.com The Ironfist Dynasty is tottering on the brink of ruin. As endless calamities plague the kingdom of Enroth, evil doomsday cultists plan to overthrow child Prince Nicolai and claim the throne for their charismatic leader. Fear grips the land and the people wonder if their sovereign has lost the Mandate of Heaven--the divine right to rule. The enemies of reason are at the gate and only extraordinary heroes can stem the tide of darkness. Will you answer the call? From the depths of the deepest dungeons to the intrigues of the royal court, you lead a band of adventurers on a dangerous journey of amazing depth and intelligence. With a completely new 3-D graphics engine and a sophisticated nonlinear adventure system, Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven brings to life an intense role-playing experience. Review New World Computing's classic Might and Magic games helped to define the subgenre that grizzled old RPG grognards now affectionately refer to as "traditional style" role-playing games. All of the previous Might and Magic role-playing games were set in expansive gaming worlds, filled with exotic locations, tomes of spells, armies of enemy types, and hoards of magic items. But during the past couple of years, such traditional role-playing games have been rarer than orcs in Denver. The game takes place in the world of Enroth, a setting that will be familiar to veterans of the Heroes of Might and Magic spin-off strategy games. Good King Roland was apparently victorious in his battles with evil old Archibald, only to have his united lands fall prey to the ravages of an invasion of devils. When the King disappears after encountering the devilish horde, the ineffectual child prince Nicolai assumes control of the Kingdom. Your humble party of four adventurers has the onerous task of gaining the gratitude of the Kingdom's regional leaders, parlaying with a cryptic, omniscient Oracle in order to unravel the mystery behind Roland's disappearance and, along the way, carving a destructive path through a hellish legion of enemies. Welcome to the medieval jungle. As with previous games in the series, Might and Magic VI is a first-person-perspective party-based game. In a minor break from Might and Magic tradition, all of your characters are human (elves need not apply), and there are only six available character classes. Far more interesting is the game's character development system. Stomping monsters and completing quests will net your characters experience points. Gain enough experience points, and you'll be able to raise the levels of your characters, provided that you hook up with a capable trainer and have a few spare coins. With each increase in level, a character will gain a handful of points that can be used to increase that character's skills. Gain enough expertise in a particular skill, and you can train to become an expert and then a master in that skill, acquiring additional abilities in the process. The graphics in Might and Magic VI are the best yet seen in a 3D first-person-perspective role-playing game. At one point in the game's development, hardware support for 3D graphics cards was contemplated, which certainly would have been welcome. But even without 3D acceleration, the graphics are generally crisp and clear, with a minimum of pixelation. Like prior games in the series, the graphics are also very colorful, which takes a while to get used to for those of us accustomed to somewhat more realistic, but considerably more dreary, depictions of our fantasy gaming worlds. One of the best things about Might and Magic VI is that Enroth was clearly crafted with a lot of care and attention to detail. Although the game is huge, taking well over 100 hours to complete, each of the towns and dungeons was individually designed. There are tons of other little details that make Might and Magic VI special. You can fly like a Spitfire through the air and fire arrows at packs of monsters - miss them as they run by a stream, and your arrows will splash into the water. Go into a few too many shops without purchasing or selling anything, and you'll start to be rebuked by their keepers: "See ya, tightwad!" Walk into the right thieves' guild, and you'll be confronted with a Monty Python-esque "nudge, nudge, know what I mean, know what I mean...." knowing glance from the trainer. A big metallic-looking guy loaded with vicious-looking swords who looks like a walking Ginsu knife is appropriately labeled a Cuisinart. There are some excellent sound effects as well - shoot a harpy out of the sky, and you'll be treated to the sound of it falling like a crumpled bird. Gargoyles shatter into pebbles. The sound of your footsteps reflects the nature of the ground you're walking on, whether it's hardened rock, fresh snow, or a damp beach. Music isn't used a great deal in the game, but it works well when it appears. There are a few other minor disappointments. The interface is non-customizable, so you're stuck using the default key settings even if you find them inconvenient. Although it is basically a keyboard-controlled game, you still have to occasionally use the mouse, which is a bit cumbersome. The different geographical regions in the game don't quite integrate fully, meaning you'll occasionally be unable to loot the bodies of enemies