Solid FPS fun for the historian or aspiring wizard
I think this game was released a little while after Doom and thus many people will compare the two. Initially you could do this and deduce that the game engine is the same yet Heretic allows view tilt. So is Heretic better than Doom I hear you ask --- in a word NO.
Heretic was simply an alternative to Doom. It had excellent roots to build upon and reached out to those with a love for mythological creatures and so on. You are a young Heretic, a guy learning powers of magic, thus you have a cool arsenal of weapons.
There are many weapons to collect; your stick (for a better word) was the basic starter. A shooting wand, then better majical staffs and so on, all of which needed ammo. In addition you also could collect spells - I can't remember them all, but you could top up your health and use an invisible charm and so on.
Controls - I used the keyboard, as many people would. The normal walking and running was easy, including strafing. But selection of spells could be time consuming and clumsy. The tilt view function, was helpful but hard; it would be much easier to utilise with a controller with joysticks like the PS2 or N64. Speaking of which, the aim was automatic, in the you aimed in the rough direction and still got a hit.
The graphics used a good selection of colour and depicted stone walls and timber floors well enough. You certainly felt you were back in time. The graphics were no better than Doom, maybe slightly worse.
The sounds were cool. The eerie shreiks of the batlike creatures has you on the edge of your stool. The mumers of the deamon like wizards were a tad sad. You could add to the sounds by popping in your fave' CD, as the game ran off the hard-drive.
The game seemed endless. There were many huge levels, too many to count. Then there were different stories to complete; much like Doom 1. No multiplayer in those days but I expect you could network it.
All round an excellent game.