Witchhaven 2: Blood Vengeance Review
The Avatar
Review for IntraCorp/Capstone's _WITCHHAVEN 2_
Introduction: Witchhaven 2 is, not surprisingly, the sequel to
Capstone's original Witchhaven game. Like its predecessor, it is a
first-person "shooter" a la Doom but set in a medieval, swords-and-
sorcery world where axes and spells are the hero's weapons, not a rapid-
firing multi-barreled bullet-guzzling machine gun. The blood and gore,
however, remain constant.
The original Witchhaven was not warmly received; its game engine (an
early version of the Build engine, licensed from Apogee) was slow, and
its sprites were unconvincing. Many were also turned off by the "in-
your-face" combat (as opposed to Doom's ranged combat). However, I found
that Witchhaven appealed to me. Being a fan of the fantasy genre, I was
able to overlook Witchhaven's flaws with the simple mantra of "it was
okay for its time" (reminding myself that Witchhaven was competing with
Doom2, Descent and DarkForces). The original had an enjoyable "story"
(as far as any 3D "shooters" ever have a story), SVGA graphics, and some
very convincing landscapes, featuring the pseudo-3d of Duke Nukem 3D and
DarkForces. Plus, I LIKED the in-your-face combat (much more than
Heretic's "magic-shooter" variety :).
So when Witchhaven came out, I figured that, even if it were "just more
of the same" I'd still be fairly satisfied, and if they improved it,
well goody for me! Unfortunately, Capstone managed to take what was an
okay game and ruin its few good features in their quest to make it
better.
Plot: Like most shooters the plot is a thin veneer to get you into the
game, but I may as well take the time to go over it. In the original
game, you are a heroic fool chosen to go to the Island of Char and rid
it of the evil witch Ilwyrian, who is seeking to enter our world from
her Plane of Chaos. As all good heroes do, you defeat her. Withchhaven 2
has Ilwyrian's evil sister come to seek vengeance; during the victory
party celebrating Ilwyrian's defeat you fall into a slumber, and when
you awake all your friends are gone. You enter the catacombs again to
confront and kill Cirae-Argoth, the sister-witch and save your comrades.
Installation: Capstone certainly has spiffed up its dull installation
routine. You are immediately greeted by a well rendered head of some
wizard-like being, who (after you select the correct sound card) speaks
to you in well-digitized speech. However, despite the flash, the
installation is still pretty much the same; a bunch of menus from which
to change setup options. There is relatively little help available, and
you can't really choose much. The game insists on installing all 62+ MB
onto your hard-drive (though you have to have the CD in the drive
anyways) and there is no option for a smaller load-from-the-CD partial
install. Furthermore, despite my many efforts I was unable to configure
it for my GUS Max for MIDI (extra instructions are for the Ultrasound
can be found in the readme.txt file, but even those didn't work;
fortunately I keep a SoundBlaster Pro around for just these emergencies
:) After a lengthy file-copy process (unlike Doom or Duke, Witchhaven
dumps a lot of smaller files onto your harddrive) you can select video
resolution (VGA, 320x200 or SVGA, 640x480) and game controller
(keyboard, mouse, joystick, SpaceBall Avenger, etc) and edit the keys to
your liking. However, if you ever want to reconfigure all this you have
to go through the sound-detection routine all over again. Nor can you
configure modem/network play in Setup; you have to run seperate batch
files to run that. Despite its flashy new exterior, the installation
routine was overall a clumsy production.
Graphics: Witchhaven 2, like its predecessor, can be played in standard
VGA (320x200) or SVGA (640x480) modes. VGA is rather bland and blocky
looking and frankly barely deserves a second glance...it didn't get one
from me. Witchhaven is meant to be played in SVGA mode. The world is
gorgeous! It has rickety bridges, gratings, intricate stonework, lava-
falls, forests, cemetaries...the works! The tile-sets are well drawn and
really pull you into the world. However, where Witchhaven 2 falls short
(also like its predecessor) is in its sprites. Most look okay from far-
to-medium distance but they lose their good looks when you get close.
