Hexen: Beyond Heretic

The Good
Note: This is a review I wrote in 1995 for my High School newsletter, so don't go "wtf?" when I say things like "Best graphics" and whatnot

Released earlier this month, "Hexen" comes from Raven software and is a sequel to their previous effort, "Heretic." Heretic, while by no means a bad game, has the dubious honor of being called a "Doom clone" for mirroring the gameplay of Doom and merely swapping out the levels, weapons, and monsters. So it may come as a shock that Hexen, is NOT a Doom Clone. While you will still plow through monsters and mazes running on a spruced up Doom engine, various gameplay changes make Hexen unique.

The first thing you will notice enter Hexen are the stunning visuals. Like in Heretic, Raven has reduced the level of pixelation in the graphics, meaning the enemies and objects retain clarity no matter how close up you are, and seeing as there is a greater focus on melee weapons in this game, especially for the fighter class and his mighty hammer, you are going to get up close and personal quite a bit with the nasties in this one. The audio is good, though I don't think the music will wow anyone. Rather than midi rock tunes, the music is more ambient and slow toned but it does lend a creepy feeling to the games bizarre landscape, as do many sounds such as leaves in the wind, creaking doors, dirt crumbling from rocky crags, etc. it all does a great job establishing a mood. The baddies sound as nasty as they look, and nothing beats smashing them about with a hammer as there are many appropriate thuds and of course bones cracking and wet splashes indicating you've successfully removed your foes brain.

The levels progress in a weird way, the game uses a "hub," an area you will often return to and contains the entrance to each level. You will often return to levels, running about from place to place finding switches and puzzles that unlock more areas inside each level, as well as unlocking other levels completely. Eventually you will unlock a boss, and the game will automatically send you to a new hub, essentially an automated way of picking the next episode. Hexen advances the Doom engine so that you can now fly with the appropriate power up, and just like in Heretic you can look all around and jump, meaning there are many more platform puzzles and high places. If you have vertigo, you might find Hexen a little frightening at time.

The Bad
Despite all the praise I've given the game for its technical prowess and unique gameplay elements, Hexen isn't without flaws. Some may not appreciate the switch hunting and often confusing design, it can also be said that many may not like the random death traps that rarely give any indication or forewarning of their existence. Sometimes monotony can set in from returning to levels and being faced with the fact that you've already killed most of the baddies, and the game isn't always so kind as to give you new ones, making levels seem empty at times. The puzzles can be fun, but they seem out of place in a game like this.

The Bottom Line
Hexen isn't perfect, it certainly won't replace Doom, but it's not trying to. Hexen feels like an experiment, and on many levels, it works. If you're a fan of Doom or it's "clones," but are looking for something different while you wait for IDs next project, "Quake," Hexen might appeal to you. A 3-level shareware demo can be acquired from a BBS if you have a modem, or you can always track me down and ask for a copy. The full game can be bought in a retail store or ordered. Just remember to keep it off the school computers.

The Good
It's scary game - this vibe is achieved by gripping music and level design. You will walk in old, ruined castles, marshes, caves, chapels and other places. Sounds are wonderful - they're realistic and help building the vibes. Even Quake and Duke Nukem haven't such good ambient sounds as Hexen.

Most of Heretic's features are also present in Hexen - there's inventory (there are some new items, like Dark Servant, which summons Maulotaur to help you, however Tome of Power is absent), flying and looking up and down. Hexen also introduces jumping and scripting. So, there are earthquakes, falling bridges, and . Level design is also different - there is a "hub system", as in Quake 2 or Heretic 2.

Unlike Heretic, you can select one of three characters in the game. They have not only different look, they use completely different weapons! For example, Fighter uses weapons like axe or sword, when Mage has magical staffs. Also, multiplayer allows max. 8 players during gameplay.

The Bad
Puzzles are really difficult - In Doom and Heretic you found keys and switches in passing. Not here. You sometimes have to search for switch in four enormous levels only to reveal another switch in another level. And that switch lowers platform, there's a key on the switch, the key opens a door, behind a door there is another switch... and so on, and so on. Puzzles should be the same as in Heretic 2 - much easier and more enjoyable.

The Bottom Line
Well, if you're looking for more puzzle-oriented FPS, then Hexen is for you. Its creepy atmosphere and hordes of monsters to slay will keep you entertained.

The Good
The game itself was pretty good, but the additions that Raven made to id Tech 1 for this game are what really makes the game shine, compared to all the other games based on the DOOM code.

Level design, and the ability to teleport between levels, helped make the world of Hexen feel much more realistic and immersive, compared to its predecessor Heretic. While every so often you reach a point where you can't go back again (something shared even with the most modern 3D shooters), this was new at the time.

