Review Hellgate: London reviewed

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Flagship Studios; Hellgate: London

<a href=http://hellgatelondon.com/>Hellgate: London</a>, aka the disappointment of epic proportions, has been reviewed by the media.
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<blockquote><a href=http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/832/832739p1.html>IGN - 6.8/10</a>:
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At the end of the day Hellgate: London delivers an experience that is fun for a few hours but quickly grows repetitive. The stat-driven combat takes the player one step away from the action and the modular levels and peripheral nature of the story keeps players from investing in the world. Balanced against that are levels that are virtually teeming with enemies and a loot and upgrade system that gives you a real sense of progress every minute that you play. Your own enjoyment of Hellgate will naturally depend on your tolerance for the repetitious levels and your overall desire to find the perfect combination of skills and items that will allow you to take on the toughest of the game's challenges with ease. Unfortunately for Hellgate, our tolerance and desire levels just aren't what they used to be.
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<a href=http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/hellgate-london/832252p1.html>GameSpy - 3/5</a>:
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If the development team had poured half the creativity and personality into the setting, character, content or story as they did into the fighting and looting, the game might have become a modern-day classic. Instead, what comes out of this Hellgate often feels a little underwhelming.
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<a href=http://www.gamedaily.com/games/hellgate-london/pc/game-reviews/item/4251/1839/>Game Daily - 7/10</a>:
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It's easy to write Hellgate off as a mediocre game, but the truth is it's not altogether bad. In fact, it has some truly excellent innovations, like the item augmentation system that can imbue common items with special properties. Hellgate also has a machine that increases the level of an item, so players don't have to ditch useful armor or weapons because they outgrew them. Additionally, the game has a fantastically wicked sense of humor that comes out in the NPC dialogue. The problem is, the game tries to be a little bit of everything, but no one aspect gets fully developed.</blockquote>Sad, but true. They should have stuck with the isometric Diablo model.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.rpgwatch.com">RPG Watch</A>

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Rex has been lowered into the hot lava to be terminated.

 

[Vault Dweller]

The last time someone was thrown in hot lava we ended up with Darth Vader, so let's be careful here.

 

[Jasede]

That's just because they didn't destroy the chip.

 

[Nightjed]

In fact, it has some truly excellent innovations, like the item augmentation system that can imbue common items with special properties. Hellgate also has a machine that increases the level of an item, so players don't have to ditch useful armor or weapons because they outgrew them.

Uh? diablo 2 had gems/jewels, then sacred had jewels that could be reused, that was like 5 years ago, then disgaea and every other game from nis had items you could level up, where is the innovation ?

i like how gamespy bashes hellgate all the review then to give it the worst possible grade ... 3/5

i guess that teaches devs that when you hold features so you can then sell them in a "subscription" model ends up in a shitty game nobody will subscribe to, lets have a minute of silence for the idiots that paid the 150 bucks for the "elite" version that will probably get nothing for their extra money (nobody subscribes -> no funds -> no "extras" -> )...

edit: i also love how nobody considers that in diablo 2, hellgate classes would have been 3 classes, a warrior, a mage and an "archer", there is no explanation why they splited similar classes when they could have done it like diablo and let you play classes with wildly different working builds other than to increase the "classes count"

edit2: isometric mode would have probably made the levels look less repetitive but i doubt it would have made the gameplay any better

 

[MasPingon]

Game Daily - 7/10

Well, it's at least better then The Witcher. Stephen Wong is my new hero

 

[SuicideBunny]

meh. in retrospect, my beta enthusiasm was unjustified.

 

[vrok]

meh. in retrospect, my beta enthusiasm was unjustified.

We already knew that.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I thought they were incredibly generous.

I played the demo and thought it was the worst thing I've played since Halo.

 

[Kingston]

So when does Rex perform his flipflop?

Also, has anyone got it?

 

[doctor_kaz]

I'm so glad this shitpile is getting panned. Namco or Flagship should have sent out more $800 goodie bags and they should have bought more advertising space.

 

[Koby]

IGN - 6.8/10
GameSpy - 3/5
Game Daily - 7/10

This begs for a Donald Trump emoticon shantic, but thats not my style.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Here is the official statement from Rex:
"Why they would get someone who so obviously hates Action RPGs to review Hellgate: London is beyond me. The gameplay is easily Hellgate: London's greatest strength."
http://www.hellgateguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8917

 

[Micmu]

I've played/tried many action "RPG"s (incuding Diablo 1/2 - for which this game was supposed to be a "spiritual successor" but just doesn't work in a non-isometric type of game) and none so shitty - judging by the demo. Except for Dungeon Lords, maybe .

