Conquest of the Underworld is the second in a series of Heroes
Chronicles games based on Heroes of Might & Magic III, the
popular turn-based fantasy-themed strategy game from 3DO. There
are a total of four Heroes Chronicles titles in the collection,
beginning with Warlords of the Wasteland and wrapping up with
Clash of the Dragons. Both Warlords of the Wasteland and
Conquest of the Underworld are currently available in stores, with
the remaining two titles in the series due for release in November.
Here's a quick listing of the four titles (be sure to check out our
review of Warlords of the Wasteland if you missed it):
Heroes Chronicles tells the tale of a young barbarian, Tarnum. As
told in our review of Warlords of the Wasteland, Tarnum was slain
shortly after becoming King. However, the mighty barbarian is
deemed unworthy to enter Paradise by the Ancestors and is
reincarnated in order to redeem himself. Tarnum must earn a
reprieve from the gods by completing a succession of quests,
adventures that are recorded in the Heroes Chronicles. In
Conquest of the Underworld, Tarnum must swallow his pride and
anger by saving the soul of Queen Allison's father, which has been
kidnapped from Paradise. Why is this task so difficult for Tarnum?
Because he'll be saving the soul of the very King who killed him in
his past life. Tarnum must escort the Queen through the cursed
grounds of the land of the dead in search of her father, all the
while coming to terms with the irony of the situation.
Conquest of the Underworld plays out in a series of eight linked
missions. Much like Warlords of the Wasteland, the missions do a
credible job advancing a rather interesting storyline, but they offer
no improvements over Heroes of Might and Magic III. Once again,
everything from the game mechanics to the interface and sound
effects has been recycled. Heroes Chronicles is simply a trimmed
down version of Heroes of Might and Magic III. Missions consist of
the usual tasks; gathering and managing resources, building
towns, exploring the land, recruiting troops, and destroying enemy
heroes and threatening armies. Similarly with Warlords of the
Wasteland, Tarnum and his best heroes will advance from one
scenario to the next with all their experience, but without their
items.
Conquest of the Underworld falls victim to the same problems as
Warlords of the Wasteland. For starters, the game places
restrictions in terms what's available to you. Keeping in vein with
the plot, a number of units and town types are not available in
Conquest of the Underworld. In most of the missions, Tarnum will
begin with a castle town, developing such troops as pikemen,
archers, monks, cavaliers and the all-mighty angels. Keeping in
theme with the Underworld, Tarnum will rage wars against the
undead and a trio of town types: inferno, necropolis and dungeon
towns. Skeletons, Vampires and Werewolves, oh my! The result is
a rather repetitive set of missions due to the lack of unit and town
variety. Much like Warlords of the Wasteland, the storyline is one
of the few reasons to play through each scenario, a plot that is
advanced using text boxes that pop up periodically throughout
each mission. Cinematic sequences, much like the introductory
clip, would be much more worth while in this regard. On the bright
side, Conquest of the Underworld does offer another reason to
keep trekking through the land of the dead, that being in order to
find and assemble all six pieces of an all-powerful artifact. Once
compiled, Tarnum's armies become practically invincible to any
enemies.
If you're looking for something new from Heroes Chronicles, I'm
afraid you'll be disappointed. Conquest of the Underworld doesn't
offer any unique units, no new sound bites, no improved
presentation, nothing. It's more of the same, although I guess that's
not such a bad thing considering how solid Heroes of Might &
Magic III. Still, without a map editor and any kind of multiplayer
features, Conquest of the Underworld comes across as an
expansion pack with little to no replay value.
Like Warlords of the Wasteland, Conquest of the Underworld
comes with a budget price tag of $20. Once again though, this is
only one of a series of four tales, so if you're looking to redeem
Tarnum completely, it's going to cost you four times that amount.
Does $20 sound like a sound investment for 8 missions? How about
$80 for 32 missions? Neither sounds that great to me and you just
know it's only a matter of time before a product along the lines of
Heroes Chronicles Collection comes down the pipeline,
undoubtedly at a very reasonable price. If you can wait that long, I
suggest you do.
By: 
