Might and Magic 7 takes off, plot-wise, where Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (a very solid game, by the way) leaves off. Queen Catherine has managed to tame the various factions feuding in Erathia and purged her father's restless spirit. You, as the player party, enter the picture by winning control of Harmondale in the game's prologue scenario. Harmondale, as those familiar with HoMM3 know, is a relatively independent party among the many factions found in Erathia; it is up to you determine the side (Light or Dark) it follows over the course of the game. What seems like a lucky opportunity in obtaining your own castle and title soon takes a darker turn as you become hopelessly embroiled in the affairs of Erathia. Fans of HoMM3 will be pleased to see the creatures and factions from said game return, only in a more personal light; the underworld lair of Nighon is much more disturbing when viewed from a first-person perspective, and there's nothing more frightening than a Horned Demon up close and angry (well, OK, there are a few things more frightening, but I be breaking Oklahoma State law by posting the URLs).

For those of you who disliked being limited to human characters in MM6, well, weep ye no longer: you now have the choice of creating Dwarven, Elven, and Goblin compatriots along with the standard Human type. There are also three new classes of character to consider: the Monk, an unarmed fighter with thief skills who, at high-levels, will crush the opposition (no joke; my high-level Monk dishes out significantly more damage than my Knight, despite the latter's impressive equipment); the Thief, a roguish character with good fighting skills and all sorts of, uh, thiefly abilities; and the Ranger, a warrior-mage class that, rather than being the best of both worlds, seems to be a watered down version of both. As you progress, you'll be able to undertake quests that will allow your characters to become advanced versions of their starting class, such as the Crusader class for Paladins. It'll take a couple of playthroughs to see all the character configuration options this game has to offer, that's for certain.

The skill set has been revamped, with a number of new skills added, and the magic retooled a bit. The requirements for Mastery and Grand Mastery are a bit easier, but since you'll be spreading your Skill Points over more skills, you'll still have to invest the extra time.

When it comes to graphics, Might and Magic 7 is pretty good for an RPG, although it is barely middle-grade when compared to the bleeding edge of PC visuals. Certainly, the 3D acceleration is welcome; the engine runs glassy smooth on my overclocked Celeron 400 (498) system under the Voodoo 3 chipset. Filtering of the textures and bitmaps removes the blockiness seen in the previous titles, and the alpha blending adds a lot of extra oomph to the spell effects.

The Master and Grand Master combat spells look especially explosive; I can think of a couple first-person shooter developers who could learn something from NWC. The polygonal structures in the game, such as the castles and dungeons, sport a solid amount of detail, and go far in justifying the design decision to bring the series into full 3D.

Aesthetically, the portrait art is decidedly better than that of MM6, featuring decently rendered humans and humanoids instead of awkward looking scans of SCA rejects. The monsters also look yards better, although they still have that plasticky pre-rendered appearance so indicative of recent New World titles. Texture design is decent, as are the graphics of the interface. The still art is a bit too awkward for me, but my preference for anime-sylized art and clean, simple lines should be well-documented by now.

Despite the killer pyrotechnics and 3D acceleration, the game still uses stiffly animated bitmaps for characters and more detailed scenery. Trees, for example, look really bad, blurring out to N64 levels of featurelessness. Textures are also pretty repetitive, although this is forgivable in light of just how vast the world is and how much effort was exhausted in detailing it. Lastly, the game suffers from a bad case of draw-in - a little horizon fog would've been appropriate, and it could be excused due to the game's fantastic (think: mystical) ambience.

The sonic package, on the other hand, is a work of two extremes. The music is richly orchestrated, beautifully composed, and thematically appropriate. The faint singing in the Dwarven Barrow, for example, is a brilliant choice that lends an eerie edge to an already unnerving atmosphere. As it stands, New World have always been the kings of PC game music; their choice of tunes is always appropriate and always listenable. The included ambient effects are also well done; the growls, squeaks, and clanks in many of the dungeons will have those of you with EAX and/or A3D sound setups constantly on edge.

On the other hand, the voice effects, quite frankly, suck. The character voices are obnoxiously grating, in the way colicky babies and fingernails on the chalkboard are; they all seem whiny and inappropriate. These voices are the aural equivalent to the hideous scanned portraits in MM6: they are disjointed and mar the overall polished feel of the game.

The game itself is all about exploration and battle. When compared to a console RPG, PC RPGs seem notoriously open-ended and plotless; MM7 is certainly no exception. The plot progresses in large spurts, here and there, with vast tracts of exploration and combat filling in the space between pivotal episodes. That's fine with me; I don't play PC RPG titles to read narration. I play them to develop my own characters and involve myself in a large and diverse environment, building skills and challenging my mind. In this aspect, MM7 well and truly delivers; the continent of Erathia is enormous, with a veritable legion of dungeons and secrets waiting to be discovered. On my first 80+ hour playthrough, I let several interesting locales and quest threads go unexplored, and I eagerly await the opportunity to try again, with a different set of character classes and skills. If it's replay you crave, MM7 will definitely deliver. In fact, with all the positive changes to the game engine, those of you who burnt out quickly on MM6 may find yourselves more eager to return to MM7's world than you did that of its predecessor.

