The initial map is focused primarily on story. Heroes VII wants you to know that it is the highest of high fantasy from the moment you start playing. And through it all, pompous music pumps up the drama, much of it recalling early Tchaikovsky, vibrating with sonorous French horns and elegant strings.

Cyan crystals and impossibly lush green grass provide a striking contrast to the browns and yellows of the cliffs and countryside. In the first of three maps I explore, harpies are trapped in a magical prison whose boundaries pulse and glow. I'm generally delighted by this brand of fantasy in any case, and Heroes VII has that blue-and-gold sheen that brings to mind all manner of arcane spells and barbarous beasts. I've now spent almost four hours playing Might & Magic Heroes VII over the course of two visits to Ubisoft's San Francisco office, and while it's difficult to say whether the game will inspire hundreds of hours of exploration and strategizing in the way Heroes III did, I appreciate its ability to suck me in. Might & Magic Heroes VII is at the top of this wave's crest, a wave that purposefully washes away Might & Magic Heroes VI, which was not met with unbridled enthusiasm by longtime players rightfully exalting Heroes III as the height of the series. The third Heroes game is still considered one of the giants of strategy classics, so it was only natural that it be given a high-definition update-and even more natural that publisher Ubisoft would ride the wave of nostalgia by delivering another entry. Might & Magic has been many things and taken many forms, but it is in Heroes of Might & Magic that the franchise's spirit glows brightest.

Few computer game series have such a storied history.

Heroes of might and magic 7 creatures