Jump to content
The Dark Mod Forums

Hellgate: London the game that failed..


Unstoppable

Recommended Posts

This is my last review for the game. If you've been counting it's the fourth time i've reviewed this game hoping it would change for the better.

 

I've been following Flagship before they were even that. Same goes for Hellgate: London.

Played beta, demo, and release. Bought the collector's edition and am a Founder's subscriber (150$) I will cover everything I can, as short as I can.

 

The collector's edition is a good deal for 60 dollars. You get a well made making of hellgate london dvd. Very nice concept and class art with slideshows/music. All the trailers as well and a nice box. A map of the game as well in case you're lost. Also the comic book is great.

 

I will break down the game into five parts. Gameplay, graphics, storyline, customer service, and community.

 

The gameplay is great because with the random generated levels you never see the exact same layout all the time. However this game is all about warehouses, sewers, streets, basically a slum filled game. Flagship released the game too early and it shows. However it grows on you and later acts bring fresh new areas.

 

The skills though is something that should be redone. Unfortunately the devs have said they don't plan on redoing them. Also hardcore mode is not soloable all the way and you need to grind to survive with certain classes. To top it off the developers have said this is working as intended. A group beat the last boses in over 6 hours though but who the heck wants to fight a boss for that long.

 

The bugs that were at launch are still there. Suffice to say though some of them have been fixed with the latest patch. I have not crashed but my settings are on medium instead of high. Memory leak bug is still out there and being worked on. However the Flagship staff is severely inexperienced at it shows greatly.

 

Graphics are great and direct x 10 has some nice effects like smoke, dynamic lightning, blurriness while turning etc. Problem is you need a powerhouse rig to run the game at this setting. The game is not optmized as well as it should be. It still looks nice on medium though.

 

Havok physics add to the atmosphere and you can use the environment to dispatch enemies quickly. Slice barrels, blow up co 2 cartridges etc and stuff goes boom. There is never a dull moment in hellgate: london.

 

The storyline is decent at best due to it being complicated for no good reason. With the CGI you get some very nice scenes but there just aren't that many. Most of them are a book and you hear one of the characters talking. The other CGI was no doubt done by Blur Studios. It's possible Flagship did the end CGI but I doubt it.

 

I was happy how the game ended though and it leaves it open for continued addition to the storyline.

 

Now on to the customer service. It is in one word totally lackluster. If you call the number you can immediately tell they've outsourced it. Yes it's an Indian lady at the other end. This is bad because half the time they do not understand what you're trying to say.

 

Secondly if they wouldn't have outsourced it they you would at least have some people in the states that understand your frustrations with the game. For all I know someone half across the world couldn't give a rat's ass that my game keeps crashing.

 

Besides that when you e-mail them many of their replies are automated. Also numerous times have there been typos. This is so unprofessional it's insane. Also you CANNOT get a refund through them for your subscriptions. Lets just say I'm going to be disputing my Lifetime's Subscription with my credit card company.

 

Reason being they just pulled a bait and switch. They advertised 24 character slots for subscribers only. Instead of giving people without a subscription 10 they went ahead and gave em the 24 for free.

 

That's right completely free. Which means those that paid for subscription just got baited and switched. You still get to use items that non subscribers don't use but half the time they are more combersome than you think.

 

Imagine having a Warhammer Online event where you pick up your enemies ears, arms, and make recipes. Problem is you can only find ears and hardly any arms. Also you seem to be finding so many recipe's that they clog up your inventory. Sure you could destroy them but that's not the point.

 

Also you have this one recipe you can't get rid of cuz you crossed into nightmare mode. So you're forced to literally exploit the engine to get rid of the stupid item clogging your inventory. How would you feel?

 

I'll tell you how I feel. I feel like I could make a better game with a pencil and paper. No kidding here folks the content is usually rushed and not well though out. Tack in the customer service and well you get the idea...

 

Moving on we have the lovely welcoming heart warming community. NOT! If you thought the World of Warcraft forums were bad, hah! At least you got mods there. Half the time in the Hellgate London forums they got without any mods.

 

Also the forums are restricted to those who own the game. Which means those that don't won't know how bad it can get. The community is torn and here is why.

 

From day 1 there was NO mention of subscription. This came out about 3 months before launch. 3-6 months at the most. It was like a slap in the face. It was as if Diablo never existed. For 10 years Diablo 2 has been free to play on battle.net and so has every other Blizzard game.

 

This was the ultimate knife in the back, the ultimate betrayal, and I was stupid enough to fork down 150$ for it. Which I will get getting back in a week or two.

 

In conclusion Hellgate: London was supposed to have been so much more. Bill Roper instilled faith in his followers. He is a great man but when it comes down to management Flagship failed and failed hard.

 

Their inexperienced developers released the game when it wasn't time to. The game needed honestly about 6-12 months more to be polished. In the making of DVD bill says and I quote "Flagship studios was founded with the concept to make great games."

 

Well Hellgate: London is a great game but it that does not make it a good one. There is no doubt Flagship will learn an immonumental amount of from their mistakes. That does not mean they won't commit them again.

 

There is communication between the community but instead of giving people refunds they totally change the subject on you when you contact them. Also they really seem not to care as much as they should.

