Hellgate
oohkipsie
Demons have invaded the Hundred Acre Wood and have turned it into a burnt wilderness. Pooh, Christopher Robin and friends must stop the demons from turning their beloved woods into an permanent outpost of Hell.
Tyrael: Those poor creatures, they do need a brave hero.
Deckard Caine: Well, maybe I can get one to help out.
Sorry guys this is my review.
Move along there is nothing to see here.
Ok, thats enough of that.
You are probably wondering what am I going on about, well I will tell you.
Hellgate: London,is an action RPG made by the same folks who used to work at Blizzard.
They were responsible for Diablo or diablo 2, not sure. So these folks have some background on making games.
Will tell you from the start, they could have spent a bit more time honing and adding more polish.
The game is stable, it only crashed once and that was after several hours, I guess that was a hint to take a break. One of the glitches is that the character models disappear. So you might see weapons and shields walking around with no people attached. Also inventory item graphics disappear when you Id certain items. Store NPCs might be working on their stealth skills so you may not see them but they are there to buy and sell. Some monsters like death maggots don't die and some monsters could end up floating in the air.
Sometimes the game slows down during big battles and it turns into a slide show. Not good for your character if they are melee chars. Since my machine is sorta on the low end now, I have to put up with stuff. NPC depth and cut scenes are not as good as Diablo 2. The intro movie is good and gets you somewhat into the game.
Where was I?
Um, demons invade Earth, take over London, people cower in the subway or the Underground.
Your char's job is to level up until strong enough to give the boot to the Big Bad. How does one become a demon booter? Well you have 3 basic Factions to join Templar (Melee), Cabal (Magic User) and Military (Ranged).
Templars either slash and dash (Blademasters) or act as the Rock of Gibraltar and have the enemy break against them (Guardians). Blademasters and Guardians can also dual wield too. Guardians have a bunch of skills for their shield, smacking enemies with a shield is pretty useful. Stunned enemies twitch in place and are open to lots of hitting with weapons.
The Cabal tries to turn the power of the demons against them. Summoners summon creatures to fight against the demons. Invokers/envokers are mages that are into energy and poison attacks. Nothing like Word of Fear to keep a pushy crowd back. Wonder if that will work for Christmas shopping.
The military profession has the Engineer and Marksman. The engineer has bots to support and attack while the Marksman has different weapon attacks. Marksmen can use sniper rifles to reach out and touch someone. Don't wound a monster or it will come after you.
The great thing about this game is, depending on what class you pick, the gameplay changes. Playing as a melee char plays differently than ranged/magic. Melee is done using a 3rd person camera, which is good so you can see whats around you while the ranged/Magic classes play with a first person view. All factions have access to different guns. Weapons can do direct and splash damage. Molten edge swords do direct fire damage while firebrands do splash fire damage.
Melee classes have problems with floating enemies until you get the Heaven's Sword which allows you to jump up and attack floating enemies, you can use a gun too. Guns need points in accuracy, so you have to decide if its worth it. Those points could be more useful in the other attributes. The ranged/Magic classes can dual wield pistols and use spells too. Invokers use foci which fire spectral energy.
Spectral energy makes enemies cause less damage when then attack and they take more damage while phased. If you want to gib something spectral energy or fire is the way to go. If you get phased, run away or turn on the spectral brace so you don't get killed.
If you take damage from special effects, poison, fire, spectral and you have the right item equipped, the UI is good enough for you to hit the control key and cure your char. You don't have to dig through the inventory while in battle to find the right item. Also if you set attack skills to be activated on shift and can use them during battle. Magic users can use a focus, gun and a spell, so they get 3 attacks.
In the beginning you are wearing shirts and pants but later on you can buy or find or make armor. Some armor comes with a shield too. Enemies have to get rid of the shield first before they can harm your char. That also means that you have to remove the shield first before enemies take damage.
Almost everything can be upgraded and dismantled. Sometimes your char will find a blueprint that lists what ingredients are needed and you get a new item. Find a new fuel thats better than what you were using, you can go to a machine remove the mods and add new ones. It costs money but not too much. Unlike other RPGs that I have been playing, you will not end up with a lot of money, there is always something to spend it on. Upgrades can be bought and they scale up in price. Get a weapon with 6 mod slots and you could double its damage value depending on the mods.
So we have covered weapons and armor, now where do we go?
Lots of places, ruined city streets, sewers, tunnels and other places. After a while you will recognize the same building or bombed out double decker bus, there are limits on how much variety can you have in a ruined demon plagued city. The British Museum has lost its charm but the monsters that hang out there seem to like it just fine. Maybe they get discounts like free admission on the Emperor's day. You do get to go to other places and meet people and kill things.
Monsters are a varied bunch, some will run towards your char, others will shoot from a distance and others will be spying on folks on the 8th floor. Yeah, you will be fighting big monsters.
Luckily death is no big deal, if you have enough money you can come right back, if you don't have enough cash, you could wander around until you find your headstone. If you have no cash, you have to catch the crosstown bus and get off somewhat near your headstone.
I had fun with the single player game, not too much with the multiplayer game. Not too comfortable walking up to strangers and clicking on them. Probably will stick with finishing the single player game. If you are interested, get the demo and give it a shot.
PrizeFlyers Journal 1: First steps
