I can't stand the fourth game. I'm simply disgusted by the horribly drawn units, buildings, and heroes, the clunky animation, and the completely talentless city design. In the third game, every city looks natural (well, except for the rather unnecessary Conflux), the cities are well-integrated into the landscape, and they are drawn realistically - compare this to the fourth game's haphazardly drawn, ridiculous buildings, stuck in without any connection to the terrain.
I have nothing against having a hero on the battlefield; this idea has merit, but then the game shouldn't be called Heroes.
Heroes 1, 2, 3, and V are all the same game with changing details, but with an unchanging core. Heroes 4 is a completely different game, having little in common with the other Heroes games.
In short, don't ignore the fourth game:smile19: