"A good expansion, though far from perfect"

Ah, the slow torture of caged starvation. That's what it feels like having to wait for the expansion pack to one of the fastest selling games in history. Needless to say this expansion pack was highly anticipated, but did it really live up to the hype? Well............

Gameplay: 7

Bad guys just don't like being dead. Nor do they like to change much, either.

Well, after the ending in diablo 2, it is extremely obvious that there will be either a sequel or an expansion pack. Since this is an expansion pack, the basic gameplay remains the same. Run out of town, see monster, kill monster, pick up treasure, rinse and repeat. Granted, such mindless activity is rather appealing, especially after a hard day's work and your boss has been such an extremely tiresome windbag. Players hungering for deeper rpgs, read no further. The expansion pack plays exactly the same as the original game. Period. But you should have already guessed, that, didn't you? Despite promises that there will be more interactive environs and NPCs (which translate to barbs in the plains that mindlessly stare at the stone mountains, get stuck at the bottom of the stairs, staring at you beating up monsters, etc, and breakable doors, towers and catapults. Never forget the catapults. They are extremely annoying), nothing has really changed much.

Still, why the high score, you ask? Well, I did enjoy the mindless running and hacking in the original game, so more of the same kind of appeals to me. It that appeals to you, you'll definitely enjoy the expansion pack. Plus, the is only an add on, not an entirely new game, and they have added quite a huge number of things. An entirely new act, 2 new character classes (assassin and druid), new items (such as new set items, new unique items, and elite items), new monsters, quests and more. In particular, they have improved the old set items (which were rather useless) such that they are somewhat more useable now. The increased resistance penalties in hell and nightmare mode should increase the challenge, as well as the ''new'' (read: version 1.08 patch in the classic Diablo 2) immunity system where monsters in hell mode are immune to at least one form of attack, and physical resistance for monsters in hell so barbarians will suddenly find themselves weaker that a cotton floss soaked with fresh water and weapons that are as strong as toothpicks. That is one particular problem with the expansion pack. with the global physical resistance(i.e. 50% physical resistance on all monsters in nightmare and hell), most warrior class characters (Amazons, paladins, barbarians, assassins using martial arts and druids using shapeshifting skills) now find themselves with SERIOUSLY underpowered weapons. Finding good weapons is like trying to find a can of beer in a rubbish dump the size of the grand canyon. Well, maybe not that hard, but still, good weapons are hard to come by, thus playing as warriors is far more difficult. Not necessary a bad thing, since the expansion pack promised to be harder, but in my opinion, this is just sheer laziness on blizzard's part. Making in 2 times harder to kill EVERY SINGLE MONSTER in hell mode is not my idea of fun - just tedious. It isn't really adding a whole lot to the difficulty. Warrior classes are now forced to either invest in skills with elemental damage or to party up with spell casters, or hunt for elemental damage weapons. Sure, this allows for variety in playing style, but it also affects players who prefer to experiment with variants. And if everyone is getting the same skill for countering the physical resistance (for example, the barbarian has only 2 skills for dealing with physical immunity, one being FAR stronger than the other), then it isn't much variety, isn't it?

Which brings us to another problem. Sorceresses are now the new whirlwind barbarians. While Blizzard has introduced spell timers to reduce lag, they have upped the damage on many sorceress spells. In fact, they have gone overboard. Sorceresses are equiped with 3 elemental tress, meaning that there isn't really any one immunity they can't deal with (since the game can only spawn up to a maximum of 2 immunities). Granted, they are still a far cry from the old whirlwind barbarians (who only really needed one skill to reign supreme), but they still run through the game with relative ease, compared to other classes. Blizzard seriously needs to address this problem (as of writing, the new 1.09 patch is out, but nothing has really changed much) and this only goes to show that not enough testing was done prior to the game release. That, and that bows are pathetically weak and necromancer poison spells are pretty much as weak as before goes to show just how unbalanced this game is. What happened to the rather well thought out (thought not perfect) balancing in starcraft, Blizzard?

