G4TV Hellgate:London Review

G4TV’s review of Hellgate:London done a month or so after launch. It’s a pretty fair review. They raise a pretty good point about how expectations have made it a bit complicated to review HG:L. On one hand you know FSS is a new company and know they deserve to be cut some slack but on the other side of the coin, these guys created one of the top games ever in Diablo II so they should be able to do it again. Unlike some reviews that say the game sucks, stay away, G4 goes the wait until some fixes are patched in route.

http://www.g4tv.com/xplay/reviews/1669/Hellgate_London.html

Below is an excerpt noting the online and single player experience.

Much has been made of Hellgate’s online experience, and in theory, it’s mostly a good thing. Players gather together in hub stations to chat, trade items, show off the spoils of their adventures, and group up for upcoming missions. Then, as they head out, the whole thing is instanced particularly for that group. And then, the random level generation takes over once again. It’s not as big a deal in the online mode, since you’ll have the camaraderie of your party members to make up for the sometimes irritating level design. Plus the whole thing is free. Hellgate does feature an optional subscription service that adds options like Guild functionality and the promise of future content upgrades, but the free multiplayer is likely where most gamers will want to stay.

Put quite simply, Hellgate: London is a buggy mess. And that goes double for the multiplayer action. Crazy slowdown during battle; graphic issues where various on-screen elements completely disappear; and bugs that crash players right to the desktop are all issues in the retail version of this potentially awesome game. Patches will almost assuredly fix these problems eventually, but it’s still pretty disheartening to rip open that cellophane for the first time and realized you’ve basically paid full price for an unfinished, unpolished product.

As a single-player game, Hellgate delivers – especially if you’re a die-hard Diablo II fan. If you can deal with annoying inventory management and unimaginative level design, you’ll get a lot of fun out of this game. 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.