Hexen: Beyond Heretic

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
Graphics are very well done for a Doom engine game. Semi open-world hub design is a nice change from most Doom clones; you progress through worlds in a linear sequence, but each world is a set of maps that you move between non-linearly. Puzzles and inventory system is a good progression from Doom.

The Bad
Some of the maps are cramped and don't lend themselves as well to combat action compared to Heretic or Doom. Puzzles can get a bit samey after a while, following a "find the switch, flick the switch, get a hint about what happened on what map, go there and see what has changed."

The Bottom Line
This game seems to be polarising, judging from a lot of comments I've seen. Those who dislike Hexen often mention the game being too cryptic or puzzling. I disagree, but I guess people who dislike this aspect also tend to dislike adventure games, or titles like Myst. In my opinion it's nowhere near as puzzling as a typical adventure game.