Another modification that made this game special in its class were doors that could move side to side or swing. While the original DOOM code offered "sectors" with ceilings and floors that could rise or fall, Hexen introduced true door motion to the id Tech 1 engine, allowing for doors in-game that can swing or slide.

Last, and certainly not least, was the ability to script level and game events. Pretty much every game allows for some level of scripting in game content these days. At the time, it was a revelation.

The Bad
Monsters could have been a lot smarter. And those flaming birds were a real pain, especially in flocks. You could quickly waste all your ammo on killing those things.

The Bottom Line
It's a classic first person shooter, and while great in its original version, these days it would be better to play through one of the many available source ports.

The Good
Hexen begins it long list of innovations by introducing the character to 3 player classes, each drastically different, that they can play. Each class responds differently to enemy projectiles, has a different set of 4 weapons, and use subweapons called flechettes in different ways. Even for a game created in 1995, the graphics are convincing. Though playing the game in DOS is probably not an option for most players, Hexen lives on today mostly through several high quality sourceports/graphical enhancements, namely involving the Doomsday engine. The first thing you'll notice about Hexen is that the environment rocks. Few things are more pleasing than pulling out your big spiked gauntlet and smashing through a stained glass window - except perhaps pounding it through the skull of some of Hexen's more obnoxious beasts. Playing through Hexen is downright challenging. Modern gamers will want to play the game on the maximum difficulty setting to adjust for their ability to use mouselook. Despite only having 4 weapons per character, Hexen involves a good amount of strategy in choosing which weapons for which battle and how to best conserve ammo for them. Especially pleasing about Hexen are some of the more frightening monsters. Once you get to the second hub, you'll be wary to step in water, and for good reason. In that sludge water are some of the nastiest villains to grace a computer screen, Stalkers. You probably have nerves of steel if these suckers don't make you jump out of your chair at least once. Other creative entries into the (limited) bestiary are Centaurs, which are perhaps my favorite FPS baddie to date. Centaurs are pretty much just bad guys with swords. The catch is, they also have a shield that can block your melee attacks and reflect your ranged attacks right back at you! Hexen's network play is quite fun in cooperative. If you can find a friend with voice comm, then you'll really have a blast. Sometimes, putting two heads together is the most satisfying way to finish some of Hexen's "remember that switch 10 levels back) puzzles.

The Bad
The monster variety in Hexen is small. As you slowly chip away at Hexen you'll be fighting most of the same enemies over and over again. The first encounters with a new monster are generally interesting and fun, however, fighting their rehashed comrade for the 1000th may be entertaining, but it certainly isn't fresh. The puzzles in Hexen generally serve more to tick off the player than reward them for careful thought. Most people will want to bring a strategy guide into the mix. Those that don't should keep very, very careful progress of their map if they don't want to spend hours (yes, that's right, hours) hunting the one hidden switch that got away. Unless romping through empty hallways looking for switches is your favorite thing in the world, you're undoubtedly going to find some frustrating points in Hexen. The size of the game, oddly enough, doesn't work to it's advantage. I would guesstimate that 1 out of every 50 gamers who buy Hexen will actually manage to finish it - the fact is, Hexen is just too darned long for how tedious and repetitive it can become. Multiplayer matches are also very difficult to set up, even with the new source ports. The only way a friend and myself could set up a multiplayer match was through ZDoom and Doom Connector.

The Bottom Line
Hexen is comparable to Halo in terms of play. You move around with a limited arsenal in repetitive environments fighting the same old bad guys over and over - some people love the core gameplay so much that they'd give their souls for another hour of Halo. Some hate it. Download the demo of Hexen, and if you manage to want more after you finish it, treat yourself to the full version. If the demo doesn't suit your fancy, you won't find anything else for you in the full version.

The Good
I've always thought that although id can make darn good engines, they can't seem to get the gameplay right themselves. For example, while I (still) dislike playing Doom, I (still) somewhat enjoy playing Heretic. Heretic, the game's prequel, was essentially the same game as Doom-- but with a medieval fantasy theme, more interesting weapons, more cleverly designed levels, and more atmospheric artwork.

HeXen is based off of the Doom II engine, essentially a very high-quality total conversion. But it's amazing seeing what this game can do and comparing it to either of the Doom games. The levels in this game are so well designed, you'll forget that they aren't truly 3d. Bridges that cross over dark chasms grumble and shake as you walk across them. Traps spring out from all sides. Ice falls away from underneath you as you walk on it. Leaves flutter off of trees. Glass flies in all directions when windows are shattered. Bells ring when you hit them. A plethora of atmospheric sounds play, unique to the varying locations of the game. Creatures freeze and then shatter when hit if they are bombarded with enough Ice Shards. The game's atmosphere is actually on par with the some much more recent titles, and that was truly hard to do at the time.

