Originally posted by Draeghor

I am also surprised that the reviewer did not mention the CTD's or the memory leaks.  Even after being released for quite a time, no one seems to be looking into these issues which plagued the Beta and are continuing through retail.

There were definitely still some memory leaks as of a few months ago (last time I played) but they aren't massive (hardly noticed on my system with 3GB of RAM).  I have never had a CTD in Hellgate (though I didn't start playing until Jan or Feb of this year so I missed the launch bugs).

Originally posted by willgar

1) Is the game point and click or WASD?

2) Are the quest Group or Solo player orientated?

3) What was the AI like?

4) How large is the playing area?

5) What modes of transport are there?

6) What is the skill system based on and how much freedom to players have?

1) Typical FPS controls: W/S are front/back, A/D is strafe left/right, you turn and look up/down with the mouse.

2) Either.  Like all games with lots of instances, the content scales based on who is entering the instance.

3) It was okay.  I never thought "oh wow, this AI is amazing (or terrible)".

4) Fairly large.  There are multiple semi-instanced "bases" (eg new one added when previous one(s) fill up but you can switch between them) with many instanced zones off of each.  There is also Stonehenge and environs (but I'm not a subscriber so I can't go there).

5) You walk/run everywhere at first.  However, you can portal between bases you've previously been to.

6) Skill tree is different for each class.  There are some common skills (though at different levels most times) for each faction (so Engineer/Sniper, Summoner/Evoker, etc).  So far, the skill trees seem decent though I'm not terribly high level yet (only ~15).

Originally posted by Draeghor

I am also surprised that the reviewer did not mention the CTD's or the memory leaks.  Even after being released for quite a time, no one seems to be looking into these issues which plagued the Beta and are continuing through retail.

Most people haven't had a memory leak problem in some time.  Only a small minority still has this problem.  If you had kept up to date on the forums you'd be aware of this.

I got this after Octale and Hordack raved about it on their wow radio show.  After playing it for a couple of days I ended up giving it a collective MEH. 

I had fun playing HGL...but I got bored after a couple weeks. It simply has no long term appeal, at least for me.

Other than that it was decent for not needing to pay a sub.

Originally posted by daelnor

I had fun playing HGL...but I got bored after a couple weeks. It simply has no long term appeal, at least for me.

Other than that it was decent for not needing to pay a sub.

Its instant fun, instant action, instant everything.

A game like this has nothing to do with long term whatever, depth.  You might not even know when you will log in next time.  The game will just sit there faithfully waiting for the time when you need some short term frenzy later.

Contrast this game to the many raid-oriented games.  80%+ attendance, be on-time, 5 hours per session minimal.  Bring the correct gear, potions.  Bring a map, or memorise the terrain.  Make no mistakes.  No AFK without prior approval.  Turn on the vent and listen.  No trial and error follow the raid boss who follows allakazam.  ...

You will see the value of HGL.

Based on this review we can safely assume that he just played it and only for a few minutes, got bored, and decided that was that.

He says the opening scene is awesome. Yes.  Did you see the other cut scenes that were horrible and boring/uninteresting?  Minus the last cut scene of course.  The inbetween acts cut scenes were basically cop outs. 

He didn't play all the way through.  He would have gotten REALLY tired with the same tilesets over and over, and he would have also (if he played a few months ago) realized that after you beat it on normal soloing through nightmare required massive amounts of grinding (I'm sure it still does but I quit a few months ago).

This game was such a bad design under a great concept and some actually well designed gameplay elements that it was the heart break that made me realize I'm never going to buy another game again, until it's been out for many months.  I bought five game copies for family members and I so we could play it, and all of them tried it and didn't get past act 2 declaring the tech tree "mundane", the loot system archaic, and generally a horrible horrible game as they laughed at me for spending 200 bucks so we could finally have a game to play together.

You see, we loved Diablo 2.  We still play it.  We are just bored with it, since Blizzard never updates it.  Too bad Hellgate is the worse game I've ever played.   I tried so hard to enjoy it, but I just couldn't.  It wasn't fun at all once you've played it for 30+ minutes!

