Hellgate: London

"I love the smell of burnt flesh in the morning."

I saw a disturbing lack of reviews so I thought I'd throw my thoughts into the mix.

Story: 7/10: If you like the occasional cutscene, think Diablo 2, then there is plenty of story to go around and the CG cutscenes are well done. If you want a story book which requires some clicking, this is not what you're looking for.

Graphics: 8/10: While I'm playing on dated hardware, nvidia 6800, the graphics still look very nice if a little dated if you compare it to crysis, but then crysis is insane. The character models, monsters, armor and weapons all look nice. The fire, electricity, toxins, etc. all have decent effects as well.

Gameplay: 9/10: The game play is intense and visceral. You do not get time to pause and think, but you can always run away. The FPS-esque style used makes the combat that much more involving, but gladly doesn't necessitate FPS accuracy with the mouse. Moving your cursor over an enemy is all it takes, actual hit% is determined from your stats so don't worry about practicing your headshots. The game is very loot centric, which is great for treasure hunters like myself. Multiplayer is even better than singleplayer as the speed of combat increases as does the difficulty and loot quality.

Bonus Content: 3/10 now, ??/10 later: Everyone wonders if the subscription is worth it, I admit I paid the $10 and I'm waiting to see what I get. So far I'm not terribly impressed but I do appreciate the extra locker space. Elite mode may well prove worth the investment when I reach it. The upcoming content additions and mail/auction system will easily boost the score to a 6 or 7.

Bugs: 6/10: Is this game still in beta? nope. Should it be? maybe. Will you care? not likely. This game still has issues with some minor aspects but none are crippling. I still get stuck on terrain sometimes and my drone keeps forgetting a weapon is equipped but those problems are easily remedied. If you have 0 tolerance for bugs... what are you doing buying games at launch? I can't think of a PC game with an online component that didn't need any patching after launch, but that might be because EA published Tiberium wars too.

Should you buy this game? : If you liked diablo 2 I'd bet there is a 75% chance you'll love hellgate too. If you want to frag demons with cool weapons and abilities and your friends, this is the game for you. Personally, my robot friends and I are heading back into hell for more killin'.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/07

Game Release: Hellgate: London (US, 10/31/07)