Heretic Review

Game: Heretic
Year (s):  1994 (Heretic), 1996 (Shadows of the Serpent Riders)
Company:  dev.  Raven Software
            pub.  id Software
Engine: Doom Engine (id Tech 1)
Type:  First-Person Shooter
Game Time:  12-15 hours recently on default difficulty

Obligatory Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lyBtYChbhI


Plot

You should realize that these old games aren't plot driven.  Nonetheless.  The Serpent Riders came to your world and brainwashed everyone except for your race, the elves.  Your race was then labeled as heretics, hunted and scattered.  You, an elven wizard, set out to defeat the Serpent Rider D'Sparil and his undead army to free your world from his evil grip.


Is it like Doom?

Same engine as Doom, and a few of the same sound effects.  Most of the weapons have different models but are functionally the same as the chainsaw, pistol, chaingun, rocket launcher, and plasma rifle.  One enemy is nearly identical to the Pinky Demons, but the rest are more original.  You still flip switches, look for keys, and operate a special switch (or step in to a portal) to end  levels.

The main separation between Heretic and Doom is the inventory.  You can carry a variety of single-use items to use at will.  These include torches (light source), wings (flight), health vials, half-ass grenades, tomes that power up your weapons (or at least, makes them function in a different way), and other offensive/miscellaneous items.

As this runs on the Doom engine, I highly recommend zDoom.  The inventory system is too cumbersome to use without key re-binding, and I'm too out of practice from the old, contorted control setup to accomplish anything.


Expansions / DLC

Shadows of the Serpent Riders added two additional episodes to the original three.  Akin to The Ultimate Doom's They Flesh Consumed, these episodes feature more challenging maps.  While the original was easy on default, these had some tough spots.



Final Thoughts

Pretty much any game from the first and second generation of shooters is going to have parts where you'll get frustrated looking for the damn switch/key, and use a cheat to move on without it.  Heretic is no exception.  While new monsters and an inventory are nice additions to the genre, this is, largely, more Doom.  I bought this recently because I'd played it as a kid and it was cheap.  If you won't have any nostalgia going in, I don't think you'll get much out of this one.