No it s not Helmut it s Hellmeat

Reviewed on:Windows PC (Windows Vista; 3.0 GHz Intel Dual Core processor, 2GB of RAM; alternating 512MB ATI Radeon X1900 XT and 512MB ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphics cards. Displayed at 1920x1200 on a Dell 2407FPW 24-inch LCD.) Also available for: NA
The Good: Contemporary London makes for a unique dungeon crawling setting; sharp graphics when running under DirectX 10; seamless transition between offline and online play The Bad: Buggy; requires a brawny box to see all the best glitz at a playable frame rate; in the end it's not that much different from most other dungeon crawlers The Verdict: Hell, as it turns out, isn't such a bad place to visit


Flagship Studios' new role-playing game, Hellgate: London, puts the double-hockey-sticks back in hell. Brimstone is burning in the streets and the dead have returned in hideous zombie form, and all Mac Kenzie a minor but recurring character in the game can think about is sending me on quests for ingredients to create a strange brew that he calls Elsinore. Eh? Canadian stereotypes are apparently alive well in the apocalyptic future. I'd complain, but I'm just happy that there are a few of us still kicking around at the end of the world.

Made by the same people who created Diablo, this dungeon crawler or perhaps it ought be called a subway crawler, as much of the action takes place in the tube tunnels that worm around underneath the British capitol is similar in design to its precursor. We've been given prettier graphics and a modern setting, but the formula is the same: Get quests, kill hellspawn, collect loot. Rinse and repeat for a few dozen hours.

It's fun, if you enjoy wandering around countless, endless mazes while slaying ghouls in the tens of thousands (which I sort of do). It also helps if you're the type of person who doesn't mind looking at grotesque creatures with ridiculous names like "Hellmeat" that, when slain, split apart and spew quartets of adult-sized ghouls from out their guts (as I kind of am).

Welcome to hell

Hellgate: London begins with a gorgeous and lengthy CGI movie that sets the stage. Not long from now, rifts between our world and the underworld pop up all over the place, from which demons of varying shape and size pour. People take refuge below ground, setting up enclaves and redoubts where Templars and Cabalists base themselves as they fight to protect the few survivors.

Fast forward a few decades and there are even fewer people left. The world is a hellish mess; London has been ripped apart and tentacled demons are hovering high in a red sky. Assuming the role of a warrior in humanity's final battle against hell, players begin the game as rookie crusader, moving from one survivor camp to the next helping the locals with whatever they need, whether its clearing out imps and gremlins from nearby subway tunnels or, as already mentioned, collecting ingredients for a new, supernaturally tasty Great White beer.

There are plenty of warrior castes to choose from when setting up your hero, but they all essentially fall into one of two categories: Shooters or brawlers. If you choose a ranged fighter the game will feel a little like a first person shooter, while if you choose a melee character it will play more like a standard third-person brawler. I played as a blademaster (brawler), which not only felt more appropriate given the type of game, but also more satisfying; shooting zombies from a distance just doesn't carry with it the same sort of primitive gratification one gets from hacking their heads off with a pair of massive swords.

A helluva lotta loot

As with most dungeon crawlers, a big part of Hellgate: London is collecting stuff dropped by defeated enemies and found in treasure chests (or, footlockers, as the case may be). Accumulating virtual possessions isn't for everyone, but, those who enjoy it like it a lot. Much like acquiring Fendi purses and Chanel sunglasses might satisfy the material needs of a fashionista, amassing complete sets of magical armour and immensely powerful swords somehow placates the ownership cravings of many a geek.

If you're new to the genre, you'll first need to get used to the nonsensical notion that naked nonhumans, including quadrupeds and floating blobs, somehow drop distinctly human items like cash and cuirasses when slain.

You'll also have to acquire a taste for inventory management, because you'll be spending about a quarter of your time selling, buying, modifying, and upgrading your gear at various vendors.

As usual for this sort of game, our field satchels are far too small to accommodate everything we find, but Hellgate: London deals with overflowing inventories rather elegantly. If you run out of room to carry all your loot, you can break down items to their base components, which stack together to save space. These components can be used later to upgrade your favourite guns, swords, and armour.

Not necessarily your own private hell

While it's perfectly possible to kick it in hell all by your lonesome, things become a little more interesting with the help of friends and strangers.

You can switch to online mode whenever you like, which will allow you to hang out and chat with other players in safe zones or hook up with likeminded warriors and go hunting for hellish critters. It's quick, it's easy, and it can be a good way to get through some of the harder areas in the game.

If you're not the social sort and you just want some added help in one particular place, check the "Auto Party" box and the game will try to set you up with other players whenever you enter a new location.

Hell goes high-def

Hellgate: London is one of a handful of games released this fall designed to make extensive use of Microsoft's new DirectX 10 platform (a suite of multimedia applications), which many game developers are touting as one of the most important advances in PC gaming in recent years.

To get a feel for the impact DirectX 10 has on Hellgate, I tried running the game using two different graphics cards: The ATI Radeon X1900 XT, a relatively powerful but non-DirectX 9 compliant card, and the ATI Radeon HD 3870, a slightly less powerful card that does support DirectX 10.

In DirectX 9, Hellgate: London was a minor visual disappointment. My modest test machine ran the game smoothly, but textures (the surfaces of objects) were plain and a bit muddy, and character models were soft and lacked detail.

However, once I slotted in the DirectX 10 card the game's graphics took a noticeable turn for the better. Textures were much sharper, objects had more visual nuances, and effects like smoke, weather, and lighting were more complex and realistic. It was like a slightly fuzzy camera subject suddenly coming into focus. DirectX 10 didn't make Hellgate: London the most gorgeous game I'd ever seen, but it looked markedly better than it did running under DirectX 9.

There was, however, one big problem: With DirectX 10 graphics enabled, the game slowed to an unplayable, chugging pace of just a few frames per second. I can only take that to mean that a relatively powerful machine would be required to get the most out of Hellgate: London's bleeding edge graphics.

What the hell? I can't move!

One last quibble: the game proved somewhat glitchy on my test box.

It froze and kicked me to the desktop half a dozen times, and there was one time that my character simply disappeared, leaving his swords hanging in midair. But the worst issue was that, on two separate occasions, I became stuck in environmental rubble, which left me no option but to quit out of the game and lose my progress.

The bugs aren't a deal-breaker, but they can be bothersome.

Go to hell

Hell or at least Flagship Studios' version of it isn't so bad. I figured Satan's realm would be nothing but red guys with horns and pointy tails prodding me with pitchforks, but in Hellgate: London it's the devil's minions who get the short end of the poker as we slaughter them by the hundreds and then rob their corpses.

That said, if the whole running around mazes chopping up endless hordes of hellspawn thing has never been your cup of tea in the past, Hellgate: London probably won't convert you. It doesn't change the decades-old formula of dungeon crawling; it just gives it a new coat of paint.

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