Hellgate

Wait, what? Is this DOOM?

Hellgate is yet another first-person shooter for the Atari ST/e. Created in 1997 by David Walters of Smartsoft and is an impressive attempt to develop Doom using STOS. Of course, it'll take more than our humble 68000 processor to deliver decent framerates especially when I remember a friend's 25Mhz PC not being all that impressive.

Wait a moment... Hold your horses, Marine!! Did I just say that Hellgate was developed using STOS?? That is something else... Okay, don't get me wrong, this is a brilliant tool that has certainly proved itself more times than I care to mention, however, can it actually handle a 3D engine running at a decent framerate?

Please remember that this is shareware and I have only found an 'unregistered demo' which may not even be the completed product. This is also missing a few bits 'n' bobs like a rocket launcher and extra episodes. Sadly, after scouring the internet, I failed to find the registered version so I'm praying the full game isn't lost!

Okay, enough waffling for now because we have a couple of screenshots to view...

I'm liking the iWatch menu. Apple, you need to learn from this!

A familiar screen after romping through the first level and successfully killing everything!

I'm getting that Doom vibe!!

The year is 2196 and we plucky humans have somehow terraformed the ice giant Neptune. However, the planet's largest city is plagued with extremely high levels of crime, so our mission is to investigate that. Now, I'm no military expert, but I think that means we grab our weapons and kill everything in sight. Well, I'm sold so count me in!!

Firstly, we need identification so enter your name into a simple but sweet screen. The audio here is great but I'll say no more to risk spoiling it (but I thought it was cool). Next, there are three difficulty levels to choose from:

Dead Easy: which the documentation hilariously says is for kids and your granny!
Well 'Ard: which is kinda like an equivalent of Doom's "Hurt Me Plenty".
Suicide: is for those with Godlike skills but even the docs advise against this nightmare!

Hey, you... Pssst... fancy a couple more sexy screenshots of STOS Doom? Of course, you do...

The pistol is good and does its job as something just to get you started.

Nothing compares to the shotgun. Just ask Doomguy, he'll tell ya!

Let's play...

Once you begin, everything has a familiar feel to ID's iconic shooter (cough...cough...ripoff). The episode screen displays just where you are in Neptune's city complex and the in-game status bar shows health, armour, ammo, keys and even your ugly mug in the middle. Well, I guess, there's no shame in using a tried and trusted format? (I like it!!)

Controls are performed using the mouse: pushing upwards will walk forward and I'm sure you can guess what pulling back on your chunky grey tank will do? Moving left/right allows our marine to look around the city - unless you hold down the right button to enable strafe. Sadly, the keyboard is only used to flip between your weaponry and open doors.

Yup, you're stuck to using the mouse to get around which is incredibly frustrating at times, especially during your first few games. Well, nothing is perfect and it does work quite well but I cannot help but wonder why David didn't implement the alternative WASD. Anyhow, the mouse works well once you become familiar with using it.

Hardly a crushing blow is it? And that now means only one thing - Yep, it's time for some more screenshots...

Look out for medkits, armour, and ammo to help fight off the hoards.

What? No zombie guys or imps? No, we have these blocky robotic dudes to shoot at!

An honourable ripoff?

So almost everything feels similar to what you would expect. And so is the gameplay: we begin the mission with only a pistol but our personal armoury can ultimately include a Shotgun, Minigun, Rifle, and Rocket Launcher. However, I never got to see the Rifle as I lost my bearings, which you can see at the end of my video recording (scroll back up).

So, that takes me onto the automap: there isn't one. As much as I tried hitting the TAB key - it did nothing. Perhaps it was just me but I got lost and desperately needed to find out where to go, especially as I was recording a video. Sigh...

Look out for pickups to boost your health and so on, but there are a few hidden rooms just as in Doom and Wolfenstein! This is how I found the shotgun on the first level, a fantastic find! Also, some doors are locked and need a specific key to unlock them. Yup, there's nothing shockingly new in Hellgate but familiarity is no bad thing here whatsoever.

Righto, let's not get sarky and just introduce two more flourishingly-sexy screenshots. Ahem...

Always keep an eye out for secret rooms just like we did in ID's Doom and Wolfenstein.

Yep, that provided me armour, health and the shotgun. What a find!!

486 Aesthetics?

Graphically, things are pretty poor and not only in comparison to Doom (which is understandable) but also to ST shooters, like Wolfenstein, Destruction Imminent and Substation. Everything looks crude, with a fairly sluggish framerate, and more than a few glitches too. Interestingly, the robotic enemies are made from polygons which is kinda cool and not what I was expecting. However, they are a bit thick and I would still have preferred demonic monsters!

Sound effects are sparse using fuzzy samples for firing, pickups, doors, etc/etc. What I did find odd were our robotic enemies who scream when dying, freak but cool!! Sadly, there's no music for ST dudes but lucky STe owners can enjoy gorgeous Mad Max chiptunes alongside the sound effects. This actually works incredibly well and suited the mood and style.

Two more screenshots before the much-anticipated opinion that I know you're eager to read...

Two missing episodes lost? I hope we find the registered game one day :(

Here ends my game... the screen turns red and I fall to the ground. DEAD!!

The CryptO'pinion?

Hellgate was an interesting download but sadly, it's not good enough in comparison to the other FPS shooters already on the Atari ST. A faster computer, like my Mega STe, compensated for the poor framerate but it couldn't fix the wonky mechanics, bugs, or the psychic robots who always seemed to know my movements before I did. Ultimately, the mouse controls are the real game killer because it desperately requires the use of a keyboard. What a shame.

Hellgate is fun for a few hours but I doubt I'll return to it anytime soon. However, let's remember this is probably unfinished and developed by one guy using STOS and that fact alone blows me away!! Play it and let me know what you think.

- Download Hellgate -