Hexx: Heresy of the Wizard

In the game Hexx: Heresy of the Wizard, a black curse of a local powerful sorcerer hangs over one kingdom - he managed to imprison the gods in the Kingdom of Dreams. Only four divine talismans made in the form of multi-colored crystals and hidden in different dungeons could remove this curse. Only when gathered in one place - in the castle of an evil sorcerer - will they remove the spell and save the kingdom from its magical power. These crystals must be found by your group of four adventurers.

At the very beginning of the game you must type a team. These will be representatives of four, so to speak, “professions”: a warrior, a magician, a wanderer and a hired killer. There are 16 characters to choose from (four of each variety). In addition to professional separation, there are few representatives of fantasy “ethnic” minorities among them: goblins, orcs, and elves, but most of the characters are still represented by rational classical people. Each has its own role parameters, advantages and disadvantages. There is a developed system of spells and magic. There are 32 spells, and the varieties of magic are as follows: earth, chaos, dragons, and night. Opponents are the most diverse "evil spirits" that can be generated by the plot of medieval fantasy: vampires, magicians, sorceresses ...

Management is very convenient: a keyboard and a mouse-type manipulator, although it is generally acceptable to control only a "mouse". Each item here can and should be selected, lifted or discarded (only with the mouse). The view is from the first person, and he does not depend on switching between four characters. I must say that the control model and the graphics engine originate from the game Bram Stoker's Dracula. There was a typically Wolfenstein model of level architecture. In Hexx: Heresy of the Wizard, you can already see the further development of the engine: the height of the walls is always two "floors" - i.e. in two sizes of standard texture. This made it possible to make a slightly larger number of "chips" on the cards: beds, secret lockers with doors, niches, walkways and more. To fight, you need to turn on the “swords” button - and the music will change to a dynamic-combat one. At the same time, keep an eye on the health and magic indicators of each member of the team - they are killed pretty quickly in battle. There are few role parameters: HIT POINTS, MAGIC AURA, STR (strength), INT (intelligence), DEX (dexterity), CON (physique), GOLD and AC (damage protection level). Money (GOLD) must be picked up in bags, sometimes scattered across the floor. You can buy all sorts of “goodness” in local shops that exist even in dungeons (!). There pumped up "good fellow" will sell you equipment, food, keys and other useful items. You can always look at the map, where all locations will gradually open up - level by level. In addition to weapons, you can activate for a short time some spell that will give you additional protection during the battle, for example, a deflector (this is a spell that returns the enemy’s blows back to him).

The graphics are bright and pretty, and the resolution is only 320x200. In general, in all games from the creative duo TAG, the picture has always been worked out - this is a personal merit of Peter James. There are only three rendering modes: full, rendering a level without ceilings, rendering without floors (?!). The music is also good and is constantly changing depending on the game situation.

At the end of the description I want to talk about the continuation of the work of Anthony and Peter. This game was the penultimate one for them. Of course, the Middle Ages, orcs, spells and castles are all, politically correct, “for everybody.” The TAG team was probably also very tired of all these monotonous wanderings in intricate dungeons. Therefore, they decided to place their subsequent product on the Sci-Fi plot. The new game Alpha Storm (1997) was called, and it turned out to be just “excellent”! Further development of the engine from Bram Stoker's Dracula and many graphic elements from Hexx: Heresy of the Wizard could later be noticed in it. True, many other developers, including Anthony's brother Philip, also had a hand in the new game. Well, after that, Anthony and Peter no longer created games together - maybe that was how it should have been, maybe it should have gone beautifully - at the very peak of his creative results! Enjoy your game!