Whisper it, but the first great game of 2010 is already looming on the horizon and I've played it. No, scratch that - I AM playing it and frankly I can't see a moment when I won't be playing it any time soon. It's got everything you need to keep you hooked for weeks. It's got colourful sprites, a sprawling world to explore, a stirring struggle between good and evil, some immense battles, often balanced on a knife-edge, and it's got filthy great dragons. What is it? Only Might & Magic: Clash Of Heroes!
I know! Contain your excitement at this momentous news, and let me tell you why. It's developed by Capy Games, a studio based in Toronto which has already displayed the mesmerising ability to weld your eyes to a screen with a downloadable PlayStation game called Critter Crunch. Critter Crunch is a puzzle game where you must form food chains so creatures higher up in the chain swallow smaller prey until they go pop. It is also much better than it sounds.
That chaining mechanism makes it across to Might & Magic, where the aim is to combine units on the battlefield to create more powerful attacks. Careful shuffling is required to outfox some insanely bloodthirsty AI as you build defences to protect your army of beasts and soldiers and take careful aim at your enemy's danger zone to weaken them. I honestly don't know how, but it's DS gold.
There are similarities with another game, one I daren't get out in the office for being sneered at. Puzzle Kingdoms has a similar talent for turning seemingly dull combo-crunching into something much more enticing, and peppering it with special powers and cruddy dialogue. I hope Might & Magic won't slip by under the radar as Puzzle Kingdoms did. It deserves to be snapped up when it's released in January.
Check out ONM 52 (on sale 15 January) for the review. In the meantime, tell us what game you're most looking forward to in 2010...
