8 May 2012 | |
Mike
Today, Funcom spilled the beans about The Secret World‘s first beta weekend, revealing what factions and areas will be available to players.
This first beta weekend, titled “Kingsmouth Calling”, will restrict players to the Templar faction, allowing them to explore the small town of Kingsmouth and the city of London, one of the three hub cities in the game.
The beta begins this Friday on May 11th at 9am PDT, and runs until Sunday May 13th to 11:59pm PDT. The non-disclosure agreement has been dropped as of Friday, so players will be able to post information, pics, and videos of their experience over the weekend; which means you can expect us here at Lorehound to have you covered with first impressions galore.
26 November 2007 | |
LHStaff
Not to say that I am a valid currency to be used in the world of Hellgate: London, but rather an expression meant to convey my leaving of the game. That is correct, I am done with Hellgate: London, just a few days before having played it inconsistently for a month. What started out as months of glorious anticipation eventually lead to the boring monotony of random hack and slash gameplay.
It’s actually kind of odd. The first few days that I was playing Hellgate: London, I absolutely loved it. I’d sworn that I found a 3D Diablo 2, and that I would be able to finally sink months of time into an [M]MORPG again, but, alas, such was not the case. At about the one week mark I could feel the game beginning to wear thin on me. I subscribed to the non-existant bonus’ and got my Evoker up to a respectable level 34. Then, last night after logging in for the first time in a week, I decided that the game was just too boring to continue to play. I subsequently canceled my subscription.
The game isn’t terrible, but it is monotonous. You’ll grow tired of seeing the same scenery over and over again. Likewise, you will also begin to notice that the quests start blurring and blending with eachother. I understand that there needs to be “fetch and kill” quests, but does there need to be this many? Perhaps when more content is released I’ll head back to check it out, but as of now I can’t recommend this game anymore. The subscription bonus’ are not there and the content is thin and paltry. Overall, I’d say the game could have used a few more months in the oven.
P.S. Happy, belated, Thanksgiving. I have been gone for the past few days without any internet. :)
5 November 2007 | |
LHStaff
So last Wednesday, Halloween, I decided to go out and pick up Hellgate: London. Obviously, there was more at work here than just me wanting to be festive and grab a game that fit the mood of the day. Hellgate: London was largely being touted as “the next Diablo 2″. So, now that the game has come out, and I have had at least a few hours to toil around and play within the world that Flagship Studios has created, is it the next Diablo 2?
Well, there are a lot of reasons why I would say yes, and a lot of reasons why I’d say no. The game is, in story and game play, very similar to Diablo 2. Imagine, if you will, Diablo 2 had been 3D and placed in the modern day and you’ll basically get the same concept as Hellgate: London. Which is a good thing, don’t get me wrong. Diablo 2 was one of the high-points of PC gaming of all time. You’ll instantly notice when you jump into the game that some of the classes are very similar to their Diablo 2 counterparts (Blademaster is like the Barbarian, Guardian is like the Paladin). In addition you’ll also notice, about an hour into the game, that their is massive amounts of loot being thrown around, also very Diablo 2-esque. Overall, the surface of the game is almost shockingly similar to Diablo 2, which is to be expected since the game was created by the original Diablo 2 game designer.
Once you start to delve a little further into the game, however, you’ll begin to notice some stark contrasts between Hallgate: London and Diablo 2. Obviously, there is no battle.net to run your games. Everything is run off of a single U.S. server or EU server (depending on where you live, naturally). This means there is no out-of-game “lobby” area where you can assemble your team and head-off into a game with your buddies. This also means you won’t ever get any unexpected guests in your game. Everything about Hellgate: London’s instancing zones screams Guild Wars. You’ll find yourself in a “town” area where the players gather, and from there you’ll gather your quests and acquire your team members and head into the zone.
Overall, Hellgate: London gives it’s own unique feel for the Online RPG game, one that does not take the place of Diablo 2. Although their are some similarities, the overall gameplay management makes this game feel much more unique than if it were a direct Diablo 2 clone. Now bring on DIablo 3. . .
