For years I swore I didn't like drinking. Friends would try introducing me to various concoctions of juice and booze swearing I wouldn't be able to taste the alcohol, but never to any avail. It wasn't until recently I discovered the joy of "melon balls." Midori, pineapple juice, and vodka created the perfect mix of sweet delicious beverage that would still get me drunk (even if it can be embarrassing to order).

Similarly, I've never been a fan of traditional turn-based RPGs. The slow pace, random encounters, and turn-based combat just bored me. So when the DS Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes was recommended to me by a number of friends in 2009, I was hesitant about the puzzle/strategy/RPG hybrid. Yes, even though they assured me "You'll never taste the RPG!"

Now that I've played its HD upgrade I can safely say that they were dead on, for the most part. Clash of Heroes HD has some RPG trappings: towns, stores, leveling up, and a half-baked story about preventing a demon apocalypse, but all the guff that usually turns me off the genre has been eradicated or at the very least minimized. Random encounters? Completely avoidable. Grinding? Only a smidge. Losing an hour's progress due to not hitting a checkpoint? Never. Turn-based combat? Well, yes, but not in the traditional sense.