Common Sense Note
Parents need to know while the game is chock-full of violence, it's exclusively against demonic creatures. But the gameplay is about killing creatures with swords, guns, and magic, and that killing is graphically shown. Language in the game includes lines such as "Now the son of a bitch needs to pay" and "I should know, having fled from the bastard myself." The game requires a high-end machine to play and you will need to download a patch to fix a host of technical glitches. The game also offers online play.
Families can talk about if it's better to play a hero who is trying to rid the world of demonic beasts than a character killing innocents in other video games. Have you somehow taken a higher ground or is video game carnage all the same?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Marc Saltzman
From the savvy team that created the mega-popular Diablo franchise comes this four-years-in-the-making thriller. Played from an immersive first-person perspective, HELLGATE: LONDON is an action-heavy role-playing shooter game that challenges players to save Britain's capital city from demonic attacks in the year 2038. A "hellgate" has opened up, a kind of inter-dimensional portal responsible for letting in all kinds of creatures, and so it's up to you to seal it back up -- only after you've cleaned up the mess of creatures wreaking all kinds of havoc in (and under) the city.
This post-apocalyptic shooter has a lot of replayability because you can select from one of six distinct character classes, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Also it features dynamically generated levels and randomly created items, meaning no two environments play out the exact same way twice. In fact, even the story-driven side-missions will vary depending on the player. And as with many role-playing games, you'll be upgrading your strength and abilities, buying and selling items, and accepting quests from characters you'll run into. Along with the lengthy single-play campaign are a handful of hell-raising cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes playable online with other likeminded PC gamers.
Because of its intense fantasy combat, attractive graphics, and interesting locations (including hell itself, if you make it that far), Hellgate: London is an exciting and addictive game. Plus, the randomness of the game world, multiple character classes, plenty of collective goodies, and free online modes also make this action RPG hybrid a serious value proposition.
Other recommended role-playing games include Square Enix's Final Fantasy games, Bethesda Softworks' The Elder Scrolls series and Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft. For younger children, turn to LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga.
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Sexual ContentSome of the non-interactive cut scenes feature curvy women in revealing clothing. |
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ViolenceMuch of the game involves killing creatures by swords, guns, and magic. Some explode into bits, others fall to the ground in a bloody heap. |
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LanguageThe game's dialog includes multiple instances of "hell," "damn," "son of a bitch," and "bastard." |
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Social BehaviorYou are trying to save the world by killing all the demons that have arrived in London when an inter-dimensional portal open from hell. |
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