Preview by: Andrew Webster

After releasing one of the most addictive games ever to hit the Nintendo DS with Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, developer Capybara Games has decided to revisit the puzzle/strategy/RPG hybrid and bring it to home consoles. But the team behind the game refuses to call it a port, instead preferring to think of the new game simply as the high definition version.

So what makes Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes HD different? According to Capy president Nathan Vella, it comes down to three major factors.

First and most obvious are the visuals. The shift from Nintendo's handheld to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network has allowed the studio to flex its artistic muscles, reveling in the glory of HD art. "We're giving it the real Critter Crunch treatment," Vella explained, referring to the studio's colorful puzzle game, which took a similar route: originally launching on the iPhone before getting a gorgeous re-release on PSN.

The updated version of Clash features completely hand drawn visuals reminiscent of a top tier animated film from the likes of Disney or Studio Ghibli. The art style is wonderful, but arguably even more impressive is the animation. A number of units feature brand new animations and they look great. Evil horses do what Vella calls the Mr. Ed, tapping their hooves on the ground prior to attack. Meanwhile, one elite unit attack shown consisted of an astounding 140 frames of animation and lasted just a split second. Needless to say the animation was incredibly smooth. Surprisingly, despite how good the game looked, Vella said that the version I was seeing was "very early" with few of the visual effects included.

The game will also see an increased focus on multiplayer. While the DS version supported ad-hoc multiplayer, the console version will feature full online play. This will include both the one-on-one mode featured in the original version, as well as an all new co-operative mode. This will take the form of two-on-two battles and will be playable both on and offline.

The third major update will come in the form of improved unit and boss balancing. One of the main complaints from the original Clash of Heroes was that at times the difficulty could be uneven. Some bosses were overpowered and certain combinations of characters and artifacts made the game a little too easy. These issues will hopefully be fixed in the updated version. "We're going through the entire game again with a fine toothed comb," Vella said, "taking a lot of the player feedback."