"The Dungeon Crawl classic of 1996!"

Diablo Review (PC)

My Next review will be about the most hyped up and addictive Action-Role-playing Hybrid that revived the Computer Role-playing genre back in 1996, Diablo. At around this time, the Japanese Console Role-playing genre was growing to be more popular with series and games like Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger but the exact opposite happened for PC Role-playing. The genre was almost non-existent and decreasingly popular in the PC gaming market as it was overshadowed by genres such as Real-Time Strategy(Warcraft,Dune,Command and Conquer) and First Person Shooting(Quake, Doom, etc.). Then Blizzard helped bring the RPG genre back to life with a very simple yet very addictive and influential Role-playing game called Diablo, which was in development since 1994. The game hit big and was highly successful as well as critically acclaimed. Many say that if it wasn't for Diablo, many PC role-playing games like Baldur's Gate, Ice wind Dale, Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, Fallout, etc. wouldn't have the same impact on PC gamers as they did. Now that you have some background, off to the review.

Graphics/Visuals
For it's time, Diablo had amazing graphics for any type of game, let alone Role-playing games, which were usually very poor in that aspect. Everything from the character models to the randomly generated environment set the mood of the game perfectly and gave it the sort of gothic and creepy feel to this classic dungeon crawl. The in-game spells also look real neat and believable which also helps set the feel to the game. For those who have the game, you will be delighted to see the many hand drawings in the Diablo instruction manual made by Metzen and a few others whom I can't recall from Blizzard. There are even written tales for you to read inside the booklet about Diablo and his two brothers, Mephisto and Baal. The downside with Diablo's visual presence is that some of the monsters look very similar to each other but have a different colour palette to them. This type of rehash has been done before in many Role-playing games in the late 80s/early 90s but one would think they would stop doing this kind of thing in 1996 because it makes fighting monsters less interesting.

Sound/Music
Not many games take advantage of Graphics and Sound to actually enhance the gameplay experience but Diablo is the exception. The sound in this game is so realistic from the sound of flesh being pierced with a bolt, from the butcher's frightening and convincingly wicked voice, to the horrifying screams done by each of the characters when they are slain. Not only is the sound realistic but the music sets the mood of this game perfectly. Each of the themes fit in very nicely with each of the areas whether it be the town, the dungeon, the catacombs, the cave or hell itself. I don't think any Role-playing game has set the atmosphere this successfully with their music and sound. Many may complain that sound and graphics don't make a game and I agree but with Diablo, they make the dungeon romp a lot more enjoyable and creepy. I recommend you turn off the lights for this one, Diablo II never came close to setting this kind of atmosphere for the game.

Battles
The battles in Diablo are satisfying overall despite all those who criticize this game for its simple point and click style of play for not being strategic. Anyone who has given this game a chance will tell you that this game is not just a mindless hack and slash game, it may be when you are playing as a Warrior but even he needs to effectively dodge around various fireballs, ranged attacks, avoid being trapped at all sides by enemies. The Rogue however is much more strategic than that as she mustn't fight in the hack and slash melee combat style like the warrior as she is much more skilled in fighting with ranged weapons and guerrilla tactic. As a Rogue, you have to make sure no enemy comes near you or else you will be slaughtered and you must use your ranged attacks to effectively and strategically flush out your foes one by one. The Sorcerer is the most fun and strategic of all characters; he is the main magic user in Diablo because of his high Magic rating. With this high magic rating and low hit point count, he has to rely on a ton of spells to use on his quest to defeat Diablo and make sure that an enemy doesn't get close to him or else he will be slaughtered in no time unless he is using Mana Shield. Everything from Fireballs, Novas, Holybolts, Stone curses, Healing spells, Lightning bolts, etc. There is quite a library of spells but unfortunately the Rogue and Warrior probably will have to stick to just regular attacks because of their low Magic ratings. This is what makes the Rogue and Warrior a bit boring since they don't have a lot of variety in their attacks and this is what may have turned off those who criticized the game as they probably didn't select a Sorcerer for a more fun game.

Controls/Menus
The mouse is used for walking, fighting, aswell as rearranged items in your inventory and a couple minor things. The keyboard is used to input hotkeys to ready various spells or to bring up menus with ease. Personally I find this engine to be very easy as everything is just point and click or can be accessed at the press of a button. Many may find the small Inventory space to be a problem in this game but the game at least lets you teleport to a town at any time with a town portal scroll or spell. Also when you re-enter the portal you are right back at where you left off in the dungeon.

