HeXen: Beyond Heretic

After a year, after the release of "Heretic", which I had not so long ago told, Raven Software released a cross between the sequel and spin-off-the-"HeXen: Beyond Heretic". If "Heretic" was for the most part "Doom in fantasy scenery", in the case of "Hexen" the situation is somewhat different. Developers have thoroughly improved the engine and brought to the gameplay a few serious innovations. First, improved camera and control, and added a jump button. It is not so convenient and practical, as in a year in "Duke Nukem 3D", and about jumps remember not always, but the progress is important. Second, before you start the game you can choose one of three characters: Warrior, Monk and magician. Each of the characters has its own unique characteristics and weapons (there are now only 4, one of which does not spend ammunition, and the most powerful must be collected during the game with the help of scattered elements everywhere). Warrior-the strongest and most resistant, but at a long distance it is not particularly effective. The Magician is the most vile, but he's fine with the gun. A Monk is something between a warrior and a magician. Personally, I passed the game for a warrior and defenseless myself almost did not feel. And Thirdly, the most important change in the game is the levels. In "HeXen" as such classical levels, as in the same DOOM and other shooters of the time, not, except for the first-introductory. All others are a kind of an open world: there is a central level, which is placed entrances to other locations. In fact, the whole game consists of performing tasks and finding keys in certain levels-locations to open the output to the next level. The System is quite interesting, but still feel some dampness of technology: Get lost in these levels is easy, and understand what you need, at times it is still a mystery. Another serious problem is a large number of traps and mischief: because the game introduced some semblance of physics, now you can safely die from falling into some abyss, which you can simply not see because of ignorance. The Number of enemies and monsters in each location is limited, but over time, simple mobs start small portions to return, which is not very stressful. In general, "HeXen" is an interesting project and develops well the ideas embedded in "Heretic", and also relieves itself of the hallmarks of "clone DOOM", but the same innovations bring new problems. The Study of the levels of course lures, but by the end of the game it begins to get bored rather than immerse deeper and deeper. But The experiments are still great + developers from Raven. P.S. In 1996 was released the Supplement "Deathkings of the Dark Citadel", but I did not pass it: almost from the very beginning it seemed to me painfully boring and tedious. And it's time to finally finish the Final DOOM.