I wasn't expecting to think
much of Heretic II when I first got it (borrowed
from a friend), as it was third-person (well
whatever you call the behind view). I got halfway
through Tomb Raider a long time ago and deleted
it, but Heretic II is quite different. It looks
better (apart from the model... you can't beat
Lara!), moves better, and has much better gameplay!
The weapons are quite good and different, which
is good to see after so many games have used
the shotgun and machinegun! It reminds me a
bit of The Wheel of Time, but personally I liked
the weapons a little better. Your first weapon
is a stick and a blade on the end - let's call
it a boomstick :P I used this for almost all
of the game - as long as you can get to your
enemies before they unleash their power, it
is simply awesome spinning around and smashing
your blades into them, making an explosion of
blood all around you. I'm STILL not sick of
doing it! This is probably the best weapon I
have seen in any game to date!
All the other weapons are spells like on WoT,
fireballs and, er, other kinds of balls. You
even have the machine-gun disquised as another
boomstick but with a skull attached that shoots
out red balls at a high rate. Something unique
is that most of the weapons share the same firepower,
so you don't have to worry about running out
of ammo so much.
On the level design half, they look brilliant!
Most of them had very good layout, especially
the last few levels taking place in Cloud Fortress.
You usually knew where you were going but there
are multiple paths, which is the best style
for levels. Design, architecture, textures,
atmosphere - these were all brilliant. There
were different styles used, from the city, swamp,
palaces, caves, mines and castles. You are too
travel through each, in a great storyline which
is told throughout the game. You'll eventually
make your way to the game boss, where again,
Heretic II wins another award for best boss
I have played against. Your mission is not to
beat the boss, but wear him down enough that
you can cure the madness of the world before
he regains his strength.
Overall, if you want something
slightly different from the usual First-person-shooters,
this will surely give you a few days entertainment
that you won't forget. I'm going to go buy Hexen2
now!
