"Boy! There sure are a lot of nice people playing this game... *sarcasm*"

1st things 1st Diablo 2 is one of the greatest games ever made. It provided me with my first experience in online gaming and kept me glued to my computer for about 4 months straight