Worse is when they move, as they look as if they are missing frames;
they are jerky and slow. This was Witchhaven 1's greatest fault, but the
Build engine CAN do good sprites (as Duke 3d showed us) so the fault
falls on Capstone (Capstone's other shooter, Tekwar suffered from the
same problem....apparently the artists aren't too concerned about
getting their characters to move smoothly). When they aren't moving the
sprites look good (though a bit too cartoonish) but they moment they got
to their feet they lost all realism.
Witchhaven 2 also featured an Intro and Endgame using Smacker Video
technology. Witchhaven 1 featured an absolutely amazing intro depicting
the ruined innards of a blasted castle (some of which was re-used in the
W2 intro). W2's intro and endgame seemed quickly slapped together. The
characters move like animatronics, the music and sound are poor, and the
voice-acting is only a step or two above pitiful.
Sounds: Nothing spectacular. The monsters make the usual assortment of
grunts and screams as they throw themselves at you. Nothing really stuck
in my mind as overly exciting or offensive. The music, on the other
hand, was particularly bland (especially since I was back to FM-
synthesized music on my SBPro, my GUS being card-non-grata in this
game). At least Capstone added a juke-box feature in the game to allow
you to change the music track if one tune got too much on your nerves.
Despite the fact that the box boasted new sound effects, most of them
were lifted right out of the original game.
Game Engine: Capstone has licensed (for the third time) the Build engine
from Apogee. They used it before in Witchhaven 1 and Tekwar, and
frankly, upon viewing those, many were worried that Duke 3d would be
equally poor. However, Duke 3d has proven itself. Witchhaven 2 boasts
"a greatly enhanced Build engine" but in many ways it seems inferior to
Duke 3d. For one, it is much slower than Duke3d. Admittedly, many of the
levels on Witchhaven 2 were more complex than those of Duke3d (they
tended to be larger, have higher "cathederal ceilings" and more complex
enviornments like forests) but it still was far more jerky in "simple"
areas than the most complex parts of Duke3d. Obviously the
"enhancements" were made to the original Witchhaven Build engine and not
to the one used in Duke3d. Witchhaven 2 is also far shorter than the
original; W1 was around 25 levels; W2 is only 15.
Several problems I noted in W2; it was hard to hit the monsters when you
got to close. Even if they were not moving, only one out of two blows
would hit; it was like the monster would go intangible every other
attack you made. Moving was very slow, even when you ran; it was like
wading through molasses. Jumping was equally worthless; you barely rose
a foot above the ground (unlike W1, where you virtually flew with each
leap; surely there must be a viable alternative between the two?) The
game occasionally crushed me for no good reason, and I also managed to
walk INTO walls and be similarily crushed. The game was also picky over
where I put my feet when I went to pick things up; perhaps it was that
items were too small, but I almost NEVER was able to get things on my
first run...I always had to backup, aim carefully, and run over them
again. When you have a Lava Fiend tossing fireballs at you and need that
healing potion but NOW, this is not a good thing. The keyboard also
seemed sluggish; I'd jab at the number keys several times before I'd
change weapons. The same thing with the bracket keys to change between
magic potions.
W2 is also network- and modem-playable but I haven't tested these. The
box boasts up to 16-person network play, but with that many people I
think the levels would become way to crowded.
Game Mechanics: Witchhaven successfully (IMnsHO) merged role-playing
mechanics with a first-person-shooter. It may not be how I want every
game to be (especially not any other RPGs) but Witchhaven made a
workable attempt. Killing things gave you experience; enough experience
and you would go up a level, and each level brought you more benefits.
You had a shelf of five magic potions (10 of each, for a total of 50 potions
max), up to eight spells (10 of each, total of 80) and ten weapons
(including your fist). You could find three different types of armor (each
more effective than the last; it wasn't just a matter of "more armor points",
a
shield, and numerous magical items. Going up in levels gave you more
hitpoints, increased the damage-bonus added to the base-weapon
damage, and allowed you to learn new spells.
