Naan's Heretic levels reviews

[Naan]

This is my home for all Heretic levels reviews that will be constantly updated as soon as I get and test some new Heretic levels. Same thing will be done for Doom series's levels when I get bored of Heretic. :)

First of all, here's a review of all Raven Software's levels, including Shadow of the Serpent Riders episodes, finished on "Black plague possesses thee" difficulty, with 100% kills/secrets without restarting each level with the wand and 50 charges :


-- Overall --


Heretic has, in my opinion, more gameplay possibilities than Doom with the items and inventories, and well thought weapons (no one is as ultimate than Doom's BFG9000). So bad there's not as many PWADs for Heretic than for Doom... Maybe people more enjoy Doom because it's more action-packed, with less puzzle solving and inventory gestion than Heretic, but whatever, I love both. :)

Heretic.wad's levels are globally balanced and good-looking. Weapon, item and enemy placement is well done, even if I would add tougher monsters in traps near keys in some places. Only problems I see is that most items are underused, I never had to use a timebomb and I used morph ovums only 2 or 3 times. The maps's size is also kinda low but I hope I'll found big ones in PWADs ! There's enough room to make item based puzzles in PWADs there. :)

-> Weapons

Dragon claw is the best weapon in the game. Period. It shots instantly though pillars, columns or any decorate item where the nastiest monster can't hit you (bug ?).
On the other hand, I never found an use for the firemace. Maybe its giant bowls that follows the nearest enemy when tome of power is activated would be useful but whenever the bowl hits any obstable the bowl destroys...
The hellstaff has helped me alot while fightning enemies in great fields, like maulotaurs in E2M8 and E5M8 and clinks here and there. Useless indoors because of the tall of its red projectiles, I couldn't see what's going on near myself.
Phoenix rod almost one-shot any enemy but ammunition is rare and can't be used in close combat. The ring of invisibily/flamethrower combo has killed numerous maulotaurs for sure. :)
Ethereal crossbow should be the weapon I used the most right after the dragon claw. Very versatile one.
Yellow wand is the poor's dragon claw. It has the same instantly and obstacle piercing advantages, and I had to use it when I ran out of energy orbs.
I nearly never have to use the staff or the necromancer's gauntlets because the difficulty added 50% more ammo than in skills 2,3 and 4, only once in E4M1 where ammo was very rare.

-> Episode One

E1M1:
Very easy level as there's only almost melee creatures except some axemen. Oh, and it really looks like docks. :)

E1M2:
Nice level, with many secrets and traps. Not really difficult too, but heh, it's the beginning of the game !

E1M3:
Those fire gargoyles are really annoying in skill 5, as they shoot damn quickly. Outside traps full of axemen, this level remains quite easy.

E1M4:
I love Heretic's city levels; however this one isn't that great. Its music theme is one of the best in this game.

E1M5:
Best city level so far. And those sorcerers appears to be a pain in this level in this skill level. One of my favorite levels for sure !

E1M6:
Arr, some secrets in this level were nearly unfoundable, I've spend a lor of time finding them all, pressing 'space' on each wall...

E1M9:
Ghost monsters are horrid. Hardest level in this episode so far. But I don't understand what are squares that go up and down doing in a graveyard...

E1M7:
Balanced level, full of secrets, very enjoyable.

E1M8:
Very hard level beginning with axemen and lava lake, then with fire mummies that made the gas pods exploding, be sure to kill all mummies before hitting the switch to the iron leeches. I've choose to keep rings of invincibility for them and for the sorcerers in the end, walking on lava is more painful than the enemies themselves.


(coming soon other episodes)

[Lüt]

Naan said:

But I don't understand what are squares that go up and down doing in a graveyard...

Crushing the dead bodies below into mincemeat I'd presume.

[Naan]

----PWADs reviews summary----

Here I will class pwads by the number of stars I have given. Don't worry I won't copy paste the review text I've posted on the /idgames archive. If you want to read them just follow the url links.

Overall all the PWADs I've rated 3/5 or above are worth to be played.

Edit : I won't list 2 stars level and lower, I don't think listing bad PWADs is somewhat useful...

->! Legendary PWADs (5/5) !<-

Only the best of the best, no-reproach levels will be found here, so, please, don't cheat while playing them ! :)

- The crypts (1 level)
- Dark mountain II (1 level)

[Naan]

->! Pretty darn good PWADs (4/5) !<-

Those are very good levels, even if they have some cons, they do have many unquestionable pros.

- Avatar's demise (1 level)
- Burial ground (1 level)
- Dark mountain (1 level)
- The abandonned city (1 level)

[Naan]

->! Average PWADs (3/5) !<-

Those are acceptable, playable levels, but some have a nice gameplay with a plain environment, some are good looking while being too easy, the others are between these.

- Abbey3 (3 levels)
- Carnage galore (9 levels, entire episodes)

[Grazza]

Moved to WADs and Mods, as it clearly belongs there.