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Many gamers will be well acquainted with the acclaimed Heroes of Might and Magic series; if you haven't played at least one of the games you will probably have heard of it. The HoMM formula has remained largely unchanged since its inception, proof positive that the creators of the original game were onto a winner. For those new to the series however, here's the lowdown: set in a fantasy world populated by mythical creatures and powerful magics, Heroes of Might and Magic V is a turn-based strategy game in which you explore the map - both above and below ground, whilst managing resources, building up your cities and heroes, raising armies and crushing any opponents standing in your path.

The single-player campaign includes a brief tutorial to get you started, and then you're on your own. The game comes complete with manual, however when compared to previous versions it's rather spartan. Basic "need to know" information is provided, but the finer details such as individual skills, spells, structures and a bestiary are nowhere to be found. The collector's edition includes a handy factions chart, but in our opinion this should not be considered "bonus material". In theory, you can obtain information from the official website's online encyclopedia; however it's very much a work in progress, with partial information on only three factions currently available.

There are six playable factions in the game, all vastly different and all fun to play. The lineup includes the usual suspects: humans (Haven), tree-hugging elves (Sylvan), nightmarish undead (Necropolis), formidable demons (Inferno), plus a couple of eclectic factions (Dungeon and Academy). Each faction has upgradeable units and city structures unique to its race, and these are built up gradually over time. Naturally, buildings and troops cost money and resources, so you must accumulate these through exploration and conquest, and maintain a steady income... which is where the heroes bit comes into play.

Heroes fall into two basic categories: warrior-types (might), and wizard-types (magic), and are your key players. As well as leading your forces to glory or ignominious defeat in battle, they scour the map in search of riches and resources, ever on the lookout for magical means to boost their skills and power. Once a hero has accumulated sufficient experience - usually via successful battles or in exchange for treasure, he will level-up and gain a new skill. In addition to a pool of skills and abilities available to all heroes when they level-up, there are unique skills for each faction. For example, Necropolis heroes can raise fallen undead units after each battle.

Combat takes place on a chessboard-style arena which reflects the size of your forces and the type of terrain on which you are fighting. Terrain can have an impact on the overall outcome, but it's only one of many factors to consider (we won't bother your head with them here). A tactical phase precedes each battle, letting you place your troops on the battlefield in the most advantageous position within your hero's range. As is common practise with games of this genre, each stack is represented by a single figure. Once you're happy with the arrangement the battle begins in earnest. An initiative bar displays the order in which each stack will attack, giving you a visual preview of the action about to unfold onscreen.

You can take command of the units yourself, which is advisable if a battle's outcome is dodgy. If the odds are in your favour you may wish to engage auto-combat, trusting the not-too-shabby AI to manage both sides of the battle while you sit back to enjoy the hands-free action. A third option is to enable fast combat in the game options screen, which does away with the battlefield altogether and just spits out the results. This is useful if you can't be bothered sitting through a lengthy stoush involving two massive armies, or if you're in a hurry - bearing in mind that a scenario can take hours to complete.

Morale and luck are two important factors which can influence the tides of battle, affecting frequency of attacks and the damage inflicted, respectively. One tweak we noticed in favour of good game balance was that extra attacks due to high morale are no longer taken straight away; rather, they occur half-way through the initiative cycle.

There are two single-player options available: individual scenarios (of which there are currently only nine), or the campaign, which gives you a taste of all six factions found within the game. Multiplayer games can be played in hot seat mode on a single PC, over a LAN or online, and there are currently two mission types available: last man standing and team play.

Two of the game's main drawcards are notable by their absence. Heroes of Might and Magic V shipped minus a map editor and random map generator; however these will reportedly be made available in future updates, along with patch material and additional features. The first update is out now and includes a new Easy difficulty level. It is most important to download the correct update for your region and product, since there are different versions for the collector's and standard edition of Heroes of Might and Magic V. After sifting through many posts on the HoMM forums, we installed the European patch, which runs with no problems whatsoever.

Visually, Heroes of Might and Magic V's most obvious improvement over its predecessors lies in the striking, colourful 3D graphics that certainly add another dimension to gameplay (no pun intended). You can rotate and tilt the camera, which is useful for spotting treasure or structures tucked in behind the scenery. You can also zoom in for a closer look, or zoom out for a better overall view of the terrain - athough we noticed a significant drop in frame rate in certain scenarios when doing this. Individual units are reminiscent of Warhammer figurines at their eye-catching best, being solidly constructed with oversized armaments and vivid colouring. Animations are smooth and so well-executed that your'e happy to watch them again and again (unlike the cut-scenes - but more on those in a minute). In particular the dynamic combat system cranks up the pace on the battlefield. It's truly satisfying to see a powerful spell devastate the enemy ranks, or a "bomb cam" view of a missile slamming into its target. Rivetting stuff!

A dramatic score composed by HoMM veterans Rob King and Paul Romero provides first-class accompaniment to the game. Incidental and combat sound effects are also of a high standard; however the voice acting in the cut scenes fell short of our expectations, as did the quality of the cut scenes themselves. They're not bad - merely average, and you probably won't want to watch each scene more than once. Fortunately there's a handy "skip" button to bypass the boring bits.

As far as innovation is concerned - and given the series' staunch and sizeable fan base, it's probably better to err on the side of caution, and this is exactly what the developers have done. While there have been some notable omissions and additions since the last installment, the game itself has changed very little overall and remains true to its roots. Not only is Heroes of Might and Magic V simple to learn, fun to play and addictive as ever, but the prospect of additional material will keep us playing for some time yet.

The Collector's Edition costs an extra twenty bucks and comes with a few tasty extras that will appeal to the HoMM afficionado.