classicgames.org - Hocus Pocus

The early nineties were the Golden Age of Side Scrollers. Apogee and Epic Megagames led the charge, churning out platformers like they were going out of style. That is because, of course, they were going out of style; by 1996 new 2D PC games were rarer than tuna tartare. Hocus Pocus was part of the genre's last gasp.

Having already published scrollers starring precocious eight-year-olds, grotesquely lovable aliens, guys with guns, and guys with different guns, Apogee realized they needed a young wizard-in-training to round out their own shareware Village People. And thus they picked up Hocus Pocus, anticipating the Harry Potter craze by several years.

The game opens with a humorous story involving a rite of passage for wizards-to-be, some kind of evil sorcerer, the potentially untimely end of the mystical world of Lattice, and perhaps even a beautiful princess of some sort. This plot is quickly ignored as you start running through the levels, blasting baddies with your lightning spell, and collecting crystals to advance.

In every respect, the game is right by the edge of being great, but like East Berlin it finds itself on the wrong side of the border. The colorful VGA graphics look great in stills, but the animation isn't quite fluid. The music, while completely inoffensive, is also completely forgettable-- in fact I have completely forgotten it.

The monsters come fast and furious, but the action is often reduced to standing still while hammering the fire button. And while each level brings new enemy sprites, you won't take long to realize there are really only two types of monsters: the ones that run back and forth throwing things at you, and the ones that fly up and down throwing things at you. You're never required to learn new skills or tactics to evade your enemies.

Often level design makes or breaks a side scroller. For example, it breaks Hocus Pocus. Despite new graphics, all the levels feel the same, and at the worst of times solving the level feels like punishment from the author. A typical puzzle consists of flipping an array of four switches up and down until, by pure trial and error, you come across the combination that opens a door. This motif is repeated dozens of times. This sort of brute-force problem-solving is far more fun for computers than for people.

Hocus Pocus falls just short of being a great game. And I fall just short of recommending it.

Posted by Kevin on 2005-07-28

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