Apologies to Tolkien geeks, but it's wholly appropriate to describe Heroes of Might and Magic V as "the return of the king." After all, it's the long-awaited, new addition to the royal family of turn-based strategy gaming arriving all triumphant and glorious. Developer Nival Interactive has stepped right into the elven boots of its defunct predecessor, New World Computing, and given us a masterpiece every bit as great as 1999's classic, Heroes III.

In short, this is how to make a sequel. Instead of fixing what wasn't broken, Nival has worked off the seven-year-old template of what a lot of fans regard as the greatest turn-based strategy game ever released. Basically, the developer's focus was on jazzing things up for a new generation with gorgeous 3D graphics, a detailed storyline set in a new fantasy world and told over six expansive single-player campaigns, along with the ubiquitous tweaks expected in an old game updating.

So the core of it is untouched. You command parties of fantasy-themed adventurers who explore maps packed with monsters and treasure. Combat is still resolved on a battle screen (albeit a snazzy new one, complete with gorgeous 3D visuals) where your party members and its enemies of the moment line up and have at it, one turn at a time (think chess with swords and fireballs).

All the usual franchise beasties are back in Heroes V, too--elves, undead, demons, wizards, and just about everything else you ever tossed a 20-sided die to kill back in the day. And, typical of Dungeons & Dragons-inspired fantasy RPGs, your heroes gain experience and level up, which provides them with nifty new powers, spells, and magical accoutrements.

Of the six single-player campaigns (featuring six core races), each features five sprawling missions set on huge maps that typically take many hours to complete. Only the first campaign is a bit on the dull side, and that's only because it has been set up as a tutorial. After that, things pick up in a hurry. Overall, the campaigns offer at least 50 hours of solo gaming goodness.

Each mission is laid out along the same lines as those in earlier games in the franchise; main focus on exploration, every map loaded with surprises. You also need to fight a lot of random battles in order to build the experience needed to complete the main objectives (there's a gracious abundance of monsters dotting every map to do that), plus collect resources like sulfur, ore, gems, and gold and to take over and build up towns.

Everything hangs together well, although the difficulty is pretty extreme. Missions are tough from the very beginning of the game - even at the tutorial level -, due to map layout and serious resource restriction. In fact, the levels are more like puzzles than fantasy adventure lands. Too, enemy behavior is rigid and you need to figure out the single correct way to tackle each scenario rather than rely on intuition or on-the-fly adaptability as enemy artificial intelligence is clearly limited, as is the dynamic fluidity as a result. Not that that's bad, but it is cruel, which is actually good.

Multiplayer, meanwhile, has some problems. Online games don't always seem to sync up correctly, and the inclusion of a scant-eight multiplayer maps out of the box really limits variety. Nival has tried some interesting ideas to liven up multiplayer - unliveliness has always been an issue with turn-based games -, including a new Ghost mode where players can move even when it isn't their turn. Presently, however, the game really needs a patch and more maps (or a map editor, at least, so players can create their own) before it can be a compelling online experience.

The only other real quibble you might have with Heroes of Might and Magic V is that it walks in the dainty little elven footprints of its forefathers a touch too closely. Still, even though it feels a bit more like a remake than a sequel at times, the design of the earlier games it mimics still stand the test of time so very well that you really can't complain. It's a king of a franchise, after all, and it's returned.

• TIP: Explore every map before committing to a plan of action. You can whittle down your troops by fighting every random monster you encounter and then have nothing left over for your main enemies and goals.