Loot, glorious loot!
The action in Hellgate: London can be viewed from a 3rd person perspective or, with a scroll of the mouse wheel, zoomed in for a first person view. For both the Hunter classes, first person is really the only way to play as you’re right down in the thick of the action, plus your view distance is greater, ideal for those classes. The melee based Templar classes can only be played from third person though, purely because you can see more of what’s going on around you and those damn demons are sneaky buggers… popping up behind you when you’re busy hacking the hell out of one of their mates.Hellgate: London allows you to zoom the camera in or out as you see fit or as best suits you and whilst third person from afar let’s you have a good gander around the world, it’s only really in the up-close third person or first person views that you get a feel for the atmosphere of a destroyed London.
Click for larger imageBut most of the action takes place underground when you start off, though you’ll regularly visit small areas above ground either as a part of a mission or to travel to the next tube station. Tube stations act as safe zones where you can interact with NPCs, of which there’s plenty hanging around, trade items and upgrade weapons, armour and spells etc. It’s also here that you’ll collect missions from various NPCs. There’s normally one main NPC highlighted as the one to interact with for story progression and all the others give you side missions in return for an item, money or reputation amongst the station’s inhabitants.
The missions themselves take place outside of the tube stations, often in disused tunnels or sewers just below these safe havens. Some tunnels lead to new areas or stations, but the majority are dead-end affairs for you to work through as you complete your mission. Missions are pretty much of the standard RPG type, fetch 10 eyes from this type of beast, slay this monster or collect a particular item, you know, the usual side-quest stuff. Some of them are central to progressing through the main story though, and whilst completing all the side missions can become a tad tedious, you’re at least building up your experience and collecting lots of loot on the way.
Click for larger imageBut this is where Hellgate: London trips up a little. Monsters drop so much loot that you’ll soon fill your inventory… ok, so that’s a problem with most RPGs and sure, it allows you to cream off the best stuff and just leave the rest behind. The problem is that monsters drop exceptional, rare or legendary stuff far too frequently… so it won’t be long until you’ve kitted yourself out in the very best armour and weaponry for your class and character level, and you’ll likely have some more good stuff stashed back at the station for when you level up again.
That’s not to say that Hellgate: London is easy, oh no. It get’s reet tough later on but I would say, from my many, many hours invested in World of Warcraft, that Hellgate: London gives you one of the easiest starts you’ll ever have. I suppose this is in one way a good thing as it lets you get used to tracking and organizing quests, sorting out your hotkey items and figuring out decent tactics for your class but for the more seasoned RPGer, you might find the first few levels, in fact the first couple of stations, a bit of a drag.