If you own the original game you probably won't find enough new in Shadow of Death to justify the cost.

If you ever caught me at three o'clock in the morning, with too much vodka in my system, and mentioned the state of the computer gaming industry I'd probably launch into a rant until the sun came up and you were already fast asleep. The sum of my rant would be that big business, which is usually bad in any state, is really bad when it comes to gaming. Too often the big companies are looking to fill up their coffers, and do it in a number of questionable ways. Now, I do realize that big companies can also help a game's development, but remember, when I'm ranting it's the wee hours of the morning and I've had too many adult beverages.

Recently, a small on-line only publisher released a revised edition of WDK. If you owned the original version you got the new edition absolutely free. Then, here is 3DO releasing a revised edition of Heroes of Might and Magic III entitled Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death. This isn't a sequel, an expansion pack, or a "gold" edition. This is the original Heroes III with a few new campaigns and several enhancements. If you own the original you can get a ten dollar rebate, but that only lasts until the end of May. How can you not be cynical?

For everyone who owns the original you probably don't feel like wading through an entire review just to find out if you should purchase this new version; you just want to know what's in it to justify your dollar. You get an amazing amount of gameplay, with seven new campaigns and thirty eight new scenarios. Game enhancements include moat damage, more neutral creatures (many of which have been brought back from Heroes II), a few changes to some unit statistics, and combination artifacts (once a number of individual artifacts are collected they can be combined into one mega-powerful, ass-kicking artifact). There are a few more alterations, like guarding mines with creatures, some new quests, and the ability to select campaign difficulty.

Now, you've seen a lot of that in the expansion pack, Armageddon's Blade. So essentially the question you must ask yourself is, "Do you want to spend as much money as you would for a totally new game on a collection of new scenarios?" Even with the rebate offer we're talking a rather expensive add-on.

Of course right about now you may also be thinking to yourself, "What in the world am I going to do with my old Heroes III?" Thankfully, unlike some other revised editions out there, you can play multiplayer games against users of the older versions. So if you do decide to pick up Shadow you can pass along your old game to a buddy for some multiplayer action.

If you're brand new to the strategic world of the Heroes of Might and Magic series Shadow is cast in a much better light. After all, it's all brand new to you, and you get so much gameplay that you could still be playing when the inevitable Heroes IV comes out. Because this is nothing more than the original game with some new features added in (which I've already described) I won't give more than a brief overview of the game (for a more detailed view take a moment to check out the original Heroes III review).

As you can tell by the title, the game focuses on individual heroes and their actions. Your heroes command armies, collect magical items, and conquer cities, dungeons, and caves. This may sound like Age of Wonders but there are a vast number of differences. For example, unlike Age of Wonders, armies cannot move in Heroes III without a hero being present. Another significant difference between the two games is the fact that in Heroes III your heroes are somewhat expendable, while in Age of Wonders if you lose your hero, you lose the game.

While Shadow is turn based, it borrows several RTS trappings, like creating more armies by collecting resources. When combat occurs the game launches into a tactical battlefield, which rewards players who know their units, rather than knowing real tactics.

Gameplay is fairly addictive because of the huge number of creatures, items, and maps. There's enough variety that it's always a fresh experience. The story based campaigns are fairly enjoyable, although even with the adjustable difficulty levels many scenarios found in them are rather tough.

It's worth noting that 3DO skimped on the manual, which simply documents all the new features found in Shadow. The original (and complete) manual is a .pdf file that is installed on your system. Now, if Shadow was being priced at half of its cost I could understand leaving out the full manual on paper. This may not irk people who already own the original game, but this will definitely irritate anyone picking up the game for the first time.

The original Heroes of Might and Magic III was released a year ago. With little competition in the turn-based fantasy strategy genre it was a killer game that you just had to play one more turn. Since that time we've had Age of Wonders and Disciples make their way to our hard drives and to be honest, Heroes III has lost some of its luster in my opinion. For that reason, my score with this edition is actually a few points lower than my original score. Computer games are constantly evolving and sometimes the same game viewed a year later isn't quite in the same league anymore.

If you own the original game you probably won't find enough new in Shadow of Death to justify the cost. There are a lot of scenarios floating around the 'net, and if you own the expansion pack you already have the majority of new features found in Shadow. New players will definitely find Shadow an enjoyable game. I just wish that a year later we would have been playing a true sequel, rather than Heroes III with a fresh paint job and a few chrome accessories.

Reviewed by Scott R Krol, PC Gameworld.