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Hellgate: London was one of the most highly-anticipated games of 2007. Developed by the same people responsible for Diablo and Diablo II, it promised something that games in the similar genre could not: randomized levels in an online environment and instanced play where players could bring in a teammate after the group had already entered the instance. At the same time, the game’s business model was never clearly defined. Always billed as “free,” about a year ago, the developers mentioned that the high quality of service they would provide was normally associated with some sort of monthly fee. When pressed on the issue, the developers reiterated the game would be free for online play. The same kind of murky cloud surrounded key issues like guild support and the multiplayer experience.

Fast forward to release. Hellgate: London is a fine single-player game. The storyline is fairly basic and in fact is also predictable. This isn’t a detraction, though, as the Diablo series also offered a very basic story that served as a framework for the real fun of killing things and gaining loot. In HGL, the London Underground serves as an extended dungeon crawl. The visceral experience of the fps is not to be underestimated. It’s fun to shoot stuff. It’s fun to blow up barrels. The game is filled with a lot of quests, and items are plentiful and interesting. In particular, the ability to salvage components useful for upgrading and crafting better weapons will appeal to people who want to make bigger and better guns.

The multiplayer aspect is problematic. The free version of the multiplayer game is very much like D2 in that it is merely a multiplayer version of the single player game. The subscription version does offer additional features, more quests, and the ability to create guilds (non-subscribers can join guilds). However, the multiplayer version is still buggy, even though nearly 3 months have passed since release. A broken chat system (since improved), poor guild support, a memory leak that produces game crashes, and significant lag in crowded outposts–all combine to undermine the social experiences that are the backbone of online gameplay.

Gameplay is often compared to that of Diablo II. This is both the strength and weakness of HGL. D2 fans will be familiar with the look of the interface and the inventory management. Health injectors are the HGL techie version of health potions. Components are the new rune words. Fighting monsters is little more complicated than a click-fest, though HGL monster AI is a bit smarter than that of D2’s. For players who really love D2, still play it, and yearn for something like D2, this is a great game.

However, for those who remember D2 fondly but have moved to games like World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, EVE, RF Online, or are looking forward to Warhammer Online, Hellgate will seem, well, dated. The random level generation, which sounds so cool on paper, ends up disappointing. Yes, the levels are randomly generated, but they still look the same. Items are fun, but the inventory management shows none of the improvements in design made over the past 10 years. The game lacks the innovation, the fresh spin on the genre that the Diablo series achieved.

Overall, if you like and play Diablo II, you’ll very much enjoy Hellgate: London. If you once had a D2 addiction, but moved on to play other games, you’ll probably get the sense that you’ve been there, done that, and you expect more.

Rating: 3 / 5

I bought this with rather high hopes, having known about the game for a long time. But it didn’t live up to my expectations.

It was made by the same people who made Diablo 2, so you would think it would have the same feel. Unfortunately not. It feels more tedious than D2, with so many NPCs giving a “joke” greeting when you start up a conversation, it kills the immersion. The gameplay is repetitive, and it doesn’t feel like it goes anywhere.

As far as the collector’s edition goes, same story different chapter. The game aside, in the collector’s edition(Which I bought) it says it includes the soundtrack, making of, etc. Well the soundtrack is on a DVD, so I can’t even listen to it in my stereo, which is what I wanted to do. I can’t seem to take the music off with my software either. So I have to run the DVD in order to listen to music. Just doesn’t fly for me.

The graphics are next gen as they say, but at times it seems to demand a little bit more than most. Crashes aside, my computer could run Bioshock decently with pretty high settings. Hellgate won’t let me put the shaders on high without tacking on four minutes to each loading screen. (Not sure why this is)

Multiplayer(Which is the real reason I fallowed this game) isn’t as I thought either. In D2, on B.net, you could start up a room, and up to 7 other people could join. It felt personal, and more user friendly to me. In Hellgate, you join one of two servers, and then just get tossed into one of many random instances. It feels more like an MMO, which I hate quite frankly.

It had great potential. But I’m not even playing it anymore.

I’ll say it could be fun for some people. But it lost my interest pretty quick.
Rating: 3 / 5