Review by: Andrew Webster

There are a few things you'll have to do before you can actually sit down and enjoy Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes. For starters, look past the game's painfully generic title and box art. Then, try and ignore the bland, tired fantasy setting filled with the typical elves, knights, and necromancers we've all seen countless times before. If you're able to do all of that, well, congratulations: because you'll soon be enjoying one of the most creative and addictive experiences released on the DS in quite some time.

Like Puzzle Quest before it, Clash of Heroes is a strange hybrid of role-playing elements and match-three puzzle mechanics, only this time the developer has thrown some turn-based strategy into the mix as well. You do battle with numerous enemies by taking turns matching different colored pieces. But instead of brightly colored gems, you're matching soldiers, each with their own abilities and traits. Lining up three of the same unit vertically causes them to attack, while doing the same horizontally will provide a barrier to help defend against similar attacks from your enemy. It's a little hard to wrap your head around at first, but the game does a great job of easing you into the process, and soon enough it becomes powerfully addictive.

Early on you'll be introduced to a number of different specialty units, each with their own unique characteristics. These units are understandably more powerful, and as such, can be lost in battle. This adds a bit of risk/reward to the proceedings, as you'll have to carefully consider how you use your units at the risk of losing them. The same goes for the way you approach each conflict. Focusing too much on defense will leave you with less space to formulate attacks, while ignoring defense all together will leave you wide open to the enemy. The game gives you a great deal of freedom when it comes to determining what sort of strategy you want to use, which is especially great for the tougher battles, as you can try many different ways of approaching each situation.

The battles are held together by a straightforward and linear narrative. It's a path we've all been down before, filled with warring factions, magic, and beings of different races. It seems that the developers did have a bit of fun though, as humorous bits of tongue-in-cheek dialog will pop up from time to time. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between and the story is relegated to a necessary evil that simply moves you from one battle to the next.

Though, unfortunately, the narrative structure does have somewhat of a negative effect on the game itself. You'll take on the role of several different characters throughout the game and each you time you switch it's almost as if the game had reset. You'll lose all of your experience, starting back from square one each time these narrative shifts take place. It's frustrating and jarring to be set-back several times throughout the game, although the multiple characters do add some variety to the experience.

In addition to the main quest, you can also participate in random battles or take on bounties to earn extra experience and money. Though these are optional, the difficulty of some of the stronger enemies makes them almost mandatory. Yes, this is a game where you'll have to grind. Thankfully, the fresh combat system means that this is actually a positive.

But if the wonderful combat isn't enough to draw you in, the charming visuals just might do the trick. Clash of Heroes looks like a long-lost SNES game, a spiritual sibling to the heyday of 16-bit RPGs. The pixelated art style is so nostalgic it almost hurts, though the wonderfully drawn character portraits help make it feel like a modern game on a modern handheld. Sadly, this is a game that's easy to overlook. Nearly everything about it screams generic, which is ironic considering how fresh and unique the core gameplay feels. For those who like a little strategy RPG with their puzzle games, there is no finer game than Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes.