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Gaming Trend Goes to Hell. Welcome to Hellgate: London
by Ron Burke
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Character Creation Video (.mp4, 40 MB)
Boss Battle 1 Video (.mp4, 72 MB)
Hellgate: London has received a lot of attention throughout its development, but information has been scarce. Is it an RPG? Is it a shooter? What exactly is Hellgate: London? Publisher Electronic Arts and Flagship have both told me to GO TO HELL, and I was more than happy to take them up on their exclamation! Over the past few days I’ve gotten the opportunity to take Hellgate: London, the inaugural title for Flagship Studios, for a spin. Before we get to all that, I have a few caveats and cautionary notes that you need to be aware of – Hellgate: London is in a beta state and as a result anything that I say is based on the build that is being overwritten as I type this. I can’t begin to express the amount of items that have been fixed, adjusted, or balanced in just the two days that I’ve been playing, but suffice it to say that the list would be more than several pages in length. Bear all of this in mind as you read on.
The beta test for Hellgate: London that I have access to is the same one that pre-order customers get to test. To that end, we are all considered Plebs for the time being and we get to experience portions of the first three acts of the game, with special emphasis placed on the nine included classes and early character development. After watching the fantastic cinematic intro that was released earlier this year I had only one choice – I welcomed Pyriss the Cabalist into the world of Hellgate: London.
You’ll start Hellgate London by picking a faction. The three factions available at this point are the Templars, the Cabalists, and the Hunters. The Templar are the shock troops of the war against the demon invasion, focusing on heavy armor and heavier weapons. The Cabalists are the polar opposite of the Templar, eschewing heavy armor in favor of powerful magic and light ranged weapons. The Hunters have been described by Bill Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios, as a more FPS-oriented class. They use a great deal of technology to augment their weapons, focusing on ranged combat rather than magic or melee. Within each of the three factions there are currently two classes. The Templar Guardians are a defensive class often using a sword and shield combination to battle their foes, whereas the Templar Blademasters give up that shield for a second sword that adds a great deal more melee damage. Using wrist-mounted “Focus Items” that look like high-tech NES Power Gloves to cast their magic, the Cabalists split into two groups – the Summoner and the Evoker. The Summoner can use the power of the demons
against themselves by summoning demons to fight for them as pets. The Evoker is more of a spellcaster utilizing powerful spells to cause maximum damage. Hunters are very much into technology, splitting themselves into high-tech Marksmen or Engineers. The Marksman is more of a FPS class, operating best from the first person perspective and utilizing long range weaponry to capitalize on their ‘in the rear with the gear’ status. The Engineer is the most unique character in the game, crafting stationary attack robots or floating drones that can be augmented by items that an Engineer wouldn’t normally be able to use. You can get a closer view of these characters by checking out our Character Creation Video. You can see the wealth of options available to you, including various face types, height/weight, colors, hairstyles, and more.If all of this sounds a little bit too much like Counter-Strike: Source, then let me ease your fears by telling you about the stat system and skills that power the combat engine of this game. Like any good RPG, when you go up in level you are allowed to chose additional skills. To that end, Hellgate: London gives you one point to spend towards your skills for every level, as well as five stat points to spread around your Accuracy, Strength, Stamina, and Willpower stats. Each of these attributes will help shape your character, growing them into their powers as they level up. Accuracy determines how accurate your weapon shots will be (shocking, that), as well as tightening your shot pattern on weapons that
have a bit of a spread to them. Strength is exactly as it sounds – it allows you to wear heavier armor and use heavier weapons. Stamina has to do with how long you can sprint, but more importantly how many hit points you have. For every point you put into Stamina, you’ll gain an additional 5 hitpoints. Willpower determines how much power you’ll have (read: mana), as well as your Power Recharge rate, but don’t think it is for casters only. In fact, all of these stats matter to all of the classes. Weapons and armor have prerequisite skill costs to equip them. It isn’t enough to just have the stat for one item; you’ll need to have enough of the stat for all of your items combined. For example, I have an “Able Cabalistic Radiant” focus item that has an equip cost of 1 Accuracy and 10 Will. I also have a rocket pistol that requires 2 Accuracy and 4 Will. Combined, my Will would have to be 14, and my Accuracy would have to be 3 to use the both of them combined. Obviously this becomes more important when you start looking at heavy armor that requires 50 Strength to wield, leaving you with only a few points to also be able to carry that ultra-heavy weapon as well. While there are ways to ‘play the system’ to use an item outside of your level with regards to your numbers, you can also really hurt yourself in the long run if you’ve overpowered one particular stat and now can’t equip a new item for many levels as there is currently no way to re-spec your character’s stat points.
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