A ton of fun this one!
What? You can choose a class? In a First Person Shooter!? You gotta be **** me!
But that was the case, and it damn freaking shocked the contemporary modernity.
Hell of a fun ****, although i agree with other ppl - choice of weapons per class was rather limited. But in defense of that - many current games suffer from exactly the same malady.
Fun joyful game! :)
Hexen moved the needle from it's predecessor Heretic by adding some compelling new features to the FPS genre. First was the ability to smash windows. That seems silly now, but in 1995 that was a lot of fun. The large levels and other features such as blowing leaves made the environment seem more realistic and immersive than Doom or Heretic. The class system was an interesting addition that paved the way for the way most multiplayer FPS are designed today. I prefer more realistic shooters than fantasy-based games but that's a matter of taste and I have little bad to say about Hexen.
To be honest, when I first got this I though it was Heretic 2. But even though it wasn't, I still thought it was a ton of fun.
Hexen kind of abandoned the level by level design that had been the firm staple of FPSers and went with a large worlds that felt like 6 or seven levels made into one. This was refreshingly different and was great exploring these massive levels.
3 character different character classes that handled completely differently did add allot of replay value since each class did require slightly different strategies, especially on harder difficulties.
My one real gripe was the lack of weapons per character. Granted each class had its own weapons unique to themselves, it feel very restricted most of the time. More weapons would have been great.
Overall:
One of my favorite FPS games of its time.
Something I never understood is because instead of doing Heretic 2, they made Hexen as a direct continuation. We will never know, but now I will review Hexen, which in my opinion, is how Heretic should have been. The game that best exploits the capabilities of ID Tech 1 both in terms of graphics and gameplay (Strife will not ... I will tell you in his review also made on this page). This game, in addition to all the news that Heretic brought (which I already reviewed by the way), introduces an open world and the option to jump, which was innovative by the way for the time. The possibility of choosing your character that increases the replayability, the setting and the medieval graphics that look even better than Heretic, the introduction of more interesting puzzles for the Doom engine and a greater importance in object management. However, I consider that it still does not outperform Doom, and this is because the action moments are mishandled just like Heretic, it doesn't feel the same polish due to the new weapons and the frenzy that characterized Doom, doing it (just like than Heretic) slower and more deliberate. There are many irritating enemies like the centaur that only block attacks and the story is partly confusing when compared to Heretic, without being able to establish much relationship between both protagonists or the exact timeline. Despite all this, I can recommend Hexen to all Doom and Heretic fans, such as those who want a medieval experience full of puzzles and fair challenges. It's one of the few old games that aged well by today's standards, so give it a try! You will not regret it. All of this in my opinion of course.
Doom a lancé la mode des FPS et bien des opportunistes ont utilisé alors le moteur d'Id Software pour boulotter des copies plus ou moins (a)variées et rincées du jeu original, déjà sujet à l'ennui et la lassitude...
Dans cet Hexen, on a simplement collé une ambiance "fantasy" avec 3 classes différentes et roule ma poule... Avec les classes au corps-à-corps comme le guerrier, ce jeu doomesque devient aussi confus que grotesque et consiste comme d'habitude à errer dans des niveaux labyrinthiques comme un pauvre hère pour récupérer les clés afin d'ouvrir les portes et ainsi de suite...
C'était déjà chiant dans les Doom, ça l'est encore plus ici, même avec les monstres à peine différents des Doom qui vous barrent le chemin régulièrement. Ce machin n'avait et n'a toujours aucun semblant d'intérêt : un simple cash grab de l'époque risible et inutile.