 

[HanoverF]

The sad part is they were bought off and those reviews are very generous.

5 word capsule review; Shitgate: London by Flagshit studios

or Shitgate: Suckin'

IGN's blurb is kinda funny, the game review equivalent of telling a dumpee "It's not you, it's me."

Ouch. I do hope all these reviews get updated in a few weeks/months, when the additional content and bug fixes are live.

MmmmMMM, pie in the sky sure is tasty!

 

[aweigh]

IDK guys, I'd rather wait for an unbiased review from RPG Front.

 

[Koby]

Ok, serious question.

Is Diablo I/II, as a benchmark for a hack and slash, stands that high?

Is trying to suppress Diablo I/II really that hard of a task?

 

[WalterKinde]

So Hellgate:London another game that had potential but went very very wrong.

That reviewer from Game Daily seems to get different versions of games to play.
I Just got the Witcher and what he decries in his Witcher review i just don't see when i play it.
Now with the Hellgate review i wonder , what he praises will i somehow miss seeing if i were to get it and play it?

The only problem with those scores is that in general they are too similiar to The Witcher's which is a shame.

EDIT
Wow i just took a look at that Hellgate IGN review thread over at Hellgate guru.
And i came away confused :D
Is Hellgate SUPPOSED to be a fullblown MMO?
Some of the Hellgate faithful are saying people should wait and see since the original WOW is nothing like what it is today and that MMOs take time to fix/improve.
I thought the MMO side of the game was totally voluntary to the player and if it is what does this have to do with the game sucking (according to the big media reviews) so shouldn't the game be judged on its single player offline mode and basic free MMO since the pay per play premium class MMO is voluntary?

 

[Vault Dweller]

@ Koby: Not really, but most people are too stupid to do that. Sacred was pretty good though. Flawed, but good.

 

[Koby]

@ Koby: Not really, but most people are too stupid to do that. Sacred was pretty good though. Flawed, but good.

Considering the amount of hype, and the sums of money to create and support such amounts of hype, at one point or another, someone had to come up with all that capitol.

Looking at it from a purely business perspective, you get the impression that Hellgate: London, while surly make a profit, is not even getting close to the potential it had (speculative: from the lukewarm acceptance of the game not just by the media but from other internet board I frequently visit).

A businessman approaches his endeavors like a businessman should, maximizing profits and all of that. But in this case, I can't escape the feeling that even the people that have forked out the money for this game, a tripleA games, aren’t doing their job properly.

I mean surly, any experience marketer, experienced in the gaming industry at least, will tell you that slapping together a collection of 'features' and calling it a day will NOT be enough. This had success writing all over it, and by success I mean WOW success here, how the fuck did they manage to screw this up?

I know the gaming industry has it shares of … abnormalities, but this is starting to feel like the twilight zone.

 

[Jasede]

Is it the Daikatana of action RPGs?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Most likely because the publishers believe that isometric is teh suck, while first/third person is supar immersive and simply can't fail to sell gazillions.

 

[Koby]

Most likely because the publishers believe that isometric is teh suck, while first/third person is supar immersive and simply can't fail to sell gazillions.

Not enough, not this time -

I mean surly, any experience marketer, experienced in the gaming industry at least, will tell you that slapping together a collection of 'features' and calling it a day will NOT be enough.

Oblivion had the graphics, sandbox gameplay in a vast (relatively) game world, character customizing (apparently a crucial component for some, even a lot). "there is no short of excuses".

I know it looks like only a moderate fail, if at all (I already stated the I believe that this game will be profitable), I just get cant shake this feeling...

Creating a 'better' Diablo is not (I believe) such a difficult task.

Something here just does not make sense.

 

[Elhoim]

Creating a 'better' Diablo is not (I believe) such a difficult task.

Of course it's not difficult. The challenge lies in creating something that makes it dissappear, that sets a new standard.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Bwahahaha! This is sooo funny and sad. Yet Rex is still defending the crap from Flagshit, yet he flops on Troika who actually attempted to make true RPG's. Funny, funny stuff. Fuck the gooker I say. Let's get that Ladyboy cocksucker so riled up that he will flipflop on the game and then let's rag on him for the rest of his life about it!