W2 adds to this by allowing many of the weapons you have become
enchanted in certain magic wells, effectively doubling your weapon
count. This however, is a two edged sword (pun intended :)...most of the
magic weapons are fire-based and therefore uneffective against fire
monsters like the Lava-fiend. Unfortunately, the only way to return to
the unenchanted version of the weapon is to "shoot" away all your magic-
charges, which means that in some cases some weapons become totally
useless. On the other hand, all spells seemed available at even the
lowest levels, meaning that if you find it you can cast it. W2 also did
not add at all in the variety of potions or magic items, and many of the
monsters were in fact the same monster but with a different weapon
(i.e., Clansman with Fist, Clansman with Sword, Clansman with Axe). In
all fairness they all are different sets of sprites and thus W2 has 22+
monsters, but they all start to look the same after a while.
My MAIN complaint with W2 is that it is HARD! Now, I'll be the first to
admit I may not be the best player in games like these (I'd like to
think I'm not that bad though...I finished all of Doom and DarkForces
without cheating :) but in W2 you face a virtual army of foes in just
the first level (and half the time you can't hit them, thanks to the
game-engine!) There is a difficulty-selection but this seems only to
lessen the hit points of the monsters; it does not reduce the number of
monsters in the slightest. When the game STARTS with two lava-fiends
tossing fireballs at you then there is something wrong...there has to be
at least SOME time to get used to the enviornment and the engine. Duke3d,
Doom, DarkForces and even the original Witchhaven did it right; they
slowly progressed from small levels with weakling monsters and, as you
gained experience (both the player, and the character, who gets much
needed hitpoints and damage bonuses as he goes up in levels) faces
tougher foes and terrain as the game progresses. A game which almost
REQUIRES you to enter god-mode to win is not well designed and probably
will not be a good seller.
Other complaints include: monsters seem to walk on lava and water while
you sink in it to your hips (so when you attack them, you strike at
their feet). I don't disagree with this concept, but frankly, it is
UGLY! I got really tired of hacking at monster toenails before I
progressed past the first level!
There are a lot of "instant-kill" areas...this mostly is hidden pit-
traps with spikes on the bottom upon which you are impaled and instantly
killed. Perhaps the idea is that in the game, like in life, one is a
mere step from death, but at least in real life I can see my feet and
avoid a costly misstep! I hate instant-kills! It is unfair to the
player, and makes one resort to a move-a-step-save-the-game, move-a-
step-save-the-game manevuer.
Box, Manual and Goodies: Big box of mostly cardboard filler. The manual had a
number of obvious typos (I found them without looking for them :). A lot
of the detail from the original Witchhaven manual was cut out (i.e. how
much damage each weapon does, experience level charts, etc.) but
otherwise it is virtually identical to the W1 manual. It does include a
new section giving a primer on how to use the Build editor. On the CD
disk were demos for V-For-Victory and Chronomaster
Conclusion: Witchhaven 2 was a big disappointment. All the really nifty
concepts of the original were left out and the enhanced game engine in
fact left a lot to be desired; in may ways I felt it detracted from the
game due to its general sluggishness. It felt like Capstone was trying
to make a quick buck off a successful (?) product by adding a few new
monsters and a few new levels. They obviously tried to do more but it
sure didn't FEEL like it. Its only saving graces are its connection to
the original and its gorgeous tilesets.
Grade: D+
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(from the box)
Minimum System Requirements:
Computer: 486/66 (Pentium for SVGA)
Memory: 8MB
Video Card: VGA (320x200) or SVGA (640x480)
Sound Card: Most Major Sound Cards supported
Hard Drive: 62 MB free
CD-ROM: Double Speed
Controls: Keyboard, Mouse, Joystick, and most major 3d headsets
Players: 1-16 network play or head-to-head modem
My machine:
Pentium 100MHz
16 MB ram
Video:During testing I used both a Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 (2mb DRAM) and the
much slower Avance PCI 2301 1MB
SoundCard: Gravis Ultrasound Max 1MB (didn't work) and SoundBlaster Pro
CD-ROM: GoldStar 4x
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