HeXen II

Hexen II
Boxart
Developer(s)	Raven Software
Publisher(s)	Activision, id Software
Engine	Modified Quake engine
Version	1.11
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh
Release date	August 31, 1997
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: M (Mature) ELSPA: 15+ PEGI: 12+ PEGI: 11+ (FI) USK: 18

Hexen II is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Raven Software from 1996 to 1997, published by id Software and distributed by Activision. It is the third game in the Hexen/Heretic series, and the last in the Serpent Riders trilogy. Using a modified Quake engine, it features single player and multi player game modes, as well as four character classes to choose from, each with different abilities. These include the offensive Paladin, the defensive Crusader, the spellcasting Necromancer, and the stealthy Assassin. The score was composed by Kevin Schilder.

Plot

As in the first two games, a world has been enslaved by a powerful demon called a Serpent Rider. This time, the demon in question is Eidolon, the oldest and most powerful of the three Serpent Riders. The player must travel to four different continents, each with a distinct style (Medieval European, Mesoamerican, Ancient Egyptian, and Greco-Roman), destroy enemies, solve puzzles, defeat a horseman of the Apocalypse and continue to the next hub in pursuit of Eidolon, the final enemy.

Improvements from Hexen and Quake include destructible environments, mounted weapons, and unique level up abilities. Like its predecessor, Hexen II also uses a hub system. These hubs are a number of interconnected levels; changes made in one level may have effects in another. The Tome of Power artifact makes a return from Heretic.

Portal of Praevus

An expansion pack called Hexen II: Portal of Praevus was released in 1998 featuring new levels, new enemies and a new playable character class, The Demoness. It focuses on the attempted resurrection of the three Serpent Riders by the evil wizard Praevus, and takes place in a fifth continent, Tulku, featuring a Sino-Tibetan setting.

The expansion featured new quest items, new enemies, and new weapons for the Demoness. She is the only player class to have a ranged starting weapon, whereas all other characters start with melee weapons.

It also introduced minor enhancements to the game engine, mostly related to user interface, level scripts, particle effects (rain or snow), and 3D objects.

Portal of Praevus also featured a secret (easter egg) skill level, identical to Doom's "Nightmare" difficulty (where monsters respawn). The only released patch for the expansion added respawning of certain items (such as health and ammo) in Nightmare mode, so that it would be slightly easier for playing.

OpenGL dependence

Hexen II, by way of the Quake engine, uses OpenGL for 3D acceleration. However, due to the prevalence of 3dfx hardware at the time of release, the game ships with an OpenGL installable client driver (ICD) designed specifically for 3dfx's hardware. This driver wraps Glide, 3dfx's proprietary 3D API, to a select set of OpenGL calls. Custom OpenGL drivers were also released by PowerVR and Rendition for running Hexen II with their respective products.

This limitation can be bypassed by simply removing the included OpenGL file named "opengl32.dll" from the Hexen II directory. This forces the game to use the OpenGL library already installed on the system.

Source code release

Following the tradition from Hexen and Heretic, Raven released the source code to Hexen II in 2000. This time the source was released under the GNU General Public License, allowing ports to be made to different platforms like Linux and the Sega Dreamcast.

External links

• Official website from id Software
• Official Hexen II FAQ
• Hammer of Thyrion source port: for Linux, FreeBSD and Mac OS X, amongst others
• Unofficial Quake-Engine: a Windows-only source port, successor of NewHexen
• PSP Hexen II
• GP2X Hexen II
• Dreamcast Hexen II
• MorphOS Hexen II
• HexenWorld
• Hexen II at MobyGames