The interface, for the most part, is easily navigable. Mixing potions, using items and equipping your characters is easy and seemingly glitch free. Allocating skill points and examining character statistics are also pleasantly simple operations, and a handy comparative list of vital stats for your party overall is but a click away. I probably spend more time sizing up damage levels and armor classes than is healthy, but it's just so durn convenient!

As in Might and Magic 6, combat can be set to either turn-based or real-time. Fortunately, the turn-based system is actually quite workable, unlike in MM6, where you couldn't engage in any tactical movement and enemies couldn't be approached from angles. This resulted in real-time being the only viable option (unless extreme frustration was your objective), and turned the game into a Quake-like arrow-and-fireball strafe-o-rama. To a hardcore turn-based fan like me, that was not an option. Thankfully, the turn-based combat mode in MM7 has been retooled to allow movement, and as a result feels much less cumbersome. It's eminently playable in this incarnation - a major round of applause to NWC for improving, rather than chopping, this option.

Not that the real-time mode is bad, mind you; since the monster count has been reduced, switching to real-time to take out stragglers and/or emplaced critters is a good strategy. Personally, I prefer the turn-based mode for the 10+ bandit battles, and then swapping over to real-time when I know an area is reasonably clear. With turn-based now an option, gamers can develop more flexible approaches that fit their play style.

You can also get assists from guards and townsfolk during battle. It's actually a very workable tactic to bait raiders into chasing you, and then let the town guards soften 'em up as they rush headlong into a city's confines. It's also an easy way to snag a few good items without completing a townsperson's quest - if they get smacked by a goblin, the item you would have received as a reward will by lying at the feet of their corpse. Other novel methods of battle outside of direct combat also exist; early in the game, you can commandeer a cannon-laden goblin fort and blast their fifty- strong army to smithereens without having to engage in more painful direct confrontation. I got quite a bit of mileage out of that little tactic, I can tell you.

If I have one significant problem with the combat system, it lies in the graphic method utilized to display a character's readiness. After a character attacks, there will be a delay (which can be minimized through spells, equipment, and training) before he or she can attack again. When that character is ready, a green aura appears over the portrait. In the real- time mode, this is troublesome because A) the green aura animation is very plain, and B) you are trying to position yourself onscreen before that angry red dragon burns your characters to a crisp. As a result, it's hard to pick up said animation in your peripheral vision, and you have to direct your attention away from the action at occasional intervals to determine if Ms. Sorceress is ready to throw a fireball or if Mr. Cleric is ready to heal. Since there are separate keys for attack and magic, selecting the wrong one by mashing haplessly could mean the difference between life or death. Obviously, using the turn-based mode reduces this problem, but, as claimed earlier, there are times when the real-time mode is more efficient and useful.

The overland and dungeon design is some of the best I've seen since the Underworld titles, and that's saying something. While the first few dungeons, such as the Temple of the Moon and the White Cliff Caves are a bit featureless, things improve rapidly thereafter. All sorts of keen Indiana Jones-esque visual puzzles abound, and a keen eye is often rewarded. The difficulty balance is well done; very few of the dungeons have puzzles or secrets that are impossible to solve. The sticking points occur because you simply aren't getting it, not because the designers are sadistic bastards who feel that mindlessly meandering the halls of Castle Newbie looking for that torch to pull to activate Door #3 might somehow add to the fun (that's a hint, Bethesda). As with the interface and the play engine, the dungeon design simply exudes polish and refined design. Hey, at sequel number seven, one would hope so!

Just like MM6, you can hire NPCs who will bring new skills to the party repertoire or enhance existing ones. Me, I toted around two little statmongers who, for 1000 gold apiece, collectively boosted my magical defences an extra 40%. The money-grubbing fiends also took 20% of my gold until I swapped 'em 30 hours later, but they did save me from a potentially nasty demise at the claws of a certain fire-breathing dragon named Wormthrax...

And if all that just isn't enough to throttle your goblin, a cool side game called ArcoMage is available after a certain quest early in the game is completed. You can play this special card game at any tavern in order to gain money, and, should you defeat thirteen opponents, a woman in Steadwick will give you a special prize. ArcoMage is a Magic the Gathering style game, where you have a Quarry stock, a Magic stock, and a Zoo stock. Each card played uses an amount from the stock (or stocks) to attack your opponent's wall and tower, build up your own wall/tower, increase your stocks, or decrease your opponent's. Build your tower to a certain size, or decimate your opponent's, and you will win the game. If it all sounds a bit surreal, well, it is; it's also a lot of fun and a great way to waste time within the game world.

When all is said and done, Might and Magic 7 is a charming RPG that successfully cleans up the failings of its predecessor and offers a fairly deep hack-and-slash experience. Through superlative dungeon design and a massively extensive character development methodology, hardcore PC RPG nuts will find a good one-hundred-fifty or so hours of play in this bad boy, at least. New World has listened to the fans and it shows - Might and Magic Seven: For Blood and Honor is a professional and worthwhile RPG offering that is definitely worth the asking price. Anyone looking for a post-Baldur's Gate fantasy adventure will do no wrong purchasing this quality sequel.