Heretic

STORY/GAMEPLAY
Three brothers, known as the Serpent Riders, have used their powerful magic to possess seven kings of Parthoris into mindless puppets and corrupt their armies. The Sidhe elves resist the Serpent Riders' magic and, for that reason, the Sidhe are now declared as heretics and waged war against them. The Sidhe are forced to take a drastic measure to sever the natural power of the kings destroying them and their armies, but at the cost of weakening the elves' power, giving the Serpent riders an advantage to slay the elders. While the Sidhe retreat, one elf, named Corvus, sets off on a quest of vengeance against the weakest of the three Serpent Riders, D'Sparil. He travels through three game episodes (40 main levels spread between): the 'City of the Damned', the ruined capital of the Sidhe, then past Hell's Maw and finally the Dome of D'Sparil. All you need to do is to fight first through the undead hordes infesting the site where the elders performed their ritual. At its end is the gateway to Hell's Maw, guarded by the Iron Liches. After defeating them, you must seal the portal and so prevent further infestation, but after you enter the portal guarded by the Maulotaurs, you find yourself inside D'Sparil's dome. After the slaughter of D'sparil, Corvus ends up on a perilous journey with little hope to return home.
The gameplay is heavily derived from Doom, with a level-based structure and an emphasis on finding the proper keys to progress. Many weapons are similar to those from Doom, and the early weapons in particular are near-exact copies in functionality to those seen in Doom. Although there are plenty of Doom-style weapons to pick up and use, Heretic offers you some new really enjoyable weapons to use, such as the sharp-shooting Ethereal Crossbow, and the Firemace, a rapid-firing Hellstaff and the metal ball launching devastation. Along your mission there are plenty of lava pits, tunnels, flickering-light corridors and of course, numerous deadly enemies each one with abilities to launch walls of fireballs, ice attacks or whirlwinds at you.
All in all, Heretic is a fine game. Soon after the success of Doom and Doom 2 clones started to appear, and Heretic is surely one of them!

GRAPHICS/SOUND
The graphics are pretty good, and in most cases, look more impressive compared to Doom. The maze-like fortifications that dominate the game make for atmospheric settings, while giant castle structures, stained-glass windowed cathedrals are gorgeous enough to keep you impressed. The enemy sprites are fantastically designed too. Sound is fine, offering a decent mix of blasting effects, death cries and ambient touches such as running water and tolling bells. The music accompanying your quest is quite good too.