The game offers 3 classes to play instead of Heretic's sole player option; the Warrior, the Cleric, and the Mage. Each one has different armor, speed, health and magic, and each one requires a different playing style. The downside is obvious-- each class doesn’t get a full set of weaponry, and has to make do with a considerably smaller arsenal. This is quite okay, however, because the various items you can find throughout the game are all so interesting and powerful it really does seem like you're getting a full set of weaponry with each player. Many items act differently when used by the different classes; for examples, Flechettes can be hurled at enemies by the warrior, but when used by the mage they act as a time bomb.

HeXen is indeed beyond Heretic in all these aspects.

The Bad
The level design, while atmospheric, is insane.

Apparently the designers decided they needed puzzles in their levels. However, puzzles work best with things like hints or clues, or at least some kind of pointer to tell you what you need to do. But instead, you're thrown into absolute insanity-- single ‘hub’ level branches off to 7 others, each with hordes of doors, keys, and switches, and its crazymaking trying to decide what you even need to do next. Unless you either have extreme patience or are very good with these types of puzzles, it's unlikely you'll even be able to struggle to the end of the game. Even walkthroughs couldn't save my poor Mage.

HeXen is also beyond Heretic in level design-- it goes from interesting to insane. Myst is easier to solve!

The Bottom Line
HeXen proved 3 things, in my opinion:

1- The creators of all of the Doom games did not tax the engine(s) to its/their full potential, and if they had it could have been far better. 2- Action and RPG can merge quite well. 3- Poorly integrated puzzles can ruin even a very well made game.

I recommend buying this game if you can deal with the puzzles. Otherwise it's really not even worth the $5 you'd find it for in a bargain bin.

As a side-note to those who still play this game: Playing it with the Doomsday engine adds a whole 'nother level of enjoyability. Highly recommended if you enjoyed HeXen the first time.

The Good
Hexen is a very underrated game, in a way it finally enabled the Doom engine to have features it was originally planned to have (like hub level structure). Pretty much every Hexen feature was a major advance for a shooter at the time: real usable inventory with artefacts, health items that could be carried (quartz flasks and mystic urns), three different player classes (mainstay for RPGs, unheard-of in shooters: fighter, mage, cleric), a serious variety of weapons (4 weapons for each class+flechettes), a cartoonish taunting master villain, and just the "spooky-yet-cartoonish saving-the-world ambience". The music is great, though the original had only MIDI scores and a rather low-quality Sound Canvas audio CD. Obviously how great the MIDI files will play depends on the instrument bank for the GM synth the soundcard can drive. The big plus is, with the right instruments the soundtrack is haunting and fits the game beautifully.

The Bad
Nothing really. It could have a bit more detail, like NPCs (there are none). Hexen II introduced NPC-leftover "bait" (like corpses and notes and dead NPCs' diaries, etc.). The Tome of Power was missing (again, Hexen II remedies this).

The Bottom Line
Hexen is one of those games that can baffle people if they have no RPG experience, even repel them. The game is a masterpiece, and plays like a light, fun hack'n'slash adventure. If you're used to D&D and similar roleplaying games, that is. To folks who have never played an AD&D RPG (or anything similar), the puzzles might be frustrating, and of course the game requires the player to actually think, unlike point-and-shoot games where the most difficulty would be gathering ammo or unlocking a door/switch/lift/elevator with a key that has to be wrestled from an enemy (or mob).

Hexen is really more complex, but not by much. There're many items (such as the Chaos Device - emergency teleport; Discs of Repulsion - pushing wave generators; Quartz Flasks - 25 health point restorers) which transform the game from a simple shooter into a strategic delight, both for co-op and deathmatch. Deathmatch simply isn't anywhere as simple or stupid in Hexen, where you can turn an opponent into a pig or teleport out of trouble when nearly mortally wounded. Oh, and of course any player character can fly once the Wings of Wrath are found. Different classes have different weapons and different Flechette styles, too. Flechette is the local grenade. The cleric's Flechette is a gas poison trap, the mage's is a simple timebomb, and the fighter's is a glass grenade. Some of the greatest weapons ever in a shooter are also to be found in Hexen: the Arc of Death, the Serpent Staff, and the Wraithverge.

Puzzles might seem daunting, but really they're all straightforward and there's no set way to completing them - a player is free to travel among several levels at once in a hub. Puzzles though are mostly simple "flick a switch, something happens" or "pick a key, amass a collection of keys" type, except for a few deathtraps (hint: if you fall into a chasm or well, either fly out or use the Chaos Device).

