Hellgate: London

Namco’s introduction to the PC market is set to be a big one. Their premiere title, Hellgate London, is a first- and third-person shooter with gorgeous graphics, gorgeous gore, and loads of fleshy monsters to annihilate.

The controls are quick and polished, having the same basic layout as every other shooter on the planet. The difference comes in the game’s performance, which is considerably faster than most of the shooters I’ve seen at E3. Ammo appeared to be unlimited for the machine gun-type weapon I was using, though I doubt it’ll be that way by the time the game is completed.

As the title suggests, this is a hellacious game. Backgrounds are finely rendered, free of pixilation, and are intricately designed. The demo did have some clipping, but that was the only serious graphical flaw. Look at the smoothness of the characters – their clothes, skin, etc. It’s all good.

Combat is fast and never seems to end (at least not until the level does). There are monsters around every corner and behind many vehicles. They’ll attack from above and they’ll even try to be sneaky and kill you before you have the chance to realize what happened.

The transition from first- to third-person view is nothing special (it just flips from one screen to the next). It’s quick though, and gives the player two very different ways to experience the game. From the first-person view everything seems so big and up close. From the third-person view you can see more of the world, as well as monsters that might be attempting to sneak up from behind. (You won’t always see them in third-person, but you won’t see them at all in the third-person view).

Enjoyable and easy to get into, Hellgate is, as Namco told me, their premiere PC title. Its display is awesome, the booth was almost always busy, and when you get your hands on the game you’ll understand why.

For All E3 2005 Previews