Hexen: Beyond Heretic Review

Depending upon how you like your brutality, Hexen may appeal to you more than Doom. First, a lot more of the fighting--at least for non-mage characters--is close-in, and involves devices such as maces, axes, hammers and other notoriously undainty implements of personal violence. Second, the sounds resulting from the employment of said implements are a lot nastier. (Wetter, if I must be perfectly clear on this point.) The ability to choose between heroes of slightly differing abilities (strength, armor and magic, for instance) ultimately adds to the replay value of the game, and gives more of an edge to Death Match games. Respawning foes make life a bit more hectic, especially when you're going back looking for something you missed or failed to understand the first time. You'll be doing a lot of that--the game levels are designed in “hubs” of environment through which you find yourself re-circulating, rather than in the linear "level" scheme of Doom. Nice visual touches like swirling leaves, scattering bats, and non-critical ambient animations make the dark, 3-D fantasy locales more compelling and realistic—even if you're still wandering around mystical ruins and slaughtering murderous grunting things. Accessible audio track selection controls allow the carnage to take place to the game's adequate soundtrack or to the noise of your choice. Slicker, smarter and more stylish than Doom---with all the killing and three times the replay value.