Hellgate: London Preview

PC Zone is the latest online presence to whip up a hands-on preview of Flagship Studios’ Halloween-bound action RPG, Hellgate: London.

My usual role-playing preference is to be that insipid ‘please like me’ class, the priest. No priests here, though – even the tank seems responsible for his own hit points in London. So I grew a pair, and went for the Blademaster.

This is the class I had imagined from reading and talking about Hellgate. This is the guy who approaches a bunch of enemies, slings his grapple-hook into the mob, drags one of them out and chops him up quick smart before dealing with the rush of his mates. The one-hit killer. The dual-wielding sod. The bald dude with a goatee.

We’ve been told that the game wouldn’t rely on the twitch skills of the traditional FPS, but sometimes – in particular where the enemies are flying – you’ll be forced to act quickly, and with some precision, to drag your hovering foes into close range combat. Easier to use a gun, maybe – but the grappling hook feels cooler.