Rating:  - It's great
Just finished the 6th and final campaign, and really really enjoyed it. Better than previous expansion packs for Heroes 3.
Rating:  - Where did the storytellers go?
3DO has continued its decline. In HH4 you got several campaigns that were all stand alone with no concluding campaign, however you were given a continuous story that tied each scenario together, while the stories may not have been compelling in many cases, they were there. In Gathering storm they have added a concluding campaign uniting the individual campaigns together. What they forgot in several cases was the story in the initial campaigns. In fact, in one campaign except for a small text box between scenarios there was no story line developed during the scenario. You got the impression they just strung 3 randomly generated maps together.
Rating: - Enjoyable but the price is unjustified
Don't get me wrong, I'm having a lot of fun with this expansion. The new campaigns surpass the campaigns included with the original Heroes IV game, and they've revived my waning interest in Heroes IV. The new creatures and artifacts seem like interesting novelties--not really necessary or very important. Like many other fans of the series, I wish that there were more content in this expansion. Among other things, it would be nice to have a new castle type, or significant changes to the existing ones. The previous expansions in the Heroes series have all added significant gameplay elements or forced the player to develop new strategies. This one, while I admit it is enjoyable, doesn't give rise to new play styles or strategies.
If you can wait to buy this expansion, you probably should. Sometime down the line, 3DO will undoubtably release a "complete" version of Heroes IV including the orginal game, this expansion, and the upcomming 2nd expansion. They've taken this route with the prior Heroes games, and these releases have turned out to be much more attractive price-wise.
Rating:  - Don't review it if you haven't played it...
I enjoyed the expansion pack much more than Heroes of M&M IV. There are some new elements in the expansion (as described in a previous and very accurate review). The arenas (fighting black or magic dragons to go up a level) are fun and change the strategy of how you might want to build your heroes. The campaigns are very well thought through, and finishing all six will require a substantial time investment. There are really two major changes that make these campaigns very enjoyable and playable. First, the artifacts are very important and there are a wide range of new and interesting ones. Second, there is real recognition of the fact that this is really a RPG with strategy built in. Your fully developed heroes come back for the final scenario exactly as you developed them (as opposed to previous Heroes campaigns in which you spend time developing excellent heroes and are then rewarded with computer generated schlock). This makes for some really enjoyable play in the final campaign. Some of the campaigns are really tough, and require very careful play in spite of the dismal AI. (I agree with all the comments I have read about the poor AI for Heroes IV.) The strength of the expansion is better map construction and concept in both the campaigns and scenarios. If you liked the concept of Heroes IV, you will like the expansion pack even more. I have also played a bunch of the scenarios in the expansion pack, and they are defintely better than the ones in Heroes IV.
All, the problems of Heroes IV still exist, but they have strengthened the good elements.
Rating: - This is what you REALLY get with this expansion..
I have played this expansion,so unlike some of reviewers here I know what I'm talking about. Here is what you get:
Around 20 Single scanario maps and 5 multi-player maps
6 Camapaigns (the 6th one opens up when you finish the 5th)
4 New creatures (pretty tough ones at that)
around 18 new artifacts in 5 sets (when the sets are put together you get bonus abilities)
5 Spell conservatories (adventure objects where you can buy spell scrolls)
2 Arenas (adventure object where you fight dragons to gain levels)
The multi-player patch is included (or you can download seperatly)
Enough in my opinion to be worth the price. The campaign maps are also more challenging also IMHO. In the end, if you liked Heroes IV, your gonna like this one as well.
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