"If your going to hell, you might as well make the best of it now"

Highest Points:
Improved System
Better and more movies
More voice acting
Not 1 Town or 1 dungeon
Unique Character and weapon designs
Gem system adds character
Etc.

Lowest Points:
WAY too many bugs
Battle net is lagged from Diablo 2
Becomes mindless
Some creatures are just too strong
Doesn’t take thought to win
Some new improvements (Gems) just don’t cut it

Introduction

If you’re an RPG player, than you obviously know what Diablo 2 is. A large majority of PC owners who like RPGs have purchased Diablo, or soon will purchase Diablo 2. But after 3 years in the making, is Diablo 2 really what it’s cracked up to be in the scheme of things? Let me start with the story

Go to hell diablo…

After the last game, the warrior’s mind was possessed by diablo by having slammed his soulstone into his head. He heard the soulstone say to go to the east to Diablo’s brothers. After that he returned to Tristram victorious. He stayed in Tristam for a long period of time, and Deckard Cain observed him. He seemed to become darker with each passing day. A scar was on forehead and he had a deep depression. He shied away from everyone else. So one day the warrior left, and a horde of monsters came the next day as if a wave of evil since the Warrior was gone and decimated the village of tristram.

The story begins a little later while the storyteller is Marius, a warrior who also traveled into the catacombs in tristram. He ran away from the demons and could not sleep because Diablo, lord of terror, made an impression on his mind. And the warrior, now called the Dark Wanderer, followed him somehow. He had decimated many villages and has lost control and was still losing control of his mind and body. He was taunted, which caused the anger to call demons, decimating the bar that Marius and the Wanderer were at. Marius decided to follow him and they traveled east together.

You’ve got character my friend…

From the start, Diablo already shows its strength over the old game. It starts with a MUCH better movie sequence and a very nice title screen. And this time you have 5 characters to choose from. Amazon, who is pretty much a rogue from the last game. Paladin, who is a warrior with Holy Magic and protective/offensive auras. Barbarian, a warrior from the last game with vicious attacks, body mastery, and war cries. Necromancer, who can summon beings, Curse souls, and create bone and poison magic, and the sorceress, who can cast fire, lightning, and ice magics.

From the beginning the game is pretty simple but lends no tutorial to start. Don’t worry about it, you will catch on quickly. If you’ve played the last game you know the basic scheme, but the only problem is that there now is a new system for all your skills, the Skill Tree.

Speaking of Skills and Magic’s let me get into that. There are no books (well, tomes) like in the last game. A paladin cannot learn vicious fire magic anymore, sorry! Instead you have skill trees. (Say it with me: S-K-I-L-L T-R-E-E) Skill trees make sure that the game is tougher to hack (but people still do…). Also it gives some more depth to the game. I mean, you’ll have to make some crucial decisions now because of this spell system! You’re not going to be able to master all the skills on the sorceress to level TWENTY! So you should just pretty much focus on one or 2 skill types. For example: a paladin should really learn Combat Skills and Defensive Auras. Or if you want to play it safe, even just defensive aura! When your on b.net you can choose parties wisely, because each player will have different skills and no one will be equal, which adds an incredible layer of depth to multiplayer. But there still are scrolls in this game: Identify and Town Portal. Sorry boys, you can’t master Town Portal anymore. But a cool feature is instead of carrying around a massive amount of scrolls; you can buy a tome that holds 20 scrolls of the same type. Just remember after Quest 3, Identify will not be useful any longer because someone “will do the job for you”. And also, a rumor from the last game has actually been put in this one. Just remember: Don’t break a LEG in that PORTAL!

Remember the prefix/suffix item system in Diablo I? Yep, its back! Only with more prefixes and suffixes than ever. It’s great. Besides, with all the new rare and unique items, what could you ask for? But there is more than that. With normal items, they come in different types, such as crude, cracked, broken, etc. Magical items have different prefixes and suffixes describing them, which give them better stats. Socketed items are weapons, helmets, or shields that have sockets where you can put gems in them. The Gems have many grades from Chipped to Perfect, each adding more and more to stats. Unfortunately the Gem system is weak, giving a minor upgrade for such a valuable item. Also here are Rares. I’m not talking Unique, just rare. They are powerful weapons with extremely good stats. Then finally are Uniques. These items are legendary and one of a kind.

That last quest I did was hell!

In the last game, Quests were usually cool little side-quests from the main point of killing Diablo. Now, Quests take you down to Diablo slowly. The quests are a little deeper now, and can even come in multi-parts! Quests vary from assembling items from different pieces to clearing out a certain dungeon, even killing a certain person. Its all good, but sometimes you’ll have around 3 quests, making going somewhere questionable. You’ll wonder if you’ve past where you’re supposed to go to complete quests. The best example of this is in Chapter 3, when you’re wandering though the forests looking for a key item/person for your quest.

