HoMM V: Tribes of the East Preview

Ubisoft and Nival's Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East standalone expansion is the subject of a new two-page preview over at GameSpy.
As I moved through the opening level, the initial human forces I dealt with -- mostly peasants with sharp sticks -- were easily dealt with. Continuing to play the Orcs, though, brought up the classic dilemma of the melee-oriented force: what to do about the guys in dresses who keep shooting fireballs from their fingertips? Fortunately, the Orc hatred of anything magical or demonic has given them a secret weapon, anti-magic. As Orc leaders level up, they'll gain access to special "Shatter" abilities that weaken or even altogether block certain kinds of magic. Enough money and sacrificial victims on the altar and I had enough "Shatter Magic" levels on my hero that I was able to run over a bunch of powerful human mages like they were just a group of old guys in silly robes. The problem, of course, is one of balance. Factions that rely on suppressing others' abilities often become either unstoppable or road kill, so it should be interesting to see how the team at Nival deals with the Orcs.