General Discussion

MMORPG.com Staff Writer Joe Iuliani gives his us his impressions of Hellgate: London.

The gates of Hell have opened in the middle of London, unleashing legions of demons upon the unsuspecting populace. Well mostly unsuspecting, I mean c’mon in every game or movie somebody sees these things coming.

Hellgate London is the post Apocalyptic MMO brought to you by the folks at Flagship Studios.

Hellgate London is not what most gamers typically consider an MMO, although it does meet all of the criteria. It’s Massive (well maybe not massive) Multiplayer (even though you can choose the solo play feature) and it’s Online (um, or not if you choose solo play).

Read it all here.

Problem I had was it didn't feel like London at all, alot of the levels were sooo generic it could have been any city.

I've been playing since release and still enjoy the game.  A 7.0 is a good rating.  Not really a great game but still good fun.

This was a good review. Thanks for posting it.

I am curious about the solo-ability of this game. I assume from the "why bother to play the single-player mode" comment that you can pretty much play it through solo even if you are in multiplayer mode? Is that correct? Or are certain missions/sections/instances completable only with player groups?

The biggest turnoff for this game (for me, that is) is that it looks unremittingly grim, gray, bleak, and depressing. I think that would kind of old for me pretty quickly.

Everything can be soloed though some of the elite nightmare levels and stonehenge areas work better with a group.  I've never been able to successfully solo The Wild.  Or at least not in a way that is worth doing.

The atmosphere is bleak all the time.  If you read the books you'll understand it better.  The demons have destroyed and burned everything.

Originally posted by tmr819

This was a good review. Thanks for posting it.

I am curious about the solo-ability of this game. I assume from the "why bother to play the single-player mode" comment that you can pretty much play it through solo even if you are in multiplayer mode? Is that correct? Or are certain missions/sections/instances completable only with player groups?

The biggest turnoff for this game (for me, that is) is that it looks unremittingly grim, gray, bleak, and depressing. I think that would kind of old for me pretty quickly.

It was my understanding that this was a solo game but with also an online component?

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by tmr819

This was a good review. Thanks for posting it.

I am curious about the solo-ability of this game. I assume from the "why bother to play the single-player mode" comment that you can pretty much play it through solo even if you are in multiplayer mode? Is that correct? Or are certain missions/sections/instances completable only with player groups?

The biggest turnoff for this game (for me, that is) is that it looks unremittingly grim, gray, bleak, and depressing. I think that would kind of old for me pretty quickly.

It was my understanding that this was a solo game but with also an online component?

You don't want to play solo though as the fun part of the game is the multiplayer.

I bought the game at launch. I agree completely with the review except I would have given performance/lag a 3. felt like I was in a beta.

I wanted to love Hellgate, I really did.

I participated in the beta, I purchased the collector's edition, and I paced myself. The game was a blast for a solid 10-12 hours worth of playing and testing, but I slowly found myself feeling the game becoming more shallow and repetitive as I continued to play.

At the end of only a few weeks, I felt as follows:

• Too few tilesets - you can only go through the same subway tunnels and stock city streets so many times before it drives you crazy. Your visits to "hell" don't feel meaningful for the most part, and use the same tilesets as well.
• Too few customization options - Character creator is very weak, leading to minimal visual differentiation besides equipment
• Too few class customization aspects/skillsets - Skills do not scale well, and there was a general lack of depth in terms of skill advancement and use
• Flawed subscription system - too much to mention :)

I've no doubt many of the above deficiencies will be addressed (many probably have been already). I think the last point alienated so many people at launch, as what a subscriber was entitled to changed so many times and never felt well-planned.

The game has a TON of potential; as skilltrees are better developed and additional classes/locations/depth are integrated, I'll certainly come back and play it again down the road.

The game could be turned into something great with enough care.  I agree with the review.  Great write up.