[Extrakun]

The 3D is an issue, but it is not that big an issue that warrants dragging the Substance down to 1. I have fun with the game, once I turn the graphics settings down, employed some tricks to speed up the game and the "one more turn syndrome" soon overcomes me.

Now, onto some specific complaints:

Slower Gameplay: I honestly have to admit I don't find the core gameplay slower due to design issues -- but thanks to what a resource hog the 3d graphics is, things tend to get slow. However, the biggest offenders are Mages. Their spell-casting usually take 3-4 seconds. However, that an design issue, unlike the ballista, which is more of an issue of poor programming.

That said, the "close-up-view" of two units chomping each other is random, unless you have that dynmaic camera thingly on. Besides that, everything else is like in HoMM III. I can only think of those 2 instances.

AND wait, there's more! What the reviewer forgot that only NOT all heroes go and whack the critters on the field. The Demon Lord and Nercomancer blast them with eldrtich power, which is significantly faster.

Honestly, this is something of a presentation issue. It doesn't deract from the fun that badly, for me. At any rate, this is a turn-based strategy game, not a blazing real-time one, and it is not as bad as Guardians summon in FF8.

Hidden Stuff: Agreeded, the camera can be implemented much better. Here's the walk-about. Press HOME, and zoom out, and keep the camera consistent there. Not only it helps framerates, you can see better too.

Fewer Spells: Yes, there are fewer spells. But practically speaking, those cover the entire gamut avaliable. First, there's no Mass verison of any spells off the guild -- you gain ability to cast Mass Haste, Mass Divine Strength and what not from 'feats' or secondary abilities. That cut the spell list by half, already. And the significant spells, like Earthquake, Armmageddon, Fireball, Meteor Shower, Ice Bolt, Ice Ring, Curse, Suffering, Confusion, Blind and etc. are all represented.

They fold some spells into each other, and trim spells which are just weaker variant of a stronger one. For instance, in HoMM III, Holy Shout vs. Holy Word -- they the same spell, only they have damage calculated differently.

One more thing to consider -- HoMM V allows heroes to customise spells based on their abilities. Ice Expert, for instance, allows you to delay the initiative of the target creature slightly when you use Winter Ring or Ice Bolt. That's a nice touch which the reviewer didn't mention.

Smaller Maps: The way the reviewer put it is quite subjective. I think they are of the same size of HoMM III, but honestly, I didn't pull out a measuring tape or something. IMHO, the maps are in HOMM V are often too big for the campagins. In the first campagin, there are 2 or 3 "adventuring maps" (which you travel from point A to point B" which are very big -- and you find yourself reaching the level cap mid-way, and have no incentive to explore the rest of the map.

Bugs:: About the reviewer's problem with gating, only upgraded Archdevils can summmon Pit Lords. There's a spellbook icon at the upper left hand corner of where the defence/game options menu are. Click there, and you will get to open a spellbook, and you'll see Gating.

Also, your hero needs a higher-level Gating skills for higher-tier creatures. For Pit Lords or Nightmares to gate, you must have Expert Gating. Arch-Devils can only gate after your Hero gets Ultimate Gating -- which can't be achieved normally.

Here are some more problems:

Poor Doucmentation: The manual that comes with the game is a joke. Some of my friends, after seeing the manual, say they rather get the game from file-sharing -- what's the point of buying an original product when the manual is thin, and there's no reference cards or such?

In-game Description Missing: Some artifacts in the game has missing in-game description. Okay, not some -- about 30 of them. There's a general sense of rushness about the whole product.

Corny Cutscenes: Inflicted with what I call the "Dynasty Warrior Too-Much-Drama" syndrome, where every character begins or ends every sentence with a swing of a weapon. It's here, in Heroes V. Characters speak halfway and cast spells, bang shields, swing swords and whatever EVERY sentence. It's annoying.

No Map-Editor out of the box: One is promised before August, but seriously, Heroes V smack of last minutes work with this sort of things missing.

The good points is that the gameplay is still on the ball, for me. There is no greater joy than gathering a stack of 30 Black Dragons, and drive your enemies to ruin :-)

I guess after a couple of patches, and maybe an expansion or two, it'll be the game it is supposed to be. Let hope that Ubisoft don't pull the plug off this one!