You can go anywhere!!!

If you want to take your characters and fight Hydras and Dragons, you can though don't expect to survive the first round of attacks.

There is no locked down way your characters have to go. You have complete movenment and I really liked that.

The magic system was easy to use, the flow well done and you go through spell points like they were candy. I bought the strategy guide when I originally bought it which made things easier. I do wish however I hadn't. It would have made it even more interesting.

I always used a fighter, cleric and two sorcerers. No matter who you use, the first thing you need to do is get to Castle Ironfist and find the 'Bow' Skill and get it. Then go around the corner and purchase a bow for everyone. Without these you won't get too far.

Love getting the lazers and taking out dragons in Dragonsand, the toughest of all areas. Don't settle for the hand lazers, get find the rifles. Then just aim and hold down the fire button, they fall fast. If you can get it you won't be sorry.

This great collection contains all six of 3DO's first Might and Magic games. And what a wonderful way to see the evolution of a video game.

But I found "Mandate of Heaven" had a little steeper learning curve than I liked. Although the interface is very good, and the graphics are good for the time manufactured, enemies are very strong. I had to create a party of nothing but Archers to even have a chance of beating the early Goblins and Evil Apprentice Mages. It would have been better had 3DO included some easy way to ramp up your characters quickly.

But that having said, once I figured out that long range shooting was by far the better choice, I had a blast with this game. It's very immersive, and contains many plots and sub-plots - only ONE of which will lead you to complete the "mandate of heaven" and save the world.

The older games (Might & Magic 1 thru 5) were fun on my daughter's system - but I wouldn't try installing them on a machine using Win XP.

Warning! 3DO bit the dust, so customer support is nil. There are a couple of sites online that have 3DO's original patches for this game available, but you may want to check for hidden spyware and viruses first.

Had 3DO not gone belly up, I would have been looking for more of these.

I love Might and Magic. I have played 6-8 and was very excited thinking this was a new game. Save your money! Amazon did not do a very good job of representing this game. What you are buying is 1-5 to include 6. I already have 1-6. Returning it is not an option as it's costing me postage to send it back. Plus 1-5 are so antique looking, they are just too tough to even work playing. The graphics are poor. Might and Magic 6 is a great game, and I would recommend it to anybody, but don't buy this game. Just buy 6-8.

I bought this game three years ago, and there are sooo many ways to play it! For instance, you can win the game and save the world, or you can win the game but forget to do something important and the world is destroyed anyway! That's just one...
The only problem I had with it was that you couldn't auto-fire while holding down the "A" button. You have to keep hitting.. and hitting...and hitting that blasted "A" button when facing hordes of enemies or the really tough ones like dragons and liches. Killing goblins makes good practice for your heroes. Try not to kill civilians, though, or the whole village will hunt you down and try to kill your heroes.
Also, the puzzles you have to solve get harder and harder, and only the really smart (or those who have access to cheat codes) will get them quickly.
If you love D&D-type role play, this is a must-have game!
Have fun and enjoy the adventure!!