The inventory and playerclasses' unique abilities make Hexen stand out among shooters. Really it's a masterpiece, the game never gets boring, even almost 20 years after its release.

The Good
Although two years have gone past since the release of Doom, Hexen doesn't look old for 1995, and in fact, does add something new that hasn't been possible before - this is in fact the ability to jump. Therefore like Heretic, Hexen drives the Doom engine forward 1 big step. I would also like to note that weapons look more detailed than in Heretic and Doom, but that's pretty much it. The levels, monsters and other items don't stand out with art beauty in Hexen.

The sound in Hexen does what it is supposed to, and that is building a quite creepy atmosphere. Hostile growls of monsters, creepy and fitting music combined with other game sound effects makes Hexen probably the scariest game ever released with the Doom engine (although, calling it a scary game by itself isn't quite correct, to be honest). Although like in Heretic, the composers were able to write a couple of memorable tunes in the game, most soundtracks are in fact so quiet that you might not even notice them, what's to say about memorising them after...

As for the gameplay, this is what makes Hexen the most unique - for the first time in a Doom engined shooter we are able to pick up from 3 different characters to complete the single player campaign, each having unique weapons and a unique storyline (which doesn't really change anything) and we can also play as these guys in deathmatch and co-op! Like in Heretic, we still have the inventory, where we can collect usable items. These items can heal us, make us stronger or can be used as a separate weapon against the enemies. Unlike in Heretic, this time if you for example have 2 Porkalators and go to a next level, you will still have 2 Porkalators in there. In Heretic, you would always end up with 1 of each item, which is a good improvement in Hexen. The collectible items are quite interesting in Hexen, although some of them may seem completely new and not like those you've seen in Heretic, many of these are actually the same from Heretic, just remade and with a new name. Even some weapons bare a resemblance to the ones from Heretic, the same goes to the enemies in the game, however, yet again, there are some completely new foes which are nothing like those you've seen in Heretic or even in Doom.

A big change in Hexen's gameplay over Heretic's are the levels - in this case Hexen is more similar to Half Life, because like there, if you enter a new level, you can sometimes go back, which is a good way to pick up some health or ammo from the previous level if you really need it. But going from one level to the next and back is not just for that, but it is the key to solve a puzzle in one big central level of an... umm... we'll call them episodes :). Thus Hexen is a game made up off puzzles and mystery. Still, like in Doom and Heretic, you're gonna face lots of monsters so you won't get bored... or will you? Now let me talk about what really pissed me off of this game...

The Bad
First of all - the feel of the game. Almost every level has a dark theme and uses mostly these colours - black, grey and brown, thus building (or tries to build) a Medieval scenery. But the repetitive scenery only makes this game boring as hell. Sure, you will see different areas like forests, swamps, castles, graveyards and caves, but because all of them look almost the same, it's completely impossible to navigate through them and it's very easy to get lost.

Also, almost all "puzzles" involve themselves in searching for a stupid switch, hidden somewhere in the level, or a key that must open the door, which hides yet another switch behind it!

Another complaint is the monsters - not the fact that they are stupid, but the variety is so small. In Doom and Heretic there are about 10-15 different monsters you can see in a level. But in Hexen? Let's actually start counting, how many different types of monsters are there: 2 headed guys with morning stars, flying demons, serpents, centaurs, evil priests, plus some levels have exclusive ice monsters or swamp beasts... and that's it! So, the maximum amount of different monsters you can see in a level is about 5-7, with some episodes having a boss in the end, add to that the fact that your character has basically only 4 weapons (every new weapon can be found only in the next episode, which makes it even worse) makes running through some small, repetitive corridors in search of a stupid switch rather doll quickly. And by the fact that the game has 3 different characters, it is possible that it has some replay value? I doubt that.

The Bottom Line
It is unsure for whom was Hexen developed for. I can say as a Doom fan that it's definitely not for a fan of Doom, as it lacks all of the awesomeness Doom has. As for those whose first shooter that they played was Heretic, this sequel might be worth trying out if your deep into running around Medieval castles and searching for puzzles, but if you're more of a fan of action and killing huge amounts of monsters with different weapons, Hexen is not the game for you. It might be that the reason why Hexen is not a good game like Doom or Heretic is the fact that it was probably meant to be acceptable for fans of RPG as well, as it has many similarities to RPG games (Medieval scenery, different selectable characters, puzzles to solve in big levels), however, i doubt that even they can find it a good combination of the two genres.

Good or bad, Hexen is definitely not the sequel to Heretic which i wanted it to be, which is probably my biggest complaint about this game. It's hard to tell for what kind of gamer was Hexen made, i can say only one thing: if you've never played FPS-s before, make sure Hexen is not your first FPS game. Better start out with games like Doom and Heretic.