"Diablo 1 and 1/3"

Wanting to find out what was all the fuss about a certain game called Diablo, I decided to look into it and buy the game. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I never did play the game for about 4 years. Only after obtaining the Hellfire addon did I play it...and, true to what everyone else has said, it\'s a good game, and the Hellfire addon adds some cool new extras to it.

Graphics - 7/10
Dated by today\'s standards, as you play the game in the standard 2D isometric view. But don\'t let that deter you from enjoying your game. It\'s still looks good, albeit a bit dark, but it adds to the dark, gloomy atmosphere of the town, and the even darker dungeons beneath. Hellfire doesn\'t really add anything new to Diablo\'s graphics, except the new locations to visit.

Sound - 7/10
The selection of music available to the game is somewhat limited, but the dungeon music is effective enough to make you somewhat nervous and jittery as you wonder what lies beyond the shadows. Sound effects are good, and the voice acting is exceptional, really good VAs that deliver convincing emotions to their speech.

Gameplay - 7/10
I won\'t go into detail on Diablo\'s gameplay, since I\'m assuming *you* have played Diablo already and is interested in the expansion. I\'ll just describe the additional stuff that Hellfire has added to the game.
First off is a new character class, the monk, who\'s slightly better than the warrior. Next off are 2 new difficulty level, Nightmare and Hell, which, unfortunately, are so hard that it\'s not enjoyable. Only real reason to play through that is to gain more EXP and rarer items, but the frustration of the stronger enemies makes it not worth your time.
Two new areas await your exploration, a creepy crypt under the backyard, and a mysterious insect infested nest. They\'re totally new areas to explore, and although they\'re not that big, they\'re interesting, with new monsters to fight and weapons/armor/items to get.
A bit of a downside to Hellfire is that you can\'t play it through the Battle.net servers that Blizzard still provides for Diablo 1. I believe there\'s an alternate way to get to play multiplayer games with Hellfire using another multiplayer game service, but, it doesn\'t really matter, as few people have this game anyway...

Overall 7/10
It\'s an amusing addon. If you get bored and want to play Diablo 1 again, you should look for this expansion and play it to have a different experience. Just too bad that it doesn\'t have multiplayer support from Battle.net. But, can\'t have everything. It\'s ok.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/06/03