Hellgate London - Demo Released

As promised, Flagship's Hellgate: London SP demo has been released. The 1.45Gb file is available from GameDaily, Worthplaying, Gamer's Hell, FileShack and ComputerGames.ro.
More information.

Been playing it for the last hour and having a lot of fun. For those of you expecting a deep crpg, you might be disappointed, this is definitely more of an action game than anything else. Yes, you do go up levels and gain skill points, as well as talk to npc's and get quest, but the bulk of the game is pure action style combat.

The graphics are nothing special imo, they actually seem more on par with something released 2 or 3 years ago. The art direction is very good though, and the game does a good job of giving you a post-apocalyptic atmosphere.

Also, be warned that there is no save function in this demo, which I think is pretty lame considering the size of the download.

I have been in the beta for a while (no experience with this specific demo), and, while I am under the NDA, I will say that at the high graphics settings, things look very nice. I am not sure if the settings in the demo are limited, or if yours just aren't tweaked correctly, but, in the beta, just 5 minutes ago, I hit a new area and was marveling at the intricate texture detail on the walls. And, at times, the sound scares the hell out of me (lights out, volume loud, only way to go).

I have all the settings on maximum at 1280x1024 with 4xAA and 16xAF. They're not bad by a long shot, just not quite as good as I thought they were going to be.

The city backgrounds seem somewhat bland to me, although I must admit that I've only seen a few areas so far. I'm playing Half-Life 2: Episode 2 right now, and compared to that game Hellgate seems less detailed.

The game is a lot of fun though and I think I would buy it.

Good to hear, JDR13. I just got my beta invite today--incredible that it's still open, but I'm not complaining.

I still can't get over the fact that they didn't include a save function in a 1.5 Gig demo.

If it's at all like Diablo, there's only a save when you exit--are you saying there's not even a save and exit feature? That would suck largely.

I tried everything I could think of. I hit every key on the keyboard looking for a quicksave. There's nothing in the menu or when you chose to quit\exit either.

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I played the demo for 1,5 hours.....
Well, I'm really REALY disapponted.
The environments are empty and repetitive, monsters act like stupid robots, quests are all the same (go, kill the monster, take the item / go, kill this number of monsters, come back).
My impression was this is a MMORPG playable also in solo mode.
I found no atmosphere, no story, no sense of terror or other.
Alla the yhing resolves in killing and looting... without any other bonuses.

Diablo was far better, Sacred was far better...... sig.

And there are a lot of bugs....... The engine seems not well optimized, with gfx running slower or faster with no reaseon (I play the game all maxed out). There's no music (but perhaps this is a demo feature). I noted some pieces of the inventory interface stay on screen also when you close the inventory interface.
When leavin an area, the loading screen seems to freeze or stutters and I can hear my audio device changing from stereo to 5.1 like if it would be trying to resetting the audio.
The character locks on some moves or starts to slash his sword without stopping unless you exit and re-enter the game.
Teleportation device doesn't work..... if you use it you can go back to the base station but it's impossible to use the coonsole at the base station to go back to the place you were teleported from.
The skill system is terrible. I find the use of shift key often not so easy to use.

This game is still in terrible shape if we consider it should be released in 10 days.

Sorry but I wont buy it.
Really a DELUSION.

Gragnak said:

.

And there are a lot of bugs....... The engine seems not well optimized, with gfx running slower or faster with no reaseon (I play the game all maxed out). There's no music (but perhaps this is a demo feature). I noted some pieces of the inventory interface stay on screen also when you close the inventory interface.
When leavin an area, the loading screen seems to freeze or stutters and I can hear my audio device changing from stereo to 5.1 like if it would be trying to resetting the audio.
The character locks on some moves or starts to slash his sword without stopping unless you exit and re-enter the game.
Teleportation device doesn't work..... if you use it you can go back to the base station but it's impossible to use the coonsole at the base station to go back to the place you were teleported from.
.

Click to expand...

I never encountered any of the bugs you're describing.

Teleports work well?
You can travel in and from the base every time?
Monsters AI looks well engineered?


Are you playing a marksman or templar?

Are you playing under Windows Vista or XP.

Here's my specs:
Mobo: DFI Lanparty UT
CPU: AMD Dual COre 4200 + (oc to 2500 mhz)
Audio: SBlaster Audigy 2 + Crative 5.1 surround system
Video: ATI radeon X1800XT
RAM: 2 Gb Corsair.
Monitor: Samsung LCD 19"

Game played at 1280x1024 all maxed out. Character: Templar - swordmaster

Maybe I am just older and more jaded too but it certainly lacks that "Stay awhile and listen" atmosphere.

Under WinXP almost max settings (no shadows).

No slow down, except sometimes in the inventory/skills tree, goes away once I close them.

There is music, it just doesn't play often. Some kind of underground/dance stuff.

My "review":
It look/smell/feel exactly like Diablo but in 3D for the "management". The hunter class feel like playing Painkiller or Serious Sam, though.

In other word, get old fast.

I don't think you are really going to see much of the game in the demo. There are like 2 acts that the beta testers haven't even seen yet according to Dave Brevik interviews. It's like judging Diablo 2 after playing the rogue encampment and den of evil - give it some time.

woges said:

It's like judging Diablo 2 after playing the rogue encampment and den of evil - give it some time.

Click to expand...

What's wrong with that? I think that gives a pretty good idea of the game as a whole. If you don't like those parts, you most likely will not like the full version.

Haven't played the demo yet, but dl'ed it last night. Will give it a go this weekend, but have to admit my expectations are pretty low, even before this thread. The promo vids up to this point just haven't been very exciting. Other than the cut scenes, which the Diablo guys obviuosly haven't lost their touch with.

I don't understand the Diablo references, I think it's been too long since some of you have actually played Diablo.

Hellgate does not look or feel anything like Diablo. I hated the Diablo games and I find all those Diablo clones to be extremely boring, yet I really enjoyed the Hellgate demo.

JDR, fairly or unfairly, the game's going to be compared to Diablo because when you have the guys that built Diablo making the game and putting in a lot of the same kinds of elements that made the game successful--the skill trees and the builds, the online play, the items, the randomized levels, etc---you're going to hear a lot of the inevitable comparisons.

But it's not supposed to be a diablo clone, it's supposed to be a modern reworking of the action rpg from a different point of view, so if you don't sit there thinking about Diablo and how you hated it as you play, JDR, obviously they succeeded with that, anyway.

Do you feel it's more like a shooter, or just not the hack n slash feel that most Diablo clones depend on?

I mean it's nothing like Diablo at all. Diablo was a point and click game that used an isometric view and was controlled solely with your mouse. Hellgate London is a 3d 3rd person game where you control the movements of your character with the keyboard. Other than the Hell references they really have nothing in common. Things like skill trees and loot\items are too common in all action rpg's to be considered a connection. I think the main reason people keep mentioning Diablo is because of the developers, which is unfair to the devs.

Who gives a rat's butt about Diablo? Is HG:L a good game or not? I don't plan on grabbing the demo for a while due to an already-overflowing queue, so I'd like some real impressions. I was pretty excited about this game, but it's sounding more and more like a shooter with random levels and goals. I don't need a game like that. What's the scoop folks?