The MMO That Wasn’t

by Jeff Woleslagle

A quick look at the next LAN party sensation

Hellgate: London looks like an MMO. It even plays like an MMO, so much so that I didn’t realize the game lacks the “massively multiplayer” framework until halfway through the demo, when Charles Lapp (Flagship Studios artist for Hellgate: London) corrected me. Lapp said that Hellgate: London seeks to give groups of friends the MMO experience “without all the annoying other people.” It’s at this point that I realize my article’s blown – we only cover MMOs, dammit! And we’ve developed a strange fondness for those annoying other people.

But, for kicks and grins, I figured you might like to know more about Hellgate: London, should you someday opt for a MMO game experience apart from the madding crowd. The stage is near-future London, and all hell has broken loose, literally. Two of eight classes are in play, the “use evil for good” cabalists and the “use good and knock them down for good” templars. The scenery is fab, replete with those familiar red telephone booths, edgey Tudor archetecture, and other “know it if you see it” London styling… er, where hellish minions haven’t had their way, that is. The models look great, the various forms of demons mobs look and act the part, but the player animations still look a little rough and gangly (there’s a curious habit for characters to hold one arm aloft while moving, like they’re carrying baby's diaper on squash night).

Damage is dealt with socketed weapons a la Diablo and with ranged or magic / divine abilities (which appears to be distributed with the usual gain a level, get a spell scheme of yore). Most skills don’t require targeting, so players just target mobs and let damage loose.

The real innovation for this RPG title is the hub and randomized instance format; however many players gather underground in a hub area to group up then head out into a randomized map with objectives to keep. The multiplayer framework, i.e. how many players can play in one server, is still up in the air.

Hellgate: London can be forgiven a great many quirks such as this, being so early in development. Pre-alpha plods on with developing for the PC in mind, though according to Lapp, Hellgate: London would be smashing as a Next-Gen title.

So that’s a quick look at Hellgate: London. Not an MMO, but… meh.

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