FebruaMaximumPC 2008 02

reviews TESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED

H

ellgate: London wishes it were a lot

of things: Diablo III, an MMO, and

fun, to name a few. However, the

game is as related to Blizzard’s epic series

as a soiled napkin is to the New Yorker.

Hellgate isn’t an MMO either; Flagship

Studios would love to upcharge you $10

a month for additional content (which is

limited to a meager number of quests

and items, as well as guild support and

increased inventory space), but Hellgate’s

core mechanics aren’t even on par with

those of games that lack a monthly fee,

such as Guild Wars.

Even if we leave its uncanny resem-

blance to Diablo out of the equation—which

hardly seems fair, given that Hellgate’s

predecessor is in many ways better—we’ve

been given an experience that feels rushed

in every way. Abandon all hope ye who

choose to take on this quest.

We’d normally use this paragraph to offer

up some witty retelling of Hellgate’s plot, but

the game fails to tell a cohesive story. The

inside jokes and witticisms just aren’t funny,

and they take up a majority of the NPCs’

spoken or typed text. They give Hellgate an

amateur-hour feel, and it’s a shame that the

game’s irritating dialogue system doesn’t

help matters at all. Rather than getting all the

text at once, or even a hefty paragraph, you

must click “Next” to reward yourself with the

next line of prose.

Luckily, since most of the quests are

of the FedEx variety, you can simply skip

the game’s dialogue without missing any

details. Just know that for all the times you

enter an instance to kill multiple iterations of

the same demon, you’re doing something

good. And somehow, these acts of heroism

all build up to what one might call an end-

ing, were there a discernable plot in Hellgate

worth resolving.

To its credit, Flagship’s developers make

the quests a bit more technically interest-

ing as you get closer to the endgame. For

example, watching hordes of NPC characters

clear out the baddies on a level is a moment

worth relishing, given

that you’ve just spent

four acts killing the

same zombies left and

right. But there’s noth-

ing more infuriating than

seeing said legions of

NPCs slaying quest-

specifi c monsters and

giving you no credit for

the kill. The solution?

You’re forced to either

run through the level like

a madman, hoping to

hell that the train of bad-

dies behind you can’t kill

you before you fi nd your

eight kills—or jump in

and out of the instance

in an attempt to reset

the level’s enemies.

It’s a wonderful

moment when Hellgate

rewards your progress by letting you sit

back and stop playing the game. While

this was surely intended as a way to

develop the plot, we consider it an act of

charity for such a miserable bloody romp

through London.

—DAVID MURPHY

Hellgate: London

Smile! You’re in hell!

You can upgrade your favorite weapons, but

Flagship killed this feature by limiting the

number of times you can make changes.

$50, http://www.hellgatelondon.com

ESRB: M

HELLGATE: LONDON

FROM HELL

It’s the closest you’re going

to get to a first-person

Diablo.

EVENT HORIZON^5

Poor inventory trading

mechanism; server glitches force

you to restart from your last save.

Have fun killing the same things in Act 5 that you were killing in Act 1; Hellgate

doesn’t offer much demonic diversity.

82 MAXIMUMPC | FEB 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com

Hellgate’s bonus levels—random entryways scattered

throughout the map—are well worth skipping; you’re better

off using the time to grind.