I would need at least three pages to list the all problems and shortcomings of Hellgate, however all that aside, I really liked this game! The aesthetics blew me away, and I can honestly say that I’ve never seen anything like it before on a PC. That said, I think the game may be slightly misrepresenting itself.

To start off with, Hellgate performs very poorly as a First Person Shooter, so I suggest that you mouse wheel out into third person right away, unless you want to experience the same boring gun animations and restricted view that I suffered through initially. Trust me, make the switch. After that, you will be faced with a sobering realization, this isn’t Gears of War. Hellgate is first and foremost an RPG, and if you look at it in the same vein as Neverwinter Nights and World of Warcraft, suddenly the combat seems far superior to anything you’ve ever experienced in a Roleplaying Game before.

Quests are pretty standard fare, slay X number of monsters, get this for me, give this to her, etc, etc. However, there is one noteworthy flaw in the quest design. Each time you want to advance the quest dialog, you have to click next. I don’t know why they couldn’t have just made the text scroll. You will find that it’s not only a nuisance, but it opens you up to a world of hurt. For example, a zombie can come running up behind you and start hacking away while you are caught up clicking through screen after screen of quest related dialogue. That being said, some of the dungeons in Hellgate London are unlike anything you have seen before in the RPG genre, as it’s quests send you sweeping through the snow covered streets of London, and into the dank mold ridden industrial complexes that surround.

In addition to the game’s epic environments, Flagship Studios really nailed the concept of twitch based combat. The actions feel very fluid, and random encounters will often ramp up to a chaotic fever pitch. Of course, none of this really comes as a surprise when you take into account that Bill Roper and the people who brought you Diablo 2 are on the job. Flagship was formed in 2003 after all the management from Blizzard North resigned due to a dispute with Blizzard Entertainment’s Parent company, Vivendi, and now it seems that the company’s future may ride almost solely on the success of Hellgate.

http://www.ripten.com/hellgate_video_ripten.flv

While Flagship did a great job handling the twitch combat, they did not fair so well in the enemy AI department. The monsters in Hellgate are stupid, if not broken, as they would miss their mark on more than one occasion, jumping right past me, getting caught in the environment, never to be seen again. This is particularly disconcerting due to the fact that Hellgate ships on October 31st. Speaking of stupid, the placement of in game advertising totally takes you out of the experience. Seeing Nvidia and Dark Horse posters right behind the main quest givers screams shameless promotion.

Problems loom ominously over Hellgate like storm clouds over London, however if technical difficulties are clouds, the addictive nature of collecting rare items and exploring randomized dungeons is this game’s sunlight. The replay value is virtually endless as every time you venture into an area it’s different than the time before. Bosses are also randomized throughout the dungeons, making it nearly impossible to know when you will encounter one, and when you do, it will likely scare the crap out.

Character progression is what you would expect from the makers of Diablo, not too complicated, with the ability to upgrade different skills via a grid like system similar to that of WoW. Hellgate also features a full scale weapon upgrade and modification mechanic. Players upgrade thier weapons with lootable mods strewn throughout the games vast landscape.

It will be interesting to see how the developers balance the new mods that will be distributed as subscription based content with the games built in lootable upgrades. Flagship has caught a lot of flack for splintering the market by charging a 9.95$ subscription fee for new content patches, however it seems that your characters progress won’t be hindered dramatically if you opt to play online without paying the additional fees.

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Subscriber Features

Elite Mode
This is for those players that always feel a game is too easy. The demons are tougher, deal out more damage, move faster, travel in larger groups, and have more champions at the ready. Numerous tweaks to the overall balance and progression of the game make this an extremely challenging mode.

Hardcore
Hardcore mode takes away the various resurrection options. For the gamer that wants the ultimate test, try playing an Elite Hardcore character!

Themed Events and Items
Halloween (October 31 – November 4)

* Zombot – A special pet just for All Hallows’, this amalgam of meat and metal is sure to frighten and delight those players that are willing to put in the time to find all the necessary pieces in order to construct him.
*
* All Hallow’s Visage – A Unique Helm that has not only very special properties, but as well a look unlike any other helm in the game. Ghost Rider would be jealous!
* All Hallow’s Treats – Delicious and devious, these different candies do everything from temporarily boosting stats to temporarily altering the appearance of the devourer.
* All Hallows’ Quests – There is a pair of special quests available, including one that is repeatable for continuous fun.
* Nemo ~ Master of Festivities – This special NPC can first be found in Covent Garden Station to greet players and send them on their way with quests specifically crafted for the season.

Guild Creation
Buy purchasing a Guild Herald, a character can form a new guild. Characters can only be part of one guild at a time and should a Guild leader decide to abandon their post, they can pass leadership of the Guild to another subscribing guild member.

Achievements
These are long-term goals for players. The player starts with a few new goals in an Achievement Log. These can be as simple as slaying a certain amount of specific demons to something as difficult as completing quests without the benefit of armor! Players uncover new goals as they start to meet the requirements of that achievement. For example, after 50 zombies have been slain, an “Achievement Unlocked” message displays on the screen. Checking the Achievement Log shows how many zombies must be eradicated to complete the achievement. Rewards for completing achievements can be anything from reputation to tags on the player to special particle effects to items to special skills to – well, anything is possible!

Extra Character Slots
While everyone gets 3 character slots, subscribers can have a maximum of 24 characters.

Larger Stashu

Each character’s storage locker is doubled in size with an extra 6×8 section, making the hoarding of all sorts of goodies that much easier. Packrats rejoice!

Founder’s Perks

Name Color

FoForum Icon

More to come… (this will be an on-going area, as well)

posted from hellgatelondon.com

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The real test will be when the new content patches come out. What kind of items will subscribers get? Will they be more powerful than those found in the retail game? Time will tell, however with what little time I had with the game, I can tell you that I’m already addicted despite it’s sometimes glaring flaws.

Tags: EA, Flagship-Studios, Hellgate:-London, Namco-Bandai

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2 Comments » rahul on October 23, 2007 2:39 am i agree with all the flaws listed by u guys.the 0 day patch will resolve some of these issues such as the quest log etc.i hope they improve the ai.dosent bother me much tho this game is really addictive and is gonna eat up many hours of my life am sure Mike on December 21, 2007 12:41 am This game is pretty fun but I was extremely disappointed that non subscribers are being treated as leachers. We should have been given a free month of the subscription service. I didn’t pay 50 bucks to be treated like a red headed step child. RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.