 

To conclude Hellgate: London is a game that was not executed well. I think they should of stayed 2D as Mythos their 2D game is much better some day. If you're interested in this game you should definately Ebay it but don't pay full price.

 

I think 1up.com summed it up best. This game deserves a 4.0 out of 10.

I'll definately be getting my money back for Founder's offer. I just feel hurt that a company could do this. Especially with Bill Roper being one of the men in charge.

 

Honestly I feel like he should be ashamed of himself to release a game like this. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it. It's all the other little things that compound to one big heart ache. Hellgate: London can burn in hell. (Definately quote me on that!)

 

-Pros-

Nice gameplay and graphics.

Some good parts to the storyline and CG movies.

Nice moddable weapons and looting system.

 

Cons

It don't work right all the time.

Confusing storyline.

Subscription based system segregates community.

Customer service which is 1/10th that of Blizzard's

Inexperienced development team

Rushed buggy game.

 

-Conclusion- Hellgate: London can burn in hell. /cry :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I played the demo, after having an avid interest in the title for the past year. However, the demo was quite a letdown. It still feels as if the product is in early Beta stages, either that or there was a series of poor development choices for the various facets, including UI, graphics texture blocks, volumetrics, ambience, color tones, etc… The game needs a serious dose of analysis, then streamlining what’s important. It just feels too much of a disconnected mismash.

 

From the demo, I could see the potential for a good game, but in its current state it is covered in too much shit. Terribly bland textures, repetitive gameplay styles, weak sound effects/ambience/music, cookie-cutter voicework, pitiful mission assignments, bland all around.

 

I’ve noticed the defensive odour of fanbois from the demo is particularly musky. They can’t defend the state of the game with anything beyond a blind, almost apathetic acceptance. Anyways, if there is a large gamer populous that feel fine buying HGL based on what they witnessed in demo or beta, then I can’t fault Flagship for not providing even the slightest polish in the experience. Gamers like that don’t value their money anyways, so why waste time infusing value into the product. That seems to be a popular modus operandii of developers/publishers these days.

 

With my time at a premium, and me itching for an RPG after too many FPS clones, it was either HGL or Witcher. Suffice to say the Poles showed a lot more care for their product and its execution. Honestly though it was more a matter of HGL & Flagship constantly shooting themselves in the foot via the game and their doubletalk.

Loose BOWELS are the first sign of THE CHOLERA MORBUS!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I played the demo, after having an avid interest in the title for the past year. However, the demo was quite a letdown. It still feels as if the product is in early Beta stages, either that or there was a series of poor development choices for the various facets, including UI, graphics texture blocks, volumetrics, ambience, color tones, etc… The game needs a serious dose of analysis, then streamlining what’s important. It just feels too much of a disconnected mismash.

 

Heh, I could have told you that a year ago or so (or was it two years already?) :-P

 

After seeing the trailer, I got interested, and then lost interested in this game almost instantly after reading a few of their developer (PR?) pieces.

 

There were such gems as "it is almost finished" and "we are like 2...3 months from release", and this was then followed by gems like "we have not yet decided how the player inventory will work".

 

Uhm, I mean, seriously wtf? Basic things like player inventory, story etc should be designed first.

 

That is a bit like saying "this action movie is gonna be great, once we decided if the hero will be a male and die at the end, or maybe she will be a female, and it will be really a love story" etc :)

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

 

"Remember: If the game lets you do it, it's not cheating." -- Xarax

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I don't understand in your review is the comment about how physics is a big part of the game play. Your example, blowing up barrels and CO2 cartridges, that's the only example I can think of (and hardly novel--you can blow up barrels in the original Doom ca. 1996). There's virtually no interaction in this game aside from fighting with monsters. You can't pick up or throw anything, you can't drag things or knock them over. Sorry, but I don't see physics in any aspect of this game.

 

But then again I haven't all the way through the game yet (pretty sure I won't ever for that matter).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is my last review for the game.

 

Damn. I got all excited when I mistook "the" for "a".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recent Status Updates

    • Petike the Taffer  »  DeTeEff

      I've updated the articles for your FMs and your author category at the wiki. Your newer nickname (DeTeEff) now comes first, and the one in parentheses is your older nickname (Fieldmedic). Just to avoid confusing people who played your FMs years ago and remember your older nickname. I've added a wiki article for your latest FM, Who Watches the Watcher?, as part of my current updating efforts. Unless I overlooked something, you have five different FMs so far.
      · 0 replies
    • Petike the Taffer

      I've finally managed to log in to The Dark Mod Wiki. I'm back in the saddle and before the holidays start in full, I'll be adding a few new FM articles and doing other updates. Written in Stone is already done.
      · 4 replies
    • nbohr1more

      TDM 15th Anniversary Contest is now active! Please declare your participation: https://forums.thedarkmod.com/index.php?/topic/22413-the-dark-mod-15th-anniversary-contest-entry-thread/
       
      · 0 replies
    • JackFarmer

      @TheUnbeholden
      You cannot receive PMs. Could you please be so kind and check your mailbox if it is full (or maybe you switched off the function)?
      · 1 reply
    • OrbWeaver

      I like the new frob highlight but it would nice if it was less "flickery" while moving over objects (especially barred metal doors).
      · 4 replies
×
×
  • Create New...