Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes Previews

The forthcoming Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network versions of Capybara’s Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is the subject of two new hands-on previews.

Destructoid starts us off:

The basic gameplay of Clash of Heroes is simple enough to grasp after a few battles, but it’s how you’ll learn to use those skills effectively that’s difficult to master. That keen eye you might have for playing puzzle games will certainly come in handy, but that has to go hand-in-hand with careful strategy and planning if you want to consistently succeed.

Everything that made the DS game such a joy to play has been translated into this new high definition version, including the game’s surprisingly sharply written and enjoyable campaign. Clash of Heroes has also been given the obvious visual overhaul for high definition screens, including all new art work. The DS game was no visual slouch — Capybara obviously holds sprite-based visuals in high esteem, and it showed — but this update looks gorgeous on the big screen, with incredibly vivid colors and smooth animations.

And then Digitally Downloaded follows close behind:

As you can probably tell, the level of depth in his game is truly impressive, and finding an army build that suits the way you like to play is an addictive process. Experience is dolled out pretty quickly, so progression feels real, and the game’s balance is for the most part spot on. It’s a rare battle that you’ll feel cheated on.

There’s a lot to do in this game too. From hidden units to unlock, to side quests to manage, this is a game that will not take you a short time to complete, and it’s not necessarily straightforward, either. There’s a wide range of settings to see and characters to ally with (or kill), and the story pulls things through nicely without dragging.

I’m not much of a handheld gamer, so I’ll be picking this one up on the Xbox 360 when it’s released.