Hellgate London: Redux

[:1]In the spirit of comparing possible GW2 alternatives...

-----

I've been giving HGL's open beta a try. For those who know me, I' ve been wanting to play this when it came out, waited a bit for the bargain bin, and it went under before I got to it. It was originally released in 2007, mixed reviews, buggy, and servers went offline in 2009.

And now, under new management, it's been brought back... so, is the redux worth it?

First, the beta is, as expected, laggy as hell. I'm trying real hard not to fault the game for it, because let's face it, I've yet to be in a beta that hasn't been laggy as hell. But it makes trying the game difficult and frustrating.

The gameplay itself is perhaps what you'd get if you averaged an fps with a rpg. It is a master of neither genre... but still makes for decent gameplay. The fact that you can play summoner or sniper or swordsman in the same game makes for some interesting replay.

Levels so far (I didn't get far on account of lag) are pretty straightforward "London in ruins plus monsters", instanced, randomized as far as I can tell, with garden-variety MMO-type quests. Uninspired gets-the-job-done. Monsters also fall neatly into the melee or ranged category, but I would not expect complexity to emerge so early.

It also lacks polish. Like it has typos, bugs, etc. It did not appear updated from its previous version (perhaps bug fixes but that's it), not that I have played the early version anyway.

Perhaps it would be worth bargain price for single-player... not sure though that it will be available as such, I am not current on what new direction the company is taking it.

-----

Perhaps HGL's biggest feature for me is the combination of different playstyles, which GW2 will also offer. The emphasis is more on action, with a system that allows fps-like combat within a more rpg-like combat system.|||I was very excited for this game and bought the pre-order to play the beta, (which lagged my computer to hell so I stopped; knowing I'd need a better computer), hell, even got the comic of the game.

There was a whole lot of stuff that got me excited about the game such as the things you mentioned, being a shooter RPG, the customization in the game as far as weapons, the crazy random environmental stuff (i.e. if the sky is red fire mods come on drops), etc.

And of course, the aesthetic of the game thrilled me with no end. I have been kind of following this new redux, hopefully the new company will be able to revive it, polish it up from the original, and improve it to where it should be as a game. If they do that, I will get it; I am on the fence until I see results.|||Interesting, keeps us informed of how things improve or not.|||Will do. Anyone know if the redux will be available as a single-player?|||isn't it called hellgate tokyo, or am i searching for the wrong developer?|||Hellgate: London, which is renamed to Hellgate: Resurrection. But Hellgate: Tokyo is supposed to be an expansion pack (or something) for the game.|||What about Hellgate: Burnout?|||I've managed to stay online to give the marksmen a good try. It plays like a love child of Diablo 2 and Doom. Circle strafe against ranged, move back against melee, and keep the gun firing. They did include an accuracy reticle that gets larger if you shoot continuously or strafe, but generally there's no point stopping shooting. Those monsters have a lot of life (well, the monsters that matter anyway), so you're better off getting a bit closer to ranged or just miss a few times than stop shooting imo. I tried with a machine gun (sorta), and also with a napalm grenade launcher (I guess) which did AoE damage on impact.

Still, it`s satisfying to mow down a bunch of zombies.

I also tried the summoner (I forget the actual names of classes) and it plays like you'd expect, except that you also get to use guns. Some of the guns are self-aiming (to an extent), like the one that shoots a cloud of wasps, or the one that shoots an arc of lightning. Others you aim yourself.

Overall, fun concept, lack of polish.|||Thanks for the update.|||Could you please post some pics, vids maybe?