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Hellgate: London Review (continued)
More User Submitted Hellgate: London Reviews
Date: 2008-03-19
Hellgate London: Just plain fun
Keep in mind the reasons behind the bad ratings below:
1) Early versions of the game
The game had a lackluster release and the vast majority of issues have been fixed. Not only is the game less bug prone, it has added content and mechanics that make it a blast.
2) Weak systems
Their systems didn't meet the minimum requirements OR they had issues with installation. You can't judge a game's content if you've NEVER PLAYED IT.
This game is great. It's not an MMO. Judging it in that context is inane. It's a fast paced RPG meets FPS multiplayer experience. It is perfect for getting a group of friends together and having fun.
I'm not going to go into deep detail, but HGL is well worth picking up. As of mid-March 08, this game is more streamlined and far superior to its original form at retail launch. I've gotten about 15 friends to pick it up and not ONE of them has been disappointed.
If you're on the fence, go for it and pick up this title.
Date: 2008-02-26
Incredibly Fun
I've been playing PC games for at least 20 hours a week since 1992. Nowadays, practically every game that comes out is some cookie-cutter version of Halo. Hellgate London is not only a highly innovative game that breaks many molds, it is one of the most fun games I've ever played.
It is the kind of game that seems simple at first, but if you invest some time into it, you start to discover great depth to the mechanics.
I love action in games, and I love RPG character-building. Hellgate excels at both of these, more than any game that has come out in the last 7 years.
The gameplay is really well designed. There are multitudes of choices for you to make as you build your character, and each requires a different strategic approach to fighting the monsters.
There are about 30 different monster types in the game, and each one is very different in behavior and in the way they can damage you. Some monsters ambush you from the sky, some materialize in hordes around you, some try to flank and shoot at you, some just charge you like a bull.
The game's level randomizer combines these monsters together in many different configurations. As long as you are playing at an appropriately challenging difficulty level, the combat is always exciting.
The game can be played single-player, but it is best played with friends. In a group, you can combine squad tactics and trade around your gear with your buddies.
There is a subscription model, but buying the initial game gives you unlimited access to the main game arc. You can play it for free for as long as you want, or subscribe to gain access to expansion content. If you don't want to subscribe, you can play for free, forever, even with your subscriber friends. Any way you slice it, this game is a great buy.
Date: 2008-02-12
Exellent game if you've always wanted a gun in Diablo 2
Hellgate: London def. gets five stars for it's inovative unique appreach. I believe the intent of the game was, as other reviewers have stated, to be the next "diablo." The game comes close, and if you are more of the scifi type, i.e. your idea of a good time is laying down a wall of lead with your futureistic machine gun which has been modified to holy heck, this game is def. for you. The typical character classes, sword and board guardians and magic weilding cultist are familiar, but the special addition to this game is the ex-military perssonel. Interestingly enough, with the ex-military personnel you can switch between third person view and first person shooter view which is an exellent addition for all of us who are first person nuts. This game is worth the money and a must for any first person sci-fi shooter fan.
Super Pro.
You can modify, not just socket, your weapon. By salvaging components from other weapons you can turn a 26 damage rifle into a 76 damage rifle with stun ability and more.
Super Con.
No mousewheel switch between different weapons configurations. i.e. if you have a rocket launcher in slot F1 and a machine gun in slot F2 you physically have to press F1 or F2 instead of using the mousewheel like other forst person shooters. Taking your hand off the controls to do this can be the difference between saving the world or rotting in it.
Date: 2008-02-08
Totally addicted!
I have been playing this game non-stop since I bought it. It is fun to play alone or with a group of friends! Just make sure your computer exceeds the minimum requirements by a bunch. This thing is a resource hog...but worth it. It does give you several options to lower the frame rate a bunch for less powerful computers. Great feature!!!
Date: 2008-02-06
A visually pretty epic failure.
