The Playstation version of Hexen is nothing but a lazy, stripped and broken port of a classic game
Largely unaltered Hexen gameplay
THE BAD:
Confusing level design - missing animations - erratic frame rate - clunky controls - a whole memory card required
THE UGLY:
Titanic loading and saving times (up to 10 minues each) destroy the flow of gameplay
My feelings towards Hexen have always been mixed: on one hand I really like the gameplay and setting, on the other I hate the constant backtracking and cryptic game hints (basically "this switch opened something in some other level, go find it") that force you to check every nook and cranny in every map every ten minutes. I also dislike the 4 weapons limitation per character (one of which needs to be assembled): it would have been better to make a single class like in Heretic and give you access to all 12 weapons. Overall though, the PC version of Hexen is one of the gems of old school FPS games... the PSX version however is a broken mess that begs to be forgotten.
While the original game is developed by the ever excellent Raven software (Heretic, Jedi Knight II, Soldier of Fortune, Quake 4...), the game was ported to the PSX by the less talented Probe studios, who rushed out a stripped version featuring missing animation frames, subpar graphics, unbearable frame rate and unresponsive controls. Obviously not much time and effort was put into the porting process, because there's no way the Playstation couldn't handle a game like Hexen.
What really sinks this version though is the abysmal save and loading system: since you can save and load at any time, the game requires a WHOLE memory card to save your progress (and memory cards cost around $30 in 1997) and saving the game takes up to TEN MINUTES every time. Imagine sitting there wating for the game to save, wondering if the console froze or something else has happened. You need to save though, since dying means restarting from the last portal (i.e. level start), which can mean losing half an hour of progress., and seeing how easy it is to miss a jump and fall to your death thanks to the sloppy controls, it's a clear and present danger.
This factor alone makes the PSX port of Hexen impossible to play, unless you have a lot of time to waste staring at a black "SAVING" or "LOADING" screen. Play the PC version, mod it with The Doomsday Engine, which adds Open GL graphics, improved controls and many cool features. Heck, you can even play it online on your browser on Newgrounds.com
Just stay away from this horrible port.