Hocus Pocus

Moby ID: 515
DOS Specs
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Description official description

Hocus Pocus is a young magician apprentice who has two goals in life: to join the Council of Wizards in the land of Lattice, and to marry his sweetheart Popopa. Unfortunately, both objectives cannot be accomplished without embarking on a long and dangerous journey to gather magical crystals on behalf of the wizard chief Terexin. The quest for career and love begins!

Hocus Pocus is an action platform game. Controlling the young magician, players run, jump, and climb through levels populated by various types of monsters. Hocus will encounter many magic potions on his way; some will restore health, others will grant special powers; such as as a super-jump that will allow access new areas, or laser shot which offers a better attack.

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Videos

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Credits (DOS version)

18 People (11 developers, 7 thanks)

Programming
Level Design
Graphics
  • Cygnus Multimedia Productions
Story
Music
Manual Design
Sound System
Cover Art
  • Depew Illustration
Financing & Resources
  • Apogee Software
Special Thanks to

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 69% (based on 6 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 44 ratings with 8 reviews)

36 levels of complex enjoyment.

The Good
GRAPHICS: The graphics in this game are simply beautiful. Whether it be the simple wall blocks which can be repeated hundreds of times in a wall without getting old, or the complicated backgrounds, some levels should be stared at as well or played. My paticular favorites included the final areas in episodes 2 and 4, and the first in 1. The sprites are all very well done as well, and while the graphics may all be 16x16, it's not at all noticable while playing. GAMEPLAY: The gameplay is the kind that shows there's a reason the level designer gets paid. Complex mazes of sheer platforming fun, Hocus Pocus takes the same few objects into 36 levels and still comes out good. You can be sure Hocus has played his last trick on you, and suddenly you notice you've shot yourself into a room with no exit.

The Bad
GRAPHICS: There were a few graphics bugs now and then. In 1-3, with the 2x2 background blocks, the wrong corner would sometimes show up. 2-2 had a 2x1 block cut in half and used as two different 1x1 blocks, while 1-1 (and the other place that used it) had several bugs where bricks would fail to end. GAMEPLAY: If there's one downside to the gameplay of this game, it's the AI. Enemies come in four types - walking back and forth, walking back and forth and shooting at you, flying around randomly, and flying around shooting at you. I know that sounds like it incorporates most any simple AI imaginable, but in reality the enemies simply are the same few, only with different graphics. Whether a giant bear dog or a tiny spider, it still runs at you when it shoots at you. The bosses in all but episode 2 are kind of pathetic, and just occasionally (like level 3 of episode 1) the level design bogs down.

The Bottom Line
What's there not to like? Hocus Pocus, though it may show it's age occasionally, is entertainment from beginning to end, however long that may take. And of course, after that, play it all again. And again. And again. The graphics are wonderful, the level design is certainly not something to miss, and the music is nice too. What's missing? Well, a level/tileset editor would be nice. And, of course, the sequel talked about in the ending...

DOS · by Fa ke (4) · 2003

Zap your way through fun environments!!

The Good
I simply love the graphics, and the gameplay.

You are Hocus Pocus, in the first episode you have to win 9 cool levels, defeat over 6 different kinds of monsters and collect A LOT of magic crystals, to enter the council of wizards! In episode 2 (after you discover that you have not entered the council of wizards), you have to do pretty much the same thing, this time to be able to enter the council of wizards! In episode three it’s pretty much the same too, but this time you can defeat the evil wizard Trolodon, and marry the princess. The environments are too good to believe, there seems to be one from everywhere on earth!



The Bad
The sounds are so annoying that I have to play with the internal and normal speakers off.

The Bottom Line
Hocus Pocus is a game that is quite easy, fun for beginners, and at the same time will give the experts time off from the tough ones :-)

DOS · by Jim Fun (207) · 2001

Another year, another WEAK platformer...

The Good
Not much at all. It's pretty long but at the same time that "length" works against it by making the game feel like it's dragging. If I can think of anything else, I'll get back to you on that.

The Bad
Of course, Apogge had to approve and release yet ANOTHER weak-sauce game. But this one actually has a reason as to why it's so crappy: Moonlite Software, who's (in)famous for the extremely lame Clyde's Adventure and Clyde's Revenge.

The gameplay is simply far too ridiculous. There's enemies here but they do nothing at all to you; they simply just walk around and hurt when you touch them. Gathering the crystals can often be an excuse for suicide, because some of them are stuck in unseen corners and are nigh impossible to find.

The graphics? Well, to be honest, I really didn't think the graphics are anything special at all. They have that typical European-style shading and coloring that attempts to make them look a little rendered but instead just makes everything look too shiny and unnatural. A bit of advice on this part: not EVERYTHING has to look rendered, people!

As for sounds and music, both departments are weak. The music is flat, dull, unmoving, and is hardly what I call "game" music...more like "LAME" music if you ask me. The sounds are also nothing really to shout about; they're too quiet and often times just really stupid sounding.

As for a final mention: this game is just way, way too easy in some places and hair-yanking insane in others.

The Bottom Line
Unbalanced difficulty + uninspired gameplay + crap visuals and sounds = a big old 10 on the "lame-ass game" scale. Ehh, I'm in a good mood today...I'll make that an 8 instead.

DOS · by Satoshi Kunsai (2020) · 2002

[ View all 8 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Both related sites links are dead J D (3) Jul 3, 2021

Trivia

References

Right through the game there are references to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The Tree-People who attack you in the second level are obviously parodies of the Ents, and the wizard to whom Hocus is an apprentice, Terexin, is a Gandalf spoof.

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Related Sites +

  • Hocus Pocus
    The official homepage - obsolete site, last archived in 2003.
  • Hocus Pocus Web
    Hocus Pocus fansite in Portuguese and English - obsolete site, last archived in 2009

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 515
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by IJan.

Linux, Macintosh, Windows added by Sciere.

Additional contributors: Xantheous, Frenkel, Maw, Patrick Bregger.

Game added December 3, 1999. Last modified January 25, 2024.