But this time your really now alone. Now you have mercenaries to join you, as you do in each of the different areas. There could be as many as about 15 on a list, each with different stats and abilities. Take whatever seems right to you, whether it be the Paladin that can fight up-close and personal to the archer who can shoot enemies from far away to the Wizard who can shoot fireballs at a little fiend. It’s all up to you.

You have lost your connection to Battle.net. Sucker.

The downside? Battle.net. Remember back in the old days of Starcraft where lag was still limited and you could play without it being slowed? Those days are in the future, just like Starcraft. Expect lots of lag and slowdown, especially deeper in the game. If you in hell, expect a helluva lot of slowdown. That’s what makes battle.net so hard these days. And besides, unless you’re willing to play open battle.net with all the cheaters, your going to have to make a separate character for your online adventuring. How great, play though a game to start over! But its not that bad, at least you have friends that can help. Or do you? Once again, you should remember all those PKs who made your life really bad on Diablo. But now, it’s a choice. When you get to level 9, you can choose to go Hostile with someone, meaning you can fight. Better yet, you can’t fight people below that level. Cool! Now I won’t get slaughtered for a cracked short sword!

Items and trading are also better. In Diablo, everyone found themselves dropping items and having someone else take them then go away. That was really no fun, until later when all the hackers came along and remade all the items you lost. Now when you click on someone in town, you can go to a trade screen with them. Now you can display your items (stats and all) for trade. When BOTH characters agree on a trade, the items are given to one another. Hey, there goes a hassle! Added also is a Stash system, where you can place items inside of a box for safekeeping. It’s better than your character slugging around a large amount of equipment.

And now for the scores…

Graphics: 9
Busting down enemies, shredding though dungeons, walking though Lut Gholein, Diablo 2 looks great. The movies play INCREDIBLE, looking like I bought a DVD instead of a game. All the effects are given such a grand manner, and every spell has some form of graphical attention paid to it. The Paladin can launch bright holy bolts while the Sorceress ignites the land with beautiful (but deadly) walls of flame. Even the Barbarian with no spells looks great leaping high into the air and falling, spreading a cloud of dust from his feet. The cities are pre-rendered and look almost realistic. Sorry guys, but you still can’t walk inside of buildings. Enemies are…well…a plus and minus. Your enemies are given great detail, even while dead! Its actually incredible to go down into a dungeon and see rooms of dead remains vividly splashed onto the floor. But unfortunately, some enemies aren’t added more detail for stronger versions…they are given a different color. That orange sandworm becomes a Grey blood maggot, for example.

Sound: 8
The music of this game is very good, and many sounds are taken from the original Diablo and added to this game. However, do me a favor. Go into a city or area and go into the game’s options. Disable the sound, and only listen to the effects. They sound incredible. The best sound is the Rogue Encampment when the fire is crackling or it is raining. Sound effects get old sooner or later, however, especially for Paladins and Barbarians. They swing a weapon so much that all the sounds you hear are the weapon and the monster grunting and screaming. Sorry guys, there is not much I can tell you. Voice acting is a plus, once again, but it sounds more refined this time and the actors clearly know what they are doing.

Control: 10
Now, this is critical. You’re going to have a lot of skills; so thank god for the F1-12 buttons to place spells there. But control-wise, you use your mouse and left-click for where to go/investigate/attack, and you use your right click to cast a spell or ability. That belt you use also has some purpose. Buttons 1-4 use the potions on your belt. Its not complicated at all, but it might be for a newbie. Oh, and also, people might get annoyed how many times you click a mouse while you play the game.

Problem Factor: 8
Now here we go: Sometimes the CD is not recognized. Oh man…no Diablo for you! That’s a major glitch and many people were affected by it, thank god for today’s patches. But still, what is the point of buying a game to go home and get a large patch for the game? Makes it seem a little bit incomplete to me. With all the past and current glitches, Diablo II needs a lot of work, and hopefully will get it done fast.

Fun Factor: 10
Killing endlessly may not sound like fun. Actually when you think about it, it gets old quick. But what keeps others and me hooked to this game? I don’t know and I don’t care. This game will make you not let go of it. You’re not going to stop playing any time soon. So grab some drinks and snacks and sit down. You’re going to be exploring dungeons and slaying creatures today.

Overall: 9
When the problems are sorted, this game will become more magnificent. It features so much more than its prequel and looks like it might be one of the best online games made. I really wish the connection was much better though. That would have made this so much more enjoyable. But Diablo II is a fun ride. No offense people, but we all MIGHT someday go to hell. You should have fun with it while you can. – Anthony

Scores:

Graphics: 10
Sound: 8
Control: 10
Problem Factor: 8
Fun Factor: 10
Overall: 9

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/18/01, Updated 04/18/01