Gameplay Mechanics
The system used in this game is pretty basic however instead of having your stats automatically advanced for you at level up, you get to choose how you want to level up each statistic. This is a feature that many RPGs, mainly Console RPGs don't let you do for yourself. You also have your basic items like healing potions, mana potions, scrolls, etc. in the game. What makes the game more realistic but certainly not more innovative than most RPGs is that you need a certain amount of strength to be able to equip weapons and armour. The stronger your character is, the heavier their armour and weapons can be. Also, weapons and armour wear down and you have to constantly repair them. The most significant thing about Diablo however is the whole treasure hunt addiction that spreads all through battle.net, however with Diablo II this addiction is even worse. :) This addiction is fuelled by the various magical and unique weapons and armour that are found in the game. From my knowledge there are at least 150+ pieces of equipment in Diablo. Now there are hundreds of different magical types that can be found in equipment. For example there are some magical types like ''Lion'' for example that gives you a hit point bonus ''Crimson'' that give you resistance to fire, etc. So if one were to equip a ''Ring of the Lion'' they would have a hit point bonus when they wear it. That means that with 150+ types of equipment and hundreds of magical types for each of these equipment pieces there are about tens of thousands of different equipment to be found in the game each being easier or harder to find then others. Of course you can't get all this equipment through one play thru, in one play thru you may find only a small portion of these items so you may have to play again to see if you'll finally find your desired item. However it is nearly impossible to find the very best of items but you can trade on Battle.net with other gamers and this is the easiest way of finding those magical or unique items that everyone is hunting for.

Challenge
Diablo is an extremely tough game, even more so than Diablo II in my opinion. If you thought Normal mode was hard wait until you play Nightmare or Hell mode. Aye. The enemy AI is so cheap and intelligent. They will try their very best to corner you and get you into their circle of death and beat the living daylights out of you. Diablo has to be the cheapest enemy of all, he doesn't fight alone, he has his many Blood Knights, Snow witches, Advocates, and other minions to help him. However once you go one of one with Big D and all his other minions are out of the way, you'll find that his defence sucks but he can still pack a hard punch with his Apocalypse spell. Ouch. Oh and just in case you didn’t know, in a multiplayer game if you die, you drop all your equipped items and half your gold so you better rush in there and pick up your stuff before you get killed again.

Battle.net Service
Well this all depends. Before, battle.net wasn't much of a problem when it was first out because there were a lot more legitimate players than hackers who would cheat to make it easier to kill you and steal half your gold. :) Then in the past two years, the legitimate player population in Diablo on battle.net was down to like 10%, literally. If you play a game of Diablo on battle.net now, almost everyone cheats and about 75% of those cheaters are PKS(Player Killers for those who aren't familiar with Online RPGs) and this all makes it very frustrating to play co-operative in peace. I can't blame Blizzard for this since the fans were the ones who ruined the whole online experience. However, if you can play in a co-operative game then I guarantee you will have a blast. It makes the gaming experience a lot more fun.

Private Gaming (IPX, Modem, Private Battle.net session, etc.)
I suggest you play private co-operative games with your friends and other legitimate players so that you can be safe from all those horrible hackers on battle.net. One may argue that it you are limited in trading with only a few players this way rather than possibly tens of thousands of available players but most of the players on battle.net have hacked and illegitimate items anyways so you shouldn't bother since cheating will ruin all your fun.

Single Player
Singe player mode in Diablo isn't all that great once you beat it once and it's not all that long either. Also, it’s just not as fun as playing in a co-op game with your friends. The single player mode also limits how many enemies are available to kill which makes it hard to gain levels and find decent treasure. It's something I wouldn't touch at all, I prefer you either play an IPX game by yourself or play with your friends on battle.net who have the game because you'll benefit from the unlimited amount of monsters and the availability of many treasures and level up opportunities. So in short, Diablo is meant to be a Multiplayer Role-playing game, not for just one player.

Replay Value
If you play a multiplayer game of Diablo, you have a ton of Replay value. Once you beat the game with one character you can try beating the game with the other two. Once you beat the game in normal mode, you can try beating it in nightmare mode, then hell mode. And of course the whole treasure hunting addiction will keep you coming back for more as well as the randomly generated dungeons that are present with each time you login. There is always something new in Diablo. In 1996, Diablo was easily one of the most valuable of Role-playing games simply because of its fun multiplayer feature and online play (which was excellent at the time). Many role-playing games did not offer so much but Diablo wasn't the first.

The Scores:

GAMEPLAY- 7.9
GRAPHICS- 9.0
SOUND- 10.0
VALUE- 10.0
FUN/ENJOYMENT- 9.0

OVERALL SCORE- 9.1(Rounded to 9)

Al though I gave Diablo a 9.1, I still think it is one of the most over hyped games of all-time. You would think that the game that would save the CRPG genre from extinction would be something that would totally blow your mind but instead you get a simple RPG but still very addictive at its core. The game had a fair amount of problems such as those hackers who would plague Battle.net, the limited single player mode and the less combat depth Warrior and Rogue. However there is a lot to like in this game with the replay value, the challenge, the simple and easy to get into gameplay, the Sorcerer who makes the game really fun and the good old fashioned dungeon crawl feel and atmosphere. Let's face it Diablo is not innovative and it may not have a lot of role-playing but it has one thing that a lot of role-playing game developers particularly console role-playing developers like Squaresoft are forgetting about nowadays, FUN! Diablo isn't about boring you to death with mountains of dialogue to read, throwing a bunch of flashy 3D graphics or precious FMV at you, its about kicking some minion butt and actually enjoying the game in an action packed adventure. Isn't that what games are supposed to be all about? For those RPG Purists who say action isn't fun and that storyline is all there is to a Role-playing game then I recommend that you not buy this

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/09/02, Updated 01/09/02