One problem leads to another, and unfortunately, players who prefer single player mode, TCP/IP and open battle.net to online play through closed battle.net don't get all the perks the online players get, since ONLY one runeword (one of the new socketable items) was enabled, not to mention a couple of other things so hyped about the expansion not being available. The new 1.09 patch addresses this problem, but if I buy a game, I would expect to at least get the full features, bugs notwithstanding, of the game and not have it added in a patch. And the bugs. Oh god, there are more bugs that I can find in my backyard in this game, although they mostly don't crash the game, since they are mostly bugs relating to items ( with 2 very glaring exceptions on the realms, which are now fixed .)

Still, the new items, with new item modifiers as well as the elite items (which are merely more powerful versions of old weapons and stuff), and the 2 new classes with the new act should keep you entertained, at least, if you play in the realms (closed battle.net), which are now somewhat better for playing compared to the horrendous state they were in when the original Diablo 2 was released. It IS only an expansion, and thus in my opinion it has expanded the gameplay by quite a bit through the items, new classes and act.

Graphics: 7

Behold! Let there be 800 x 600 . And there was 800 x 600. Go forth with increased resolution, champions of the light!

Well, the only major change is the increased resolution. Everything is SO small when you have that resolution on initially, but after a while, you'll look back at 640 x 400 and wonder what you were smoking when you were playing and how you've managed to stand it. It is so much better with the resolution, you can see more, you can admire the rather nicely done act 5 environs, you can see incoming enemies a little faster, you can enjoy your death scene more (um, well, kinda), you get the idea. The graphics itself hasn't changed much, though act 5 is rather well done, from the soft falling snow, dead barbarians littering across the landscape, dead vegetation, to the crystalline caves and frozen rivers. The final area before you meet baal itself is somewhat of a let down, since it isn't really nothing more than the act 3 sewers with bright walls, but the worldstone chamber is pretty, and baal's death animation is nice :). And the cinematic cutscenes are just as breathtaking as the original.

Sound: 8

The sound of orchestral music......ahhhh

Act 5 has been fitted with orchestral music, and Matt Uelmen has proven himself to be a fine composer. The town tune fits with the despairing mood of harrogath, and the music of the external areas fits well, though you probably won't take too much notice when a few monsters are pounding on you.

Storyline : 6

Once upon a time, there was a demon whose brothers died, and he's unhappy about it, so he wrecks a few towns and waits for someone to stop him ...

Basically, the storyline continues where the ending in the original game left off. Meaning there isn't really much that is new. The ending is something of a surprise, though. And once again, the story is told through the manual and cinematics, not in game, so it is just as unimmersive as the original. Anyway, you will be too busy hacking away to notice exactly why you are supposed to be hacking away.

Replayability : 4(single player), 9(online play)

This game either can bore you to death if you play alone, or entertain you more than any other game for a long, long time.

Why 2 scores? Well, I gave 2 scores because this is a game that can be played online or in single player. Since the experience for each is vastly different, I gave 2 scores. Single player was, as it was in the original game, pretty boring. Just mindlessly hacking and slashing. Even after a while, you'll start getting bored. Online play is more enjoyable, in my opinion, as you can have fun trying to kill other players (heh, heh), competing against your friends, playing cooperatively, competing for items, trading, trash talking, etc.

Overall : 7

For an expansion pack, it does add a lot to the game, though a lot of the skill fixes were already added to the original game in patch 1.08, but with the new items, new classes and act, you'll still find addicted to it's relatively simple gameplay.

And that is what an expansion is supposed to do, to expand the original game, not to drastically change it.
Thus I would sayth that it doth fulfill that purpose, and that thou wouldst enjoy thy game if thine art tolerant of the bugs and imbalances :D

Now stop reading and go play it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/21/01, Updated 08/21/01