The way melee swings is annoying, and the monsters get replayed over and over...  to the point where you wish there were more interesting monsters to fight because you're bored.

You also get tired of doing the "gather this, do this" quests that are basically errands and get tedious.  There's just not a lot to this game that is well done, a 5 or a 4 would have been a better rating.

If the reviewer couldn't even stomach playing all the way through and beating the last boss on normal, then this game deserves a 0... since it couldn't keep the players attention long enough for him to finish.   Of course, maybe his day job is consuming all his time.

agree with reviewer still it could get even better.

Not a very well done review, in my opinion. Like some others have stated, I'm missing comments about the limited amount of tile sets.

Not only that, but some stuff is inaccurate too. This one for example. I'm quoting the reviewer:

"The upgrade to the Subscription Account grants you the following:

Additional Character Slots"

Not true, they changed that some months ago.

Decent review, numbers padded a bit too much not to upset anyone as usual, but decent :P

I think this review missed the boat.  While I can still play diablo II today and have fun, I have not played this game in months, nor do I have any desire to.  Fun factor is limited.   Very disappointing for me from the team that made Diablo, maybe that is why these people left Blizzard, they were not the creative ones?

This game continues to have far too many issues to be rated more than a 5, and without paying the monthly fee the game is really bad.

If you still enjoy this game fine, but you are settling for a 2nd rate game in my opinion.  There are a ton of better games out there that I can play online for free or much better games for a fee.

I'll fill in details about it that people keep mentioning. I'm probably repeating this, but eh, I'm not up to reading 6 pages of 'thanks for the review' alternating with 'if you can't do it right, shut up' posts. So here's what I saw people asking most in the 3-4 pages I got through.

Travel- it is all on foot. However, you have a portal system. devices that act as town portal scrolls for one, and then portals in 'towns' to get to various zones, and one in each to go from town to town (Essentially the waypoint pad in Diablo 2)

Movement- WASD. When he says he played it as a FPS and had a blast, that's exactly what he meant. Hotkeys on number bars, WASD movement, quick hotkeys on Q and E for your main skills, left and right click attacks, etc. Personally I like to have left button left hand, and right button right hand, and a gun in each on my marksman.
That lets you fire the right weapon with right button, and left with left, or jsut hold both to spray an area.

Ranged classes have no ammo stat. Unlimited shot, various weapons have rates of fire to determine how much carnage you can make.

Crafting is in the game, sortof. Items are very upgradeable, I am using the same guns on my level 20 marksman I've had since the beginning levels.

Tilesets are VERY redundant. No variety whatsoever, it gets old really fast. But if you like blowing things up, it's all good. Once you've filled an area with smoke and dust from the carnage, it all looks the same anyhow.

Memory leaks and ram. the game requires a gig of ram to play even decently, 2 or more for good gameplay. If you have Vista, don't forget 1 of that is your OS. Like most FPS games with alot of players, you need a ton of ram in your PC to play it well, and 2GB just isn't a ton of ram anymore.

Well, there you go, I think that's about all. if not, too bad. LOL. I'm not paid for this, so this all the time I'm spending. Enjoy the game. if you got more questions- grab the demo off fileplanet.

The recent patches have cleared up the memory leak issues, a lot of nice features have been added and plenty more to come. Single Player got some added love.

A lot of people cry because some features like the Hardcore Permadeath mode and being able to form a guild are subscription features. You still get a lot out of the game without paying.

A lot of others are crying because a lot of the new content that is out, and coming soon, require a subscription. Stuff like expanded zones, items, etc.

I've actually heard people scream in bloody murder that they felt the game should've been entirely free, or entirely subscription for the online game.

My 2 Cents: The game is fun as hell. I sub now, but that's just because I enjoyed it enough and wanted the extra "perks".

One of the previous posters said there are much better games out there. The standard, non subscription part of Hellgate is better than the majority of Free to Play MMO tripe that's infested the market. It may not be an award winning work of art, but one thing I can say is that Flagship is doing an awesome job busting their butts to provide frequent and useful updates for ALL players. I'm more impressed with FSS's devotion to the community than, say, SoE or even NCSoft (And I'm hardcore GW nerd.)

