Normally, I find it bad form to compare one game to another. It’s like describing Van Gogh’s sunflowers by saying ‘Well, you know Monet’s lillies…’. Still, my hands are a little tied here. Hero’s Hour isn’t just like Heroes of Might and Magic 3. It’s cut out holes in the box art and is wearing it as a mask. Normally, I’d strike it down for something like that but Heroes 3 is something of a trigger for me. It’s one of those cornerstone games that formed my childhood.
That does mean that Hero’s Hour has some awfully big shoes to fill. We’ve reviewed it before around these parts, but it’s just made its way onto the Switch. This, on paper, seems like a brilliant move. One of the main features of games like this is hotseat. Being able to physically toss the console to the other player makes life easier. At least when compared to constantly getting up and down from the computer chair. Still, it’s a rather clunky Switch port, but thankfully that doesn’t dampen the game’s best parts.
The Hour and The Hero
Let me start by recapping some of Hero’s Hour‘s main points. It’s a strategy game through and through, being largely turn-based outside of the combat. In the overworld, it’s all about gathering resources and building your army. There’s quite a dizzying array of factions to choose from, each with their own skills. The undead can raise skeletons, for instance. Beastmasters have the ability to summon dragons, which I enjoyed immensely. The overworld is one big arms race against the AI and is quite good fun. City-building is as basic as its major inspiration, but watching a tiny hamlet grow to a metropolis is a nice feeling.
I’m less warm about the combat. To be fair, Heroes 3‘s combat felt like playing chess against someone who kept rolling a dice to decide whether you could actually take their pieces. So maybe a change was necessary. This feels a little too much in the other direction. You field your units and they handle the fighting for you, so a lot of battles just involved me folding my arms and waiting. Casting spells adds some interaction though, and I do like that you can only field a set number of units at a time. I eventually learned to send out some chaff first to break up the enemy ranks, then launch the heavy hitters. Still, it feels a little hands-off for me.
Switching Things Up
Hero’s Hour‘s transition from PC to Switch brings a lot of promise, especially in the local mutliplayer department. I will applaud any game that puts in local multiplayer, and it’s a natural fit both for the genre and the console. What’s more, a title like this works well on the go. It’s something you can play a few rounds of on the bus. The fairly simple graphics suit the smaller screen of the Switch too. The art’s not too bad, by the way. Little on the minimalist side, but the variety of creature designs is frankly nuts.
There are difficulties with the Switch though. For one, it commits the cardinal sin of just mapping mouse movement to the analog sticks. So moving the cursor over to a button feels laborious. Strangely, it doesn’t incorporate the touch screen controls on the Switch, which feels like an odd misstep. Particularly when directing troops in battle. Would have been the perfect opportunity to make me feel like I’m at the war table. It also had frequent frame rate drops, which was a little disappointing. Optimisation seems a little rough in general. If you’re playing a game with many AI players, for instance, you might want to bring a packed lunch while they take their turns.
Hero’s Hour – An Odd Fit For Switch
Thinking over this review, I feel like there is an ideal place for Hero’s Hour: mobile. The relatively minimalist graphics and hands-off combat would work really well in that format. Not to mention, the increased portability would allow the hotseat to shine. It would certainly be a more attractive prospect than a million games of UNO on a long train ride. The port to the Switch is a good step, but feels a little fumbled. Changing things to another console requires more than just tying the mouse to the analog sticks and calling it a day.
As a result, I can’t really recommend the Switch as your first choice. It’s a game worth playing, regardless. After all, Ubisoft has no time for anything that it can’t force open-world mechanics into, so Heroes has long since been hung, drawn and quartered. I admire any developer that can look at that and decide they want to do something about it. Hero’s Hour is a solid attempt to carry on that legacy but, for now, it’s probably worth playing it on PC.
