Review Hellgate: London reviewed

I love you, Major.

 

Now that Hellgate flopped, eyes can be turned onto Hellgate: Moscow, ie. Metro 2033 - Last Refuge. It's supposed to come out sometime in 2008 but there hasn't been any updates for about a year.

 

I'm glad it's flopping...the creativity just isn't there.

I was mildly impressed by what some ex-Blizzard guys achieved with Guild Wars (especially given their subscription model) but "Let's make Diablo 2 in 3D!" was hardly a winner to begin with, let alone when you dump a subscription model on top of it if you want to access anything beyond the basic gameplay.

The demo was absolutely awful too, which probably turned a lot of people off immediately.

 

Sounds pretty cool...

 

It's dull really. The first impression as I created a new character is one of total 'meh'.

I entered the game, and the game said 'Incoming Transmission' press enter to accept. OK.

There's a video feed like Starcraft's talking heads...So I waited for him to say something. Nothing. Just 3-5 words in a phrase. I have to click 'Forward' button below it to continue 'reading' the transmission. Wtf? Are we still in year 2000?

Moving on to the gameplay as Marksman, it plays like a weak shooter. Deus Ex 2 minus the body parts targetting (was there even one in Deus Ex 2?) Ammos are unlimited, fire away. The only concern is the reticule being too spread out that causes you to miss greatly when you go full-auto.

There were some interesting combat mechanics and scripted boss fights that are quite exciting in First person perspective, but honestly I would rather play a real Single player FPS than a pseudo-stat-shooter like Hellgate. Fying enemies that swoop down, leaping lizards you snipe off in mid air are some of the little glowing moments in the game. But shooting 200 lizards to hit lvl 10 is as exciting as it sounds.

It's a fun team game, but other than that. Forget the single player, it has no value as a single player game. You much better off playing Diablo 2 again since the loot are so uninspired. You basically can only equip your own class gear, so no playing Bow-wielding Paladin or Meleemancer like D2.

And the inclusion of traditional Identification scrolls? Wtf? What is the point of this shit? They are replicating unnecessary things and neglecting the fun parts. It doesn't even look great and has memory leak issue. Btw, this impression comes from a 2 hour seating at my friend's place who are trying to rip me off my Witcher obsession and getting me into their 4 man-Hellgate party. I have to politely decline.

 

'cept for the chosen one bit at the end.

 

In 20 years the few pigs would have been eaten or have starved while only a dozen people would have survived. Its just not believeable.

It could make for a interesting game scenario though.

 

Is it really flopping? For what we know, it might be a smash hit.

 

Am i the only one that is having fun blowing away undead and demons?

 

Every single FPS ever made did blowing away demons and zombies better. Even the ones without demons and zombies.

 

lets see...
ppl that want a rpg will get The Witcher
ppl that want a fps will get Crysis (the demo was great btw)
and ppl who want rpg-fps hybrids with lesbian sex scenes will get Mass Effect
yep, Hellgate is doomed.

 

no, having fun with HG:L as well. its no masterpiece or 2nd comming of christ but its a decent hack n slash (which suprised me after the shitty demo, i inititally wouldnt have bought it based on that but couldnt resist anyhow) which is alot more than all the other crappy hack n slash games released since d2. (shit like titans quest, loki, dawn of magic, whatever)

its missing the special something and has too many annoying flaws to be a really great game but i m having fun and expect to continue so for quite a while. my biggest issue was the lack of difficulty initially. game was a snorefest till lvl 8 or so, but its slowly picking up (hope it stays that way).

as for flopping.... its almost everywhere #1 in sales charts, hype carries itself even with bad reviews.

 

Diminishing returns I says. It's what you get when there's nothing *new* about your new product. Hopefully this very public sodomization will have a ripple effect...

 

No, I played Painkiller too.

Or are you talking about DOOM?

 

You find it better than CoD4? There is also Gears of War, UT 3, Timeshift(?), Area 51... Great time to be a FPS player. Too bad I like RPGs more.