One last gripe: A lot of people across all MMO sites have a serious hard on for hating this game. It's been patched and updated but still a lot of people cry like we broke their hotwheels and kicked dirt in their face because of the buggy launch.

He forgot to mention *SPOILER*

The Mad Lucious Aldin and Techsmith 314 - they're a hilarious pro to the game :) I loved the Cauldron of Eternal Happiness conversation... Not to mention any conversation involving those two characters.

*END SPOILER*

A lot of you are bashing on memory leaks and crashes? I don't get those anymore. I don't know if you are still playing the beta version, but the amount of crashes I get now has gone down exponentially. So he didn't pin point every detail in his review? Unless he was supposed to give a 100% 10 page in depth report of it, I think it covers most of it fine. Minus some subscriber content he said.

And someone stated you needed at least 2 gigs to run it decent. You're on drugs. I run with 2 gigs with a 7900GS. I run it fine with all options to very high, models to high, and anti aliasing to low (That's mainly my vid card). And I hardly get lock ups or bad fps lag. I get 40+ fps most the time. And I don't see why people constantly go "OMG IT'S LOWER THAN 60 FPS! I CAN'T PLAY!". Honestly, majority of people can't see faster than 30 fps... I myself don't really notice it until I'm in town during prime time and I start to hit 20's. Even then it's not that bad.

May sound one sided, but I found the game fun, and still do play it. I played it in beta, and saw fun underneath the crashes and some skills being OP while other Nerfed.

Probably the main reason why I like the game, is because I don't look at it from a MMO's standpoint. I look at it as a game to play, like diablo 2. Diablo 2 wasn't a mmo, but I found it fun. Just because it's here, and you don't see it as an mmo, don't bash it for not having mmo concepts. In all honesty I don't think it should be on here. I never saw it as an mmorpg.

IMHO it's a good game for free online content.

I'm still playing it on my PC while a lot of other games have been loaded completed and removed.

Might even consider subbing just to see what the new content is like.

Hypothetically speaking, How much would a "Decent" review cost someone?

Played HG:L in beta - I was sorta dissapointed. Not by the game necessarily, I would have actually loved to play it when it went live. May not be as awesome as Diablo 2 was, but it was solid gameplay and I guess I could have enjoyed it quite a lot. But the moment they announced their damn subscription system I was outta there. Diablo 2 is, among other things, so great because it's for free (except the game itself of course), no monthly fee.

The HG:L subscribers get alot extra (at least on the paper, don't know about the real thing) - but the game is no MMO, no matter how hard it tries to act like one (which imo it doesn't). I'm willing to pay (even though it's usually bit too much) for a real MMO, with a persistent world, decent character system, good story, lots of content etc. - HG:L doesn't have that. When I checked out the classes (again, in beta, don't know about current status) every two classes (the two melee classes, the two casters, etc.) had too many abilities in common. No, they were not "alike" or had the same effect, they were the same, several classes shared a few abilities, which sadly reduced their unique abilities, which made them less unique, less interesting.

Imo making it (partially) subscription-based they hurt themselves a lot. I definitely would have played the game if there was no monthly fee for the actual game (the free version just seems like a Light-version, with all the really cool stuff missing), I guess a lot more people would have bought the game then. I might even have payed a (lower) fee if it had actually been a real MMO, not this wanna-be.

HG:L imo had a lot of potential and under certain circumstances still does probably, but they messed it up (at least for me).

I loved this game when it came out, until the 10th time I went into a gate or area that looked EXACTLY the same.  Bleak and atmospheric is one thing, but come on.  You're going to tell me that hell is just one big cathedral with roof tops having the same ruins? 

Maybe it's just me, but every single one of Diablo 2's levels felt unique.  This grew old with nothing new to look at.

I loved the "pets" of the engineer, though.

I haven't played the game since it came out and never was a subscriber, so maybe I've missed out on something by not investing more time/money into it and it may have got more interesting areas with updates/subscriptions.

If not, then good luck to the people who actually like to take in their surroundings.  Fallout 3 took the cake for offering a aesthetically pleasing post apocalyptic world with atmosphere.