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An archived Hellgate: London feature. See the Hellgate Archives for more.

Feature: Giant 1up.com preview.
Date: April 24, 2007
Source: 1up.com.

1up.com Preview

Like a chameleon in videogame form, Hellgate: London deceives those who try to discern too much from looks alone. It fools the eye by appearing to be something easily recognized on sight. Despite what screenshots suggest, it most definitely isn't a first-person shooter. Neither is it a third-person adventure game. Through an afternoon spent at Flagship Studios playing the game with none other than CEO (and possibly more importantly one of the key Blizzard North members who created Diablo) Bill Roper himself, it became crystal clear to us that no matter what you think you see, Hellgate: London delivers exactly the action RPG fix Diablo fans have been yearning for.

Nothing conveyed that fact more convincingly than how difficult it was to pull away from the screen when the time to leave finally came: That familiar "just a few minutes more" vibe kicked into full effect. And its source goes a step further in what it says about how well the game is coming together. Though much of the afternoon involved romping around new areas with cheat-created high-level characters, they weren't as hard to say goodbye to as the beginning character we spent our final hour with. A personal connection developed, because we weren't tinkering with bits and pieces like in previous demos; we were making choices that molded a character that felt uniquely ours.

Hellgate's been in the works for years, and much of what's taken so long for it to gel is the sheer number of possibilities its world opens up. Ironically, Hellgate taps the same combination of tech and fantasy that made the Shadowrun RPG world so intriguing, while FASA Studios uses (or squanders, as some say) the Shadowrun license to create a squad-based online shooter. In this vision of the year 2038, the minions of hell -- namely a host of demons -- have poured through the game's titular gate to wreak havoc in London. The remnants of humanity retreat underground, where a combination of holy knights, practitioners of the dark arts, and high-tech warriors mount a defense.

Engineering 101

Our starter character came from this last group, the faction known as Hunters. Each faction now breaks down into two distinct class choices to further refine the roles they take -- either Marksman or Engineer in this case. Marksmen, as the name implies, know no equal in their skill with the various guns and rifles in the game. We went with an Engineer, though, who, along with knowing which end of the rifle to point at the enemy, augments that basic skill with the ability to build mechanical support devices, including an upgradeable droid that fights alongside you.

Starting the process from scratch gave us a good sense for all the potential paths the multilayered character development system presents. Like many RPGs, you allocate points to primary attributes that define your basic physical abilities. Hellgate's system puts a little twist on how these relate in the game. Rather than just comparing to your stat to see if you're able to wield a weapon or cast a spell, each stat supplies a pool of points from which everything that relies on that attribute draws. So, for instance, to equip the set of armor we wanted to start with, we had to be sure to plug enough points into strength to feed the cumulative consumption for all the pieces. This setup forces some tough decisions on where to spend points, but makes it easy to see exactly what you're getting as you spread them around.

With the basics out of the way, we jumped into the skill system to see exactly how much range it would offer in what we could do with our new Engineer. Here the Diablo influence really came across. The current trend for RPGs, led most notably by World of WarCraft, has been to use skills more as a means of tuning up different aspects of a character. These tweaks change the balance of strengths and weakness for your particular build, but fundamentally every character of a given class shares the same capabilities. This, in turn, leads to there being an "ultimate" combination that makes for the most powerful version of that class. Hellgate, on the other hand, presumes that the class abilities are what they are, and then uses the skill tree to open up distinct new areas of specialization your character can take up depending on which way you want to take their development. As a result, you wind up with a whole range of ways people can viably custom tailor their character.

The variety in the options laid out before our new Engineer illustrates the point. One branch offered Marksman-like improvements for weapons handling. Another taught the Engineer how to build different support drones. And yet another let the Engineer build a larger mechanical companion, called a droid, which could then be upgraded with a number of different capabilities. We certainly couldn't resist building our own fighting Robby, so the moment we leveled up the first skill point went to that. Originally envisioned as a spiderbot, the latest revision (and the one likely to be the final form in the game when it ships) of your droid takes a hovering form whose minijets help it zip around and comes equipped with a decent enough blaster to make it a welcome sidekick in combat.

With a second gun by our side, we allocated our next point to the drone tree. The first tier let us build three hovering drones that zapped approaching demons with a slow-ray. This worked out great in action. We would come into an area with demons, move in just close enough to get their attention, and then fall back, letting the drones slow them down while we picked them off with the help of our droid.

But from here out the choices became more difficult. Since we were relying on our own weapon skills to take out the demons, improving them came to mind first, but as the number of enemies we faced grew, adding a point to the drones so we could build another started looking pretty good, for that matter, so did adding the next drone -- an attack model equipped with a rocket launcher. Our droid was holding up pretty well, so we didn't feel like it needed any points pumped into its base mode to improve its hit points, but there was the option to give it a healing function that also looked pretty good. And just like that, we were completely invested, dying to see exactly what combination we could put together as we advanced in level.

Heavy firepower

For a look at what a more powered-up character could do we jumped into a midlevel Evoker, one of the two class options in the Cabalist faction. Members of the other faction, Summoners, get to call up demons to fight for them. And, as Roper demonstrated with a high-level character, that includes the named ones at the top of the demon food chain, like one called the Reaper he let out to rampage. But the attraction of the Evokers as the main magic blasters in the game ultimately won out: Most of their skill tree is devoted to different branches of magic such as spectral and electrical. As we learned once we began selecting some spells, that's only part of what it takes to unleash your mystical power.

