by Huh. Just realized I played these games backwards–first Hexen II. Then Hexen. And now, Heretic. Oh well.
We’re gonna break this one down into two parts: the original Heretic and the expansion, “Shadow of the Serpent Riders.
Heretic
I’ve played a lot of 1990’s sprite-based FPS’s. In fact, looking back, I’m starting to realize I’m coming dangerously close to a complete finished canon of the “bigs.” DOOM (Final, II, Plutonia, TNT, Ultimate), Shadow Warrior (1997), Duke Nukem (Megaton), Hexen (I, II), Wolfenstein (3D, Return to Castle) and now Heretic. With a pretty strong foundation of experience in this kind of game, I can say that this is certainly not a bad game at all but… in light that this came after DOOM, I sadly have to put it in Tier 3.
Heretic plays out less like a new game and more like yet another expansion for DOOM that’s just been completely re-skinned. Instead of being sci-fi/Hell themed, it’s high-fantasy/planar demon themed. You can already see the similarities.
Unfortunately, most of the weapons in the two games are nearly identical: the Staff (fists), Gauntlets of the Necromancer (chainsaw), Elven Wand (handgun), Dragon Claw (chain gun), Hellstaff (Plasma Gun) and Phoenix Rod (rocket) have no real difference. The Ethereal Crossbow is technicaly different mechanically than the shotgun in DOOM (the bow shoots one main shot in the middle with two darts on each side) but functionally, it serves the exact same purpose; your average reliable weapon for every situation. In fairness, the Fire Mace is nothing like DOOM’s BFG. Instead of shooting out a massive blast of energy, you drop tons of explosive metal balls in front of you that bounce around and explode.
I must of course mention the most unique thing about the weapons themselves though–they can all be powered up for 40 seconds by using a “Tome of Power” that for most weapons, completely change the way the fire. The Phoenix Rod throws flame, the Dragon Claw fires a spread shot, the Hellstaff causes a rain of fire–it’s pretty awesome. The problem is that even though you find ~2 to 3 Tomes of Power on each level, it never felt like I got to use the alt-modes for the weapons enough. I think it would have been far better design-wise to allow the alt-fire of each weapon to be triggered with the right-mouse button, but cause the weapon to consume double-ammo or something. It would allow the user to solve problems much more intelligently at their own pace instead of, “RAR POWER TOME ACTIVATED KILL ALL THE THINGS IN 40 SECONDS!”
And yet again in this game’s favor, there are completely unique enemies. I have quibbles about some of the enemy types that are probably more biased than actual, so instead I will give praise to the coolest enemy in the game, the Iron Lich. This creature is a massive floating helmeted skull made of metal that shoots out ice bolts that shatter, tornadoes that knock you around and pillars of flame that deal massive damage. This is easily the most uniquely designed enemy in the game and I’ve faced nothing quite like it in the other games mentioned above.
That being said, killing enemies is less satisfying in Heretic. I spent some time thinking about it to figure out why, but I had trouble pinning it down. Perhaps the gore is less gratuitous, so taking down these demons from another plane feels less triumphant. Most enemies in Heretic blow up into some sort of unidentifiable kibble, but in DOOM blood flowed and organs spilled out in grotesque fashion. I believe there’s more to it than that though; enemies in general (even the bread-and-butter enemies like the Gargoyles or the Golems) take multiple hits to take down from almost every weapon (sans the rocket laun–er–Phoenix Rod). Because of this, the avatar strength feels lower, and you never quite feel ultra-powered. That being said, this makes Heretic is harder, so perhaps it’s a purposeful design choice.
Either way, I sadly must put this in Tier 3. It’s a high Tier 3, but it’s just too much like DOOM to make it worth recommending. Nothing really new is found here, nor are there different puzzles to solve apart from the same old DOOM formulas. Of course I played through all 3 of its chapters, because I love games like these–but I doubt I would want to do so again and you’re not really missing much if you pass this one.
Shadow of The Serpent Riders
For the most part, all comments made above apply to this–you won’t find any new monsters or new weapons in this two-chapter expansion to Heretic. However, for a long-time DOOM fan, I can say that these levels are worth giving a try at Tier 2. Whereas Heretic was a fairly easy romp even on the second-to-hardest setting (in case you never played any of the DOOMs, you never want to set the game on its hardest setting) the SotSR expansion is ROCK HARD. Well, maybe not as hard as some of the DOOM expansions, but definitely challenging in some rather satisfying ways.
Ammo is much more limited, the hardest enemies are thrown at you in some of the most bonkers-ridiculous ways and relic-usage must be far more intelligent than before (right, forgot to mention, that there are items called relics that you can pick up and use in your inventory, like the Tome of Power). Some of my favorite levels were castle-themed, where what seemed like endless hoards of enemies were stationed against the walls, protecting the treasures within (guns and ammo).
If you love a challenge and area already a DOOM veteran, I definitely recommend that you try these last two chapters; they were well worth the constant deaths as I figured out how to beat them.
