damage, the efficiency of using two -handed weapons, medium or heavy armor, and so on. As in Might & Magic 7, each skill has four levels of development: beginner, expert, master and Grandmaster. Moreover, in order to achieve the same expert or master, it is not enough to have free skills of skills – you still need to find the appropriate teacher and pay him money.

The starting set of skills depends on the class class. Here Legacy The traditions of the ninth (according to many, the most unsuccessful) part of the series follow the traditions. There are no free choice of specializations. Three basic classes are available to each race, which then, subject to a number of conditions, can be “pumped” to more advanced options. So, people-magi can become archimags, elf-rallies-oldists (Warden), orcs-coarse-instigators (Warmongger), and dwarves-defenders-masters of the use of shields (shield guard).

Someone, of course, will not like such a system, but in general it does not really infringe on freedom: 12 classes for 4 races plus different conditions for obtaining prestigious classes-this is enough to enjoy the development of the character. The absence of many classic skills in the game is much more concerned: repair, trade, detection and deactivation of traps and hidden doors, alchemy, training, theft. And this ultimately affects the gameplay in the best way.

Return home

However, at first the game is exclusively pleasing. The first minutes seemed to return you to the happy time of childhood and youth, when the trees were large, and computer role -playing games were exciting, real and complex. Little has changed here;Unless a pretty modern graphics were added. We still move from the eyes strictly through the cells (we can only go back-back-in-right and turn 45 degrees) and fight with spiders, bandits and undead in step-by-step mode, where all the participants of the fight beat, protect or useSpells in turn.

At the very beginning of the game, our group of adventurers known as raiders (so Ubisoft obviously trying to bring bridges from the future Might & Magic: Raiders), meets a resident of the coastal town, where they landed after a long voyage, and offers to conduct an excursion – so to speak, show local attractions. But for fans of the series and without it, everything is well familiar. Here is a blacksmith’s house where you can buy a new weapon and repair the old one, here is a tavern where you can spend the night to restore strength and health (a daily cycle is implemented here, and the low fighters get fines for characteristics), here is a magician, sorceresses and an armor, a hall forTraining, local garrison. And, finally, the church where the heroes can be brought to the sense of the wounded and lost consciousness, to cure them from illnesses and resurrect the dead (having lost health points, the characters first lose consciousness, and if they continue to receive damage, then they die).

Even if 11 years after the release of the ninth part, you forgot about the existence of a series Might & Magic, Hands and instincts still remember. By pressing the K key, the party breaks the night even in a clean field or on the street – however, for this, as before, you need to have supplies, which are replenished in the tavern. On the spot and a traditional opportunity for the series, the opportunity to take an additional character in the batch, which will not directly help in battles, but will give bonuses. So, a local scout will help to study enemies faster and more efficiently in order to find some Achilles heel from them.

Heroes on the run

Might & Magic 10: Legacy quickly draws in its nets – primarily due to the great opportunities for researching the world. Absolutely new for the series Askhan region – Agyn Peninsula – beckons a real adventurer with abandoned churches and extinct beacons, dark caves, where you can stumble on a sad cyclops, hazardous parking of bandits, cemeteries full of ghosts, cities, villages and locks.

In addition to studying monsters, here you can collect some old books with local legends, knowledge and even poems, look for chests with treasures and, of course, perform numerous quests. The plot suggests that our raiders who arrived on the lands of Agyn Peninsula, in order to fulfill the last will of their leader, will be drawn into political showdowns in Cartala, the largest city in the region. However, barely players will leave the first oncoming village, the scriptwriters let them go into the will and quickly load them with numerous side tasks.

The quests are traditional: take flowers to the grave, light up the extinct lighthouse, find some lost thing or treasure, defeat the gang of bandits. And indeed in Legacy the spirit of ancient “old” RPG is felt. For example, all these assignments ordinary for the genre distribute NPC tightly chained to the Earth, which, unlike their colleagues from the series Gothic, do not imitate increased vital activity, do not go for water and do not smoke swords in front of everyone.

But this does not mean that everything here is dry and conditional. Residents willingly enter into dialogue, share rumors, knowledge and funny stories. And they are not alien to the humor. In the tavern you will be told about the attack of pirate goblins, one of which now works in local cuisine (if you wish, you can buy it), and the leader of the guards, giving out the first plot quest (of course, prove his strength and win someone!), will calm down: they say, it will not be the task of the “rat in the basement” … it is called “spiders in the sewage”!

And everything would be fine, but while the impression of the game spoils frank problems with the balance. If at the level of the complexity of the Adventurr they are not so noticeable, then all the true fans of the series who chose Warrior will quickly be convinced that without the skills of repair, alchemy and Town Portal spells (we never found it) the game turns into continuous races from the city to the firstbig fight and back. Enemies literally do not give a calm step to go through, the treatment potions of the only healer in the settlement are not replenished, the equipment breaks incredibly quickly, the day replaces the night in five minutes, the heroes are all the time from fatigue, and the constant visits to the city quickly deplete the stock of cash – hereOnce the skills of trade and theft were useful.

However, we will not draw final conclusions according to the early version. Naturally, the authors will still work on the balance, and some skills and spells may return – if the community will strongly ask them about this. The main thing is that the creators are not trying to simplify and “upload” everything and everything, including some new-fashioned social network in the game with a hidden microtransaction system, but, on the contrary, try to reproduce the “old” spirit of the series. So in 2014, the present awaits us, which is not enough today, the return of the classics. Straight from childhood.