[Sir Michael]

I bought it last weekend, at the same time as dungeon siege, so I haven't played it very much. What I can tell you is that it is "the same but different." What I mean is, the game feels very familiar, but the combat screens are more arcade-like and cartoonish (think Age of Wonders). The town screens are similar, but each town has choices of creature generator structures- you build one, and you can't build the other. Heroes can enter combat. Armies can move on their own (without heroes), and you can build structures to transport your troops instantly from one town to another. There are a larger variety of magic items and objects/places on the adventure map, and you can play at a higher resolution than in Heroes III. Skills follow the four tier (normal, expert, master, grandmaster) system as in the MM series of RPGs. Spells are more diversified, with different schools, again as in the MM series.

I like it! I think it is well worth it, and I intend to play it a lot AFTER Dungeon Siege (I wish I could say the same about MM9...kind of a disappointment * sigh *).