HEXPLORE - A NEO-RPG

                      By Stefan Herber

When released midway during 1998 Hexplore received some reasonable
reviews even from the games' press. That alone is almost enough to
frighten off experienced campaigners (remember Diablo?) but in the
current drought I had to give it a go. The first problem was
finding the game - the street retailers hadn't heard of it, mail
order firms complained of trouble with stock citing game company
politics etc. Eventually I did get a copy - interestingly it's now
easily available, so should anyone else bother?

The first question is - is it an RPG? I suppose so but in
comparison to more standard fare it's very simplistic. Characters
are fully formed and each improves in only one statistic with
experience, which is also automatic. There are ten levels - one
usually has all the experience required to finish the level less
than halfway through except for the last game which I had to
restart because despite killing everything in sight my character
was still unable to attain the necessary abilities. It's a top
down game obviously very heavily influenced by the Ultima7 series,
but although almost as long completely lacks the depth and
character interaction found there. There are very few subplots and
all are essential to finishing the game.

Story? Something to do with an evil wizard in the time of the
Crusades searching for the legendary book called Hexplore that
will allow him to reach the Garden of Eden and obtain infinite
knowledge. In the process he has corrupted Western leaders into
helping his cause by starting the Crusades. You and your party of
three (who are always an archer, mage and warrior while you are
the adventurer) must stop him.  Complete nonsense? I suppose most
RPGs' plots stretch the imagination, but this time they've really
gone to town.

Anyway in the process of defeating the wizard you get to kill all
manner of nasties, including the entire Western and Saracen armies
and finally God Himself. The last part did leave a nasty taste in
my mouth and led to the biggest cop-out of an ending I can easily
remember. The puzzles are always the same - find the right tiles,
buttons etc. This was often very frustrating, as they are often
well hidden and visible from one viewpoint only. And - for once -
don't expect any help from the Internet. The only walkthrough is
very limited and much of the advice posted on the game site is
incorrect and misleading. It's the repetitiveness that finally
annoyed me - if I was writing this after having played two or
three levels I think it would have been much more positive but by
the end I was playing more to finish the game than out of
enjoyment.

My advice? Buy Ultima7. Failing that try Fallout- also a top
down RPG but a lot shorter and less repetitive.  I think I'm going
to see if I can get any enjoyment from Ultima 1.





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