Heretic II

Take one part Tomb Raider, stir in three parts Diablo, and you have Heretic II.

It's not fair. How can I do justice to an action game after just completing Half-Life? To its credit, Heretic II did grab my attention and, more importantly, kept me wanting to move forward just to see what was around the next corner.

For the most part, stealing the third-person perspective from the adventure genre works very well. Getting in and out of tight spots is easier than expected. The predictive AI makes climbing, sliding, and tumbling automatic as you negotiate around objects.

Heretic II starts you out in your character Corvus' home province, victim to a plague that brings violent madness to all it touches. In fighting off his once-friendly Sidhe brethren, Corvus learns that the plague has been manufactured and spread on purpose by one of his race's own forebears. You must escape the city walls to find a cure with an amphibian Ssithra healer in the city-state of Andoria. Unfortunately, Corvus is also now infected with the plague, with only the magical power of his tome saving him from the same madness. If a cure is not found soon, Corvus will be zombified.

Heretic II excels at varying the level environments-you'll travel from cities to caves to dungeons to swamps-and making them appropriate to the race that lives there. Silverspring, where the adventure begins, is very similar to earlier Heretic and Hexen settings, but then you must battle through the swamps to get to the city of Andoria in the land of the Ssithra, Black Lagoon-type creatures. Later in the game, the city of K'chekrik is very different from Silverspring or Andoria, yet totally in keeping with the insectoid race that lives there.

As easy as it is to maneuver Corvus, Heretic II is no easy game to master. The list of mana spells is large, as is the choice of weapons. Everything has a special use, from storm and fire arrows to a Hell Staff that fires projectiles. But the most satisfying weapon remains the base staff, which can be upgraded by stepping into special Blade Shrines to make it exude fiery death in melee combat. Mastering all the weapon options takes time, but the payoff is more gameplay options. You learn that a third-person environment favors melee attacks as opposed to projectile aiming and firing. The computer AI is effective but not too challenging one-on-one. However, the level scripting often places large numbers of adversaries around you rapidly, making quick, decisive action a necessity.

Given its Quake II roots, multiplay is state of the art. With the included GameSpy Lite, finding a match is easy, joining is simple, and gameplay is fast and spirited. Raven included a good number of additional skins (including a female model), so finding a persona shouldn't be difficult.

Heretic II is such a good work that you want more than you get-more characters than Corvus in solo play, more RPG features such as skill and magic attainment, and more levels. The Loading Game screen has a wonderful map of Parthoris that keeps track of your progress, but it suggests many more places than you actually get to visit-building expectations and leaving you feeling cheated after reaching the final boss.

But overall, Heretic II's third-person interpretation of the action genre takes the category in a fresh, fun new direction.

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