that wandered outside of your current region. The main window for depicting the 3D gaming world is quite small, and even though there are hotkeys for all of the functions you need, there is surprisingly no "full screen" mode. The cutscene introduction is well done, but it feels somewhat disconnected from the rest of the game, and the introductory dialogue seems like it was scripted after the cutscene was already completed. Your interaction with the nonplayer characters wandering around town is quite limited, although you can get such NPCs to tag along to grant your party additional abilities, but such NPCs won't otherwise directly participate in the game. You might also be disappointed with the digitized character portraits, which sometimes don't seem to fit in with the other animated graphics. The voice acting of your characters is also of mixed quality, although I generally enjoyed it. Each of the characters has his own distinct expressions ("Chalk up another for the big guy!"), which is another nice touch. There are also a few bugs and graphical quirks. There are occasional clipping errors, which allow you to see, or even interact with, objects through walls. Certain spells, like Meteor Shower will occasionally not complete their animations if they are cast on an enemy who is on sloped terrain, causing the game to hang. Switch the game from real-time mode to turn-based while your characters are on inclined terrain, and you'll gradually trickle down the incline (as will monsters similarly placed). Some spells don't seem to work as intended - I was never able to even momentarily "Stun" the most ineffectual of enemies. But such quirks and bugs are really quite trivial. Overall, Might and Magic VI is a remarkably stable game - one of the most bug-free role-playing games in years. Even more importantly, it's tremendously addictive. There always seems to be one more quest you just have to complete, one more skill you have to elevate to mastery, one more region to explore... one more night to forget to sleep before dragging yourself to work. It's been a long time since a Might and Magic role-playing game was released, and many gamers questioned whether or not New World Computing could recapture the magic of past games in the series. We shouldn't have worried. Might and Magic VI is a classically designed role-playing game that features both a huge gaming world and lots of attention to detail. It's a standout game in what should be a great year for role-playing game fans. Might and Magic is back, and it's better than ever. --Desslock --Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot Review
J**.
Might and Magic VI Review
Might and Magic 6: Mandate of Heaven has given me many hours of enjoyment. The challenges in the game play provided satisfaction when my battle weary troop made it home alive.I even prefer this game to the 3 versions that followed it.
B**Y
MM6
For being a game made in 98 it is very Intricate. Can get frustrating at times though. Had to walk away a few times.
F**O
Five Stars
pretty good game, wish they will make more games like this
T**S
Five Stars
Best game ever made. Period.
L**T
Classic RPGaming
The Might and Magic games were always the standard rpg gaming experience for me, until Origin came along and the whole 3d revolution began. But these games are classic, screen-by-screen, dungeon and dragon adventuring. And the adventuring is what's fun about them. The quests that last for years (in the world of the game) and span whole continents and oceans. The multiple towns and dozens of different creatures. The hundreds of different items and weapons and spells and skills. They're just great fun to play, and this one, one of the last of the type, is probably the best. Even after all these years, I still like to play it now and again.One of the biggest delights in adventure gaming, when you can find it, is a chararacter and/or party of characters that changes over time -- the more you play, the more you change. And here, evolution is what it's all about; in fact, if you don't change, you don't succeed. Of course there's the gold you can amass, but that's just the tip of the iceberg; experience points are really where it's at, and I love a game with true experience points. Defeat a creature, get experience points, then get stronger. So you can fight harder creatures worth more experience points so that you can get even stronger. Nothing so satisfying as working your way up from sweating goblins to brushing aside even the strongest of dragons; and all it takes is the most valuable skill of all: patience.Yeah, you'll spend dozens of hours just trying to get your party strong enough to get to areas that advance the main plot, but that's just the fun of it. These games aren't about finger dexterity, but persistance, and in this case, mental cleverness, as well. There are some pretty difficult puzzles here that need to be solved before you can proceed along your path -- and the software usually won't do it for you. You need to stop and think awhile.You won't be told, for example, how to defeat a particularly nasty foe, or that there is a switch hidden somewhere. You have to figure it out on your own, and if you don't? well, that's just too bad.Some fights will seem so impossible you'll want to give up, but then; hey, wait, what