Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is a puzzle adventure game put out by Ubisoft and Capybara Games. It was originally available for Playstation 3 (via PSN), Xbox 360 (via Xbox Live Arcade), Nintendo DS and PC. In 2013 it was released for iOS and Android. It is rated E10+ by the ESRB for fantasy violence. There was also something about the characters wearing revealing clothing and the use of the word “damnable”. These things do not bother me personally and I feel fine letting my seven-year-old daughter play this game.
M&M:CoH is a text based adventure game that tells the story of five heroes who must stop an evil sorcerer’s attempt to rule the magical world of Ashan. Each hero has a specific set of allies: either knights, demons, elves, wizards or necromancers. Players choose from three basic troops and five elite troops to make their own army. Gameplay takes place on a two sided field and progresses in a “connect four” style of play, with players matching up troops of the same class/color to begin the countdown to attack. Different troops have different timers, with the elites taking the longest and doing the most damage.
The reason for recommending this game as something children should play is because it is a good introduction to roleplaying, turn based games, like the Final Fantasy series, but on a simpler level that is much easier for smaller children to understand. My daughter picked this up at age 6, and a year later still plays it, even though she’s completed the story mode on two characters. Even though it is a video game, it helps with skills such as reasoning and matching. The text driven story has improved both her love of reading as well as her skill rate. There is also a local multiplayer mode where we can challenge each other. The only down fall to this game is that it has online interaction (you can battle against other players), but this can be avoided if the child does not have an online account (on Xbox 360 anyway).
Visuals 8/10: M&M:CoH is a surprisingly pretty game (on Xbox anyway). The animation style is very reminiscent of old Japanese animations. The sprite style is shaded wonderfully. Though there are occasionally some points where the animations can be a bit wonky when you are on the “adventure” screen (the screen you walk around on in between battles), a wonderful job is done overall.
Story 6/10: Although there is a story and it did manage to engage my daughter, I found myself skipping through the text boxes to get to the puzzles. I did not find myself becoming emotionally invested in the characters (as I have with games like Final Fantasy or Bioshock).
Overall 7/10: This is a good, simple game for a younger player or a casual game for a more “vetted” player.
