Hellgate: London Interview

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Written by BuckGB on June 9th, 2005

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Q: It looks like you can use some crazy weapons, both ranges an melee. Tell us more.

A: Well, it kind of starts with skills. We've kept the skills system simple but extremely effective. At the bottom left and right hand corners of the screen are two circles. They correspond to the left and right mouse buttons. So you choose your skills within the skills menu, assign them to a circle, and activate them with your mouse buttons. It's really easy and keeps the game flowing quickly.

Having two skill circles lets you dual-wield any two weapons at any time. You can dual-wield two identical ranged weapons, two different ranged weapons, a melee weapon and a ranged weapon, or two melee weapons. We've also designed all of the weapons to be easy to use. They don't require FPS-style twitch reflexes or really, really accurate aiming skills. We have one ranged weapon that sticks to enemies as you sweep your aim across them, and continues to stick to them as you move around, within reason. And we have another weapon that throws out an acid-style ammunition with an area effect, so I don't have to aim it perfectly, just get it in the general direction of the monsters in front of me. Another? We've also got these weird genetically engineered locusts that swarm on monsters and eat away at them. The locusts have a life cycle, so they'll home onto a monster, kill it, move to the next monster, and keep going until they die.

So all the ranged weapons are designed to be area-effect, or soft targeting, or auto-locking, or homing. That doesn't make it easy. But it does make the game much more about what skills and items you have acquired, and not just how accurate you are with a gun.

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