GameSpot | GameFAQs | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
 |
|
|||||
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
How Metascores Are Calculated
xx
18 Wheels of Steel: American Long Haul
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games. |
Set twenty-five years in the future, Hellgate: London introduces a world devastated by a demon invasion and a desolate city scorched by hellfire where mankind has gone underground to survive. Among them are the Templar, an archaic and secret society that foresaw this demonic apocalypse centuries ago. Followers of arcane rites, the Templar combine futuristic technology with ancient artifacts to forge powerful weapons and armor. The mystic sanctuary of the Underground system provides players safe conduct throughout the sprawling metropolis of London as they seek to preserve the bloodline of man and gain a foothold against the minions of darkness. Hellgate: London combines the depth of role-playing games and action of first-person titles, while offering infinite playability with randomly created levels, items, and events. The player creates a heroic character, completes quests, and battles through innumerable hordes of demons to advance through experience levels and branching skill paths. A robust, flexible skill and spell system, highly customizable appearances, and a massive variety of randomly generated equipment allow players to create their own unique hero. [Namco]
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more... 89
PC Gamer
It doesn't redefine the action RPG, but in a genre laden with derivative games, Hellgate is a refreshing concoction that's likely to have enduring appeal. [Dec 2007, p.48]
85
Game Informer
What Hellgate does, it does well – few games have core gameplay this strong. However, it doesn’t venture far outside of the scope of filling an XP bar or finding that next upgrade. The story isn’t much more than a thin excuse to kill demons, and the truly memorable encounters are few and far between. If you like faster-paced combat than you’ll find in the rest of the MMO genre, though, this could be a great fit.
 84
Pelit (Finland)
Hellgate: London takes the elements that made the Diablo series classic, and puts them in new, invigorating setting of demonic threat, dark magic and high technology. The fresh world of Hellgate: London is its greatest asset, but sadly the game fails in capitalizing it properly, with quite shoddy plot and generic missions outside the main story. Nevertheless, Hellgate: London is a good action RPG with plenty to enjoy. How the multiplayer system works when the game hits stores will ultimately determine the staying power of the game. [Nov 2007]
81
Jolt Online Gaming UK
It’s no "Diablo 2," yet, but give it time and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by just how much is on offer here. And hey, if nothing else you get to pretend that the demons are Christmas shoppers, which makes slaughtering them just that little bit more fun.
80
Play Magazine
Hellgate: London arrives as an addictive and highly replayable action RPG. [Dec 2007, p.96]
80
GameStar
Hellgate is like the first Diablo, just in 3D. If you can live with it's weaknesses and bugs, you will enjoy the usual hunt after better items. But, being done by former Blizzard developers, it could have - and should have - been better.
79
Ferrago
If Hellgate: London had appeared on shelves with no hype and no known links to past gaming glories then we'd probably be sat here at the end of the review chatting about how it was a bit of an undiscovered gem that fused FPS sensibilities with Diablo-esque loot collection and character customisation to provide a thoroughly enjoyable, if slightly unpolished, experience. Unfortunately we don't have that luxury and the game's high profile throws niggles like the repetitive level design, the often dull quests and the stability issues into harsh relief.
79
AtomicGamer
I enjoyed Hellgate immensely. You have a ton of items to find, lots of fun monsters to kill in the randomized levels and fun bosses to face off with. If you're looking to scratch that pack-rat itch and can put up with the bugs, I'd highly recommend Hellgate.
76
Cheat Code Central
Hellgate: London is definitely worth the price of admission for the single-player mode, but it would be an incredible bargain if the online mode was of similar quality.
75
ActionTrip
Sure Hellgate: London has many features that are found in the Diablo series but they have not made a Diablo clone. The games could be called kissing cousins but for all its downsides, HG:L can be an addicting experience.
74
PC Zone UK
Hellgate's done itself a disservice, because it's hidden some decent fun underneath a dated, linear and difficult-to-love veneer.
74
PC Format
Item fiends and "Diablo II" fans will love the complex loot system but most of us will be bored senseless after just a few hours. [Christmas 2007, p.54]
73
PC Gamer UK
Hellgate: London hooked me, and I think it'll do the same to a lot of other players. But no matter how much I adore its juicy roleplaying sub-systems, I can't get past its wobbly core game. [Dec 2007, p.52]
71
GameZone
The game controls easily on the movement front, but breaking in action to press a random button can cause some frustration.