Looking at the "Key Features" list for the game, the following is claimed:
"The RPG Authority - Flagship Studios was founded by the core creators of Diablo, one of the biggest PC gaming franchises in history with over 13 million units sold worldwide - they are the first, last and only voice in the world of action RPGs."
They'll be the first to tell you they made Diablo, and they'll be more than happy to rest on their laurels instead of trying to improve upon something they already made. This game plays exactly like Diablo with a few parts of World of Warcraft thrown in (the worst parts).
"Beyond RPG - Experience new layers to the traditional hack-and-slash forumla by experiencing the action RPG from the first-person perspective and through nontraditional character classes and playstyles."
Changing the viewpoint from which you play a game is not cruise control for innovative. The character classes are also not nontraditional, and neither are the playstyles. You have three choices which basically boil down to Warrior, Ranged Attacker, and Caster.
Every skill in the game can be found in an earlier game in some almost-identical form, and if that fails, pick up an AD&D manual and browse through it. This is not innovation.
"Have it your way - Three unique factions with their own visual and gameplay style, offering something for every type of gamer, whether they prefer the longer-range blasts of the Hunter or want to get up close and personal with the Templar."
3 fairly distinct classes with 2 subclasses each, with several overlapping talents. Subclasses share gear for the most part, although other classes can't equip any of your class' gear.
"Infinite Replayability - Dynamically generated levels, chance events and massive quantities of randomly created items makes for infinite replayability -- no two experiences will ever be the same and every game will be it's own unique event."
Infinitely replaying this game would indeed be hell. There's roughly 5 types of stages with a special one thrown in every now and then. You'll see subways, sewers, ambiguous city streets, underground facility, and ambiguous museum/building. The "dynamic generation" of levels is exceedingly pathetic, as once you get used to the game, you can generally navigate in a shorter amount of time than the level will take to load (did I mention the absurd loading times between every stage?).
The quests themselves are incredibly unimaginitive and monotonous, and you'll find yourself killing x number of demons or collecting x number of demon tonails (that hardly ever drop).
"Mad Skills - Each faction has three character classes that contain a wide variety of skills and spells that are fully customizable."
Mad boring skills. They lack the synergy bonuses that made you feel like you weren't wasting points in Diablo 2, and are summarily unimpressive. There are also fewer per class than the classes in Diablo 2 had.
"London Calling - Explore post-apocalyptic London, even darker and gloomier than usual. From shattered cathedrals and landmarks to the ancient ruins buried beneath the shell of a once-great city, players will need to scour all of London in search of the unknown."
So dark and gloomy that you have no idea what you're looking at--good thing they name the levels.
"Misery Loves Company - Don't be a glory hog - fight online. Gather with friends or recruit strangers in Underground stations and venture out into mean streets of London together to erase the Demonic threat."
And you'll be plenty miserable playing this game. They have a whopping total of two realms, one for North America, and one for Europe, and unless you subscribe, good luck finding anyone to party with.
Also, the chat interface is incredibly clunky, and you'll be unable to figure out how to do anything more than whisper someone without asking someone--the manual doesn't cover how to use the various channels, and the tutoral doesn't either.
"Hell Never Looked Better - HellGate: London features all of the latest next-generation technology to deliver a true, DX10 experience, while being fully scalable for optimal performance on older PCs."
In terms of graphics, I would consider the game to be cutting edge. I played it in DX10 mode and thought it looked great, but there's still some major bugs in the programming, as the game often froze up, and rain caused a massive drop in frames per second despite my system's beefy specs.
The actual user interface is lacking, and there's often a slight delay with the mouse and UI buttons. Abilites don't seem to combo well together, and the tutorial is an absolute joke in terms of explaining things that should've been explained.
In closing, aside from stating that I wish I had my money and hours of my life back, this game brings to mind a saying of one of my old teachers, which I find very relevant to a product such as this:
"You can polish a turd until it sparkles, but it's still a turd."
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