if I lurk around this corner and try to draw just one enemy out at a time, rather than taking on the whole army at once? And no enemy is so impossible that you can't beat it by just going away for awhile and getting stronger before you face it.But the getting of things is the real pleasure. The finding of things, the buying of things, the gradual molding of your party into an unstoppable war machine. It's all great fun; no matter that it's old school and the graphics don't compare.A few drawbacks, of course: 1. the aging system, which I hate in an RPG. It's like a time limit, which is another pet peeve. And as if natural aging wasn't bad enough, there are creatures in the Might and Magic games that can age you artifically in battle. If you can't find a fountain of youth in time? Your characters become enfeebled, and the quest is essentially over. Not fun. 2. The "curse" system, whereby just fighting a somewhat weak creature can damage you until you can get to a town, or unless you have a remove curse spell. Such things aren't really a challenge; they only serve to delay you. Because now you have to stop everything and fix your party so that they'll be able to fight again. Why should it be easier to fight a werewolf, who can kill you with one well-timed blow, than a ghost, who would otherwise be dispatched with one or two hits? 3. Some of the later puzzles are ridiculously hard to figure out. I didn't like to spend four months on a game only to be held up by some door that wouldn't open because I did not talk to the right person or did not read the right clue in a dungeon half a continent away, or whatever. 4. It's really, really easy to cheat. Sometimes it's just a matter of waiting awhile -- empty a chest of its precious cargo, wait awhile, come back, and it'll be there again. In other cases, though, such as when you're having trouble with an enemy, all it takes is a good bow and a cheating position.But overall, this is a great game, one of my favorite rpg's. And it will play on practically anything; you won't even need a game emulator.
A**I
Beyond 5 Stars
I've been playing this RPG over and over since it was released, and to say that I love it and Might and Magic is an understatement. I've spent so many hours/years playing this series that I can finish Mandate of Heaven in less than 3 days. I keep track of my final score and record it to see if I have beaten myself. I know where every teacher and quest item is located at without reading the manual, although my manual is filled with many notes. When my beloved CDs began skipping so bad from years of use that I could no longer play the game, I was needless to say devastated. Thankfully, I downloaded this game and 7 and 8 from Gog.The graphics on this game still impress me to this day, but maybe that is because I really don't play any other RPG. Every monster has wonderful details, and I love the way the spell books are set up. I adore the soundtrack to this game, and each piece fits beautifully with the location it is paired with. I wish there were more variety with character choice as there is in for Blood and Honor and Day of the Destroyer, but it was enjoyable to hear the characters speak in a Might and Magic game. The storyline is all fresh here with a few hits of previous games (and Star Trek!) strewn about the game. Mandate of Heaven is very linear with freedom to move about in each huge region. Aside from storyline quests you have the option to perform promotion and unimportant quests, but I'd recommend completing them all. Game has a decent difficulty that provides and excellent challenge. Choosing to play in turn-base or real time is a much loved feature.If you are playing this wonderful game from the disks and have the original version, then you can partake of the awesome cheats this game has. Sadly, the version from GOG (and I am assuming Amazon) has eliminated all the bugs such as unlimited experience from the Fire Lord and unlimited gold from the obelisk quest. The option to give all your characters any weapon/armor choice has also been removed, but it does not lower my game play.If you are an RPG fan, then this game is a must. You will fall in love with Enroth and it's regions, and perhaps waste hours of your life playing this enthralling game.
C**T
Even in 2012
Just found this in my old CD stack and installed it not too long ago. Still fun even today. I find myself preferring this over even Oblivion.Pros:1. Music is great. Best soundtrack for a game I have ever heard.2. Game is inviting. Beginning play is full of discovery and natural beauty all around you. Everywhere you go is exciting and new. Food to scavenge, chests to loot, outposts to obliterate.3. Playing time is very very long. You will need to play it for a LONG time to get bored.4. The world, the CGI, and the cutscenes are all very imaginarily inspiring, its like watching a music video sometimes. (Monks chanting with grim bells ringing as a desert thunderstorm speedframes across the dry dirt etc.)Cons:1. Controls are not WASD2. Character movement is dodgy. Sometimes you will try to go straight, but you will have an odd angle to your walk.3. Options menu could have a little better control customization. (can be fixed with mods and patches)4. Mouse movement is only available with a fan patch/mod.
