at first glance, you might be fooled into thinking that Hexen II is an improved take on the original game, and you would almost be correct. The then brand-spanking-new Quake engine allowed the developers at Raven to do what they couldn’t before: to place the player in a convincing 3D environment without having to make do with the shortcomings of the by-then ancient Doom engine. As opposed to viewing enemies from a limited number of fixed angles, or having items look the same regardless of which angle you view them from, you could observe them all from any angle. While you could only tread water in Hexen, Hexen II forces you to swim through the water, and does a fairly good job at recreating the physics of sluggish movement whilst immersed in H2O. Such things may not sound like much now, but when this was a new title, these were exciting strides forward.

raven also expanded the original game’s class system; there were four classes instead of three, and while three of these classes were little more than straight copies of those that existed in Hexen, they were given class-specific advantages such as “can fight while swimming underwater” or “can hide in the shadows”. Needless to say, this went a step further than the original Hexen’s “can jump higher” or “can run faster”.

that “true 3D environment” I so hyped also comes at the price of any actual sort of vibrant color. The original Hexen, and indeed, most Doom-engine games had their share of vibrant colors. The environments may not have looked ‘realistic’, but they were attractive to the eye, and they kept the player drawn in. When Quake came along, however, with its focus on gray space castles and brown murky dungeons, all of that color seemed to disappear, replaced with a more pale, ‘realistic’ appearance. It’s somewhat disappointing that one particular hub, inspired by the ancient Egyptians, comes across as dull as it does.

in their rush to ‘improve’ upon Hexen and implement a bold new 3D engine, the developers at Raven also decided to take the ‘puzzle’ design a step further. The original Hexen had you collecting keys to unlock doors and finding certain other key items to unlock other doors. Hexen II has all of this and more – it also forces the player to read oblique clues along the way, solve largely irrelevant pressure plate puzzles, and find hidden switches that often blend in with the surrounding environments. This sort of thing seriously slows the pace of the game down, which is a definite issue for an FPS game.

the slightly revised class system, as stated, basically takes the three-class system of the original Hexen and adds on a few quirks here and there; each class has its own unique bonuses, which is a nice touch, and the fourth character class (something of a mix of the other three) helps to diversify the class hierarchy just a bit more. The main issue with this, however, is something terribly minor; whereas in Hexen, the game showed you meters representing each of the class’ three major attributes, Hexen II gives you a full roster of RPG-esque stats. Giving the player more numbers to look over, without giving them anything to actually do with said numbers smacks of a lazy attempt to instill more of an ‘RPG’ feel into the game.

all of this said, while Hexen II largely fails at being the ‘improved’ sequel it was supposed to be, it still manages to be a fairly fun game all the same. You’re still exploring vast hub areas, killing monsters with a variety of weapons, and if you like this sort of thing, you’ll probably enjoy Hexen II well enough. Not exactly recommended, but a decent way to waste your time all the same.

Hexen II
PC | FPS | Hexen site | Raven Software

In Saya no Uta (lit. “Song of Saya”), you take control of Fuminori as you — oh, wait, no. This is a “visual novel”. My mistake. You control nothing, beyond the left mouse button.

“Visual novels” are a largely (though not exclusively) Japanese style of ‘game’, and involve the reader player reading text, looking at static images, and perhaps even making a choice every so often. Needless to say, this barely even qualifies as a ‘game’; you’ll find more playable content in an Infocom title. In Saya no Uta’s case, there are only three actual choices that you as the player can make; two of them come up at one single juncture near the end of the ‘game’. Other than that, it’s little more than read and click until you reach the end. This fits the visual novel mold, to be certain, and those who relish this sort of thing won’t have any problems with it, but would it be so much to hope for something more in the way of actual game “content” – perhaps something less linear in terms of what the player is allowed to do?

It should also be noted that, regrettably, Saya no Uta is an “eroge” visual novel – that is to say, it contains explicit erotic material. There is no way to remove and/or otherwise modify the h-content, and it arguably brings the strength of the title down, as nothing kills the mood better than a completely random sex scene foisted upon the reader player. It’s not as bad as it could be, though – there are a relatively small number of h-scenes (three to four at most), and for the most part, one can easily skip past them without missing anything that’s actually essential to the plot.

The ‘actual’ content is quite commendable – the writing is solid, the characters are developed sufficiently well, and for those who are into horror, it doesn’t take long before it gets into the goods – cannibalism, insanity, murder, and Lovecraftian horrors from beyond time and space are standard stuff here. I could say more, but to do so would be to unnecessarily spoil what is arguably the ‘point’ of a visual novel – to dig in and discover the plot for yourself.

The art style is strikingly realistic – the characters actually look relatively realistic  (no blue hair! no ridiculously large bust sizes! no over-sized eyes!), and the colors utilized for both the characters and the (somewhat sparse) “normal” backdrops are very subdued. This offers a very nice contrast to the points where everything shifts to the perspective of Fuminori – all of those subdued “real” locations become hellish corridors splattered with slabs of rotting flesh. The other characters become little more than horrible sacks of meat, and definitely work to impress upon the reader player how horrible Fuminori’s condition truly is.

The soundtrack definitely works hand in hand with the visuals – when all is seen through the eyes of a ‘normal’ perspective, the music is typically placid. When things are seen through the eyes of Fuminori, the music can range from eerie to outright dread.  The voice acting is decent (especially the garbled, alien “speech” Fuminori hears from others) but it is Fuminori’s VA that really stands out – typically very low and calm, in stark contrast to the horror that surrounds him.

This visual novel also takes an interesting stab at the concepts of black and white – good and evil. Saya and Fuminori may do things that could be construed as “evil” by players, but yet, when they do many of said ‘evil’ things in order to continue their relationship, how ‘bad’ does that make them? If Saya does what she must in order to insure her own survival, then does that truly make her “evil”? The other characters who wish to ‘help’ Fuminori by spending more time with him – are they doing ‘good’ by providing him with a social crutch during his time of apparent continued recovery, or are they doing ‘evil’ by forcing themselves into his life and disrupting his new routine with Saya? Needless to say, having a “game” force the “player” to think about the characters they’re observing is an… interesting experience, to say the least.

An interesting plot, “realistic” visuals, a soundtrack that works, voice acting that fits the setting, and a strong horror element all make this one worth ‘playing’, even if you don’t like the standard ‘visual novel’. Highly recommended.

Saya no Uta (Song of Saya)
PC | Visual Novel | Official site | Nitroplus