70
Strategy Informer
All in all, Hellgate is a success in the more revolutionary areas of its gameplay, though more attention could have been paid to the typical action RPG elements that seem to have been taken for granted.
70
AceGamez
It's a sad conclusion to draw, but Hellgate: London will never be remembered as the role-playing classic it could have been with a little more work and a little less time paying homage to its RPG grandfather.
70
games(TM)
This is exactly the sort of thing Diablo fans have been waiting for and although there’s little chance that it will change your life, there’s every possibility that it will consume it. [Chrismas 2007, p.126]
70
GamingExcellence
All in all, Hellgate: London isn’t the next revolution in Diablo-style gameplay.
70
Gaming Nexus
Hellgate: London does have potential though but it's just not there yet. There's a lot of fixing the needs to be done and a lot of bugs to hammer out.
70
Game Over Online
The scenery is dull and repetitious, and the monsters are slow and stupid, coming at you a few at a time to be dispatched easily when a serious bull rush might actually cause you some trouble.
70
Worth Playing
If you're a fan of action -RPGs, then by all means add this game to your collection. Just don't expect it to be "Diablo 3." That crown still belongs to "Titan Quest."
70
EuroGamer
Hellgate: London is filled with gorgeous artwork and dripping with atmosphere; it's got a delicious sense of humour and finely tuned combat systems that will be keeping action RPG nuts happy for a long time. Despite this, we've got vast reservations about key aspects of the game; the randomly generated levels feel increasingly hollow, pointless and gimmicky as you progress, the user interface is clunky in some important areas, and there are clearly some hefty bugs here that need patching.
70
GameDaily
With all its features and the charm from its wicked sense of humor, Hellgate makes for a very entertaining game, but it needs more depth.
70
GameSpot
Hellgate: London has plenty of neat ideas, but many of them aren't executed as well as you'd like.
70
GameTap
Flagship, despite whatever mistakes it's made with Hellgate, still taps into that addicted-to-loot gland in my cranium, and I am willing to put up with its flaws. It's now a matter of whether you want to put up with its somewhat unpolished nature at the moment, or wait until Flagship possibly smoothes out the warts that its little demon is showing.
68
IGN
An experience that is fun for a few hours but quickly grows repetitive. The stat-driven combat takes the player one step away from the action and the modular levels and peripheral nature of the story keeps players from investing in the world.
68
Games Master UK
Maximum action, minimum story makes it a game you'll only dip in to. [Jan 2008, p.78]
67
Game Revolution
How do you score something that is so hellish (in more than one way) one second and so awesome the next? Hellgate: London probably just needed some extra time in Beta. Maybe pushing for Halloween was too much. I'm in the camp that would rather have a game delayed than have it get over-looked due to technical issues that could've been worked out beforehand.
65
PALGN
Hellgate: London is one of this year's biggest disappointments. It had a whole bunch of great ideas, but squandered them with weak execution, a variety of technical issues and a ridiculous subscription model.
60
GameSpy
If the development team had poured half the creativity and personality into the setting, character, content or story as they did into the fighting and looting, the game might have become a modern-day classic. Instead, what comes out of this Hellgate often feels a little underwhelming.
60
GamePro
You might get sucked into the online world of competing slayers and level grinding for a while, but the tedium will kill you far quicker than any member of Hell's vast.
60
Boomtown
It seems to borrow too much, and doesn’t really deliver in terms of an immersive story, hoping that the gameplay itself will be addictive enough to keep an audience captive and paying extra per month.
60
Edge Magazine
While World Of Warcraft and its peers provide variety through landscape, Hellgate fails utterly to conjure any motivation to investigate the next instanced dungeon. [Christmas 2007, p.97]
50
GameShark
For a game with such promise it’s a shame that it’s sunk into the realm of also-ran.
40
G4 TV
Online, however, is a broken mess as of launch. In time, you’ll probably be able to add at least a point to our score, but as of right now, you’re better off waiting to jump into this demon-infested version of London.
40
1UP
Underneath the frustrating instability, behind the graceless chat window, and beyond the procession of NPC dialog boxes, you tickled that deep primordial need to gather more stuff and get stronger. Loot and leveling are the essence of any RPG, and you're equipped to satisfy that jones.
Dave K. gave it a9: gamer god gave it a1: Jim F. gave it a2: Brian J. gave it a2: Kevin L. gave it a2: Alex gave it a2: J C gave it a7: |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
