Basic InformationGame SummaryGame ReviewSummaryBasic Information Game titleo HEXEN II Company & Authoro Raven Software Type of gameo Action Priceo $49.99 at release in October 1997o $9.99 (I found a marked down copy at Super K-Mart early 2002) Minimum stated hardware requirementso P90o 16MB RAM (24MB RAM is required on NT)o 120MB Disk Spaceo 2x CDo DirectX 3ao (Video Card that supports OpenGL if the OpenGL installation option is chosen) Actual hardware requiredo P120o 24MB RAMo 3 button mouseo 8x CDGame Summary Quick overview Hexen II is a continuation of two previous games – Heretic and Hexen. The game takes the player to an era in the dark ages where sorcery, monsters, and creatures of the supernatural reign. The player has to overcome various obstacles such as traps, mazes, puzzles,…etc, conquer four levels, and finally save the world by battling and killing the third serpent rider “Eidolon” (the first two serpent riders are supposedly killed in Heretic and Hexen). Story lineThe HEXEN II story is a continuation of the one presented in HERETIC and HEXEN. The whole story is centered around the three Serpent riders, three very powerful demon type creatures, that go from one world to another, dragging an army of supernatural creatures (demons, imps, golems…etc) destroying everything they encounter, and killing everyone theycome across. The first two serpent riders are killed in the course of the first two games (HERETIC and HEXEN). In HEXEN II, the third serpent rider – “Eidolon”, most powerfulof all, summons the armies of the first two serpent riders, and attacks the world of “Thyrion”. “Eidolon” uses four very powerful demons to command his army. They are the 1four horsemen of apocalypse known as Death, Pestilence, Famine, and War. It’s the player’s task, as one of the characters provided by the game, to travel in world of “Thyrion” and kill the four horsemen, and finally face off with “Eidolon” himself whose death is the only way tosave the world from infinite despair and agony. Player's roleThe player can choose among four characters: the Necromancer, the Assassin, the Crusader, and the Paladin. Each of the characters has his/her own special weaponry and powers, but the obstacles remain the same for all, and the goal of the game remains to attain the final level and kill “Eidolon”, the last serpent rider. The deeper the player goes into every level, the tougher the obstacles become. The player’s character has to keep upgrading his/her weapons, and picking up more and more ammunition. The weapon upgrades (four different weapons for every player) and ammunition are found scattered around the different levels. Moreover, it doesn’t matter how skillful the player gets, he/she will not be able to constantly avoid getting hit; thus, the player needs to keep picking up healing vials in order to be able to continue. InstallationThe player will be drawn to the game from the moment of installation. The installation process, besides providing an easy to use, user friendly wizard, is presented in a medieval frame, where dark age war music is played, and a narrator presents the story line.The installation process also offers the user two different types of installation: regular and OpenGL. The OpenGL option provides immensely better graphics, but requires an 3D videocard. User InterfaceThe game is presented via a first-person view. The important stats (life points, mana levels,…etc) are kept on a toolbar docked at the bottom of the screen, leaving plenty of room for comfortable viewing of the play area. The user can use the mouse to move, but I found usingthe keyboard much easier, especially that the keys are customizable. The player can also enter some commands via a command line prompt, which I used heavily when using the shortcuts (or cheats). Game PlayThe player starts by selecting a character. The four choices are Assassin, Crusader, Paladin, and Necromancer. Regardless of the character chosen, the player always starts a new game at the same location in the first level. At the start of a new game, the chosen character has a 2basic weapon. The player goes on a “journey” of exploration along which he finds more weapons that he/she can acquire. The more sophisticated, more powerful weapons require mana to work (there’s two different kinds of mana green and blue). Every character can gain (or upgrade) up to four weapons. The fourth and most powerful weapon is usually splitinto two pieces that need to be found separately. A lot of other artifacts can be used for defense and attack besides the character’s main weapon. For example, the character can pick an invisibility disk, or an artifact that can turn most demons to sheep…etc.The character gets to different locations by walking or running, but he/she can also duck, jump, move sideways, and swim (above and under water). The player should always keep track of his life level; if it hits zero, the character dies. Fortunately, the character can pick up immediate healing vials, or ones that he can carry and use when necessary.The character gains points by killing monsters and demons. When enough points are gathered, the character becomes more powerful, and gains new abilities. The game play depends on exploration. The character has to explore the terrain, and find his way to the horsemen. After every horseman is vanquished, the character moves on to thenext level, until he/she arrives at the final location to battle “Eidolon”, which marks the end of the game. The game presents mazes and puzzles, and requires the character to move backand forth among different realms. There are always clues that can be found usually in the form of wall plates that can serve as a map or heads-up type of warning, but the player has to be patient and have fun in exploring new unknown territories…. ScoringThe player’s score depends on how many monsters he/she kills. Obviously, the more he/she kills the higher the score gets. The score affects the characters performance. When certain score levels are attained, the character becomes more powerful. Other stats are kept besides the killing score; there’s the amount of mana and life points the character has, the number of artifacts of a particular kind the character is carrying (every character can carry up to a maximum of 20 artifacts of every kind). ArtworkThe artwork in
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