For magic to function in the Hellgate world, it needs to be channeled through focus items. These not only allow the Evoker to cast spells but they also determine the potency of the magic and can add to the spell being cast. In effect, they become magic guns. This two-part system brings with it a lot of flexibility. For instance, we put a spell called Spectral Lash to good use taking down individual demons. Channeled through focus items that looked liked crystal-spiked bracers, Spectral Lash would strike like a whip and stay attached to a target, doing spectral-based damage, for as long as we held down the button. Evokers get to play with some crazy guns as well, like the Jade Hydra we tested: It fired swarms of homing magic bugs that created a deadly luminescent swarm around enemies while inflicting heavy poison damage.

The need for focus items and ability to use specialized guns brings the Caster class into the items game, and that's a vitally important part of Hellgate. Along with providing a tremendous assortment of weapons in the arsenal for each class, including all sorts of magical, rare, and named unique weapons, customization again plays a central part. Early on with our noobie Engineer we started seeing weapons with special slots for enhancements; for the high-level characters, almost every weapon sported multiple spots for them. Upgrades take the form of fuel tanks, batteries, tech mods, rockets, relics, and ammo depending on the type of weapon and what effect they add. Within each category there are a number of different add-ons, and they also come in magic, rare, and unique flavors as well. Not only does the added power help, these power-ups make your guns look completely tricked-out. For instance, one relic to improve accuracy was literally a demon's eyeball in a mechanical housing. Mounted on our rifle, along with a lightning battery and high-power ammo clip, it made for one thoroughly menacing-looking gun. Better yet, we didn't need to hesitate to slap it on the gun we had right away: All the weapon mods are interchangeable, letting you take your favorites with you from gun to gun as you upgrade.

Cold, hard steel

Ranged guns only comprise part of the arsenal. The third faction, the Templars, might use one here or there in special situations, but they're much more comfortable with a melee weapon in hand. Both of their two class options thrive on up close combat. The Guardians hold the title as the toughest class in the game. Not only do they wear heavy armor, their power increases the more demons there are surrounding and attacking them. The term "tank" never fit better. We couldn't resist playing with their more offense-minded counterparts, the Blademasters. Entirely intended for attack, their power boosts with every successive attack.

Playing as a high-level Blademaster drove home the fact that, despite appearances, Hellgate is absolutely not a first-person shooter. Going in, one of the basic elements for the design was to use a 3D engine, and Roper even described the initial concept that he and Dave Brevik worked up as Diablo meets Half-Life. But the key was that it was Diablo meets Half-Life, and not the other way around. Reconciling control schemes and the whole combined experience of what you see on the screen and how you play the game posed one of the first, and ultimately toughest, challenges to development. Where Diablo could essentially be played entirely with the mouse by clicking in the environment, that proved too unwieldy a control set for 3D space. After much experimentation with alternatives, the traditional WASD key controls for movement won out. That solution worked not because it made the game a shooter, but because, as in other games, it's the most natural way of moving your character in a 3D game.

Gaming with one hand on the mouse and the other over the WASD keys comes naturally for many PC players, so it's no wonder that it led to the assumption that Hellgate would be a shooter. The adaptations needed to make it work as an action-RPG quickly came out as we fought with our Blademaster. Mostly, the changes are in the way you use the mouse. Like in Diablo, the two buttons let you map an action to each. In action, while the movement keys work as they would in any game, you use you pointer more to select targets and make attacks. Brackets mark your current target and indicate whether your left, right, or both mouse-button attacks are in range by turning from red to green. This worked perfectly with the classic one-two punch approach we used with our Blademaster. On the left button we mapped a skill that would dash up to an enemy and hit them with a sudden strike, and then on the right we had a heavier, charging attack for once we were in close. To put it to work all we had to do was move around until the left bracket on a target turned green, tap the left mouse button to dash in and initiate the attack, and then the right bracket would go green to let us know the heavy attack was ready. With a Phantasmic Reaper in one hand and a magical Cricket Bat in the other, we transformed into a whirling dervish of demon destruction.

So it happened that ridding the streets, sewers, and the rest of London from demonic infestation also wiped away any misgivings about Hellgate's ability to usher in a renaissance for action-RPGs. Our extended time allowed us to really dig in and realize that the game finally seems ready to present a coherent vision of itself, and that's helped replace our concerns with respect for what appears to be a potential masterpiece from practiced masters of their craft. Where other games ham-handedly overplay inside jokes, or try to hard to interject funny moments, Hellgate effortlessly pulls them off.

Their experience also gives the designers the confidence to try experimental ideas to keep players curious about what might come next. We'd heard rumors that one quest could involve controlling a squad like you would in a strategy game. We saw it, and it works, but that's not the only curveball in store; one side quest still being implemented offers a shooting-gallery mission where you man a gun emplacement to face an onslaught of demons. Flagship's design experience also pays off in knowing exactly how long to make these side excursions so that they feel rewarding and fun but don't become a distraction.

That comfortable confidence permeates every part of the game now. Without even noticing, you slip into it, and are playing like you've been doing it for years. And once ensnared, everything moves along so smoothly: leveling, introduction to new areas, acquisition of new gear and weapons, quest structure. It all interweaves into a complex web, but one you never get lost in or feel overwhelmed by. It strikes a remarkable balance of presenting a number of options and layers of depth, while keeping that immediacy of just being able to hop in and start taking out demons. Diablo fans will recognize the familiar pull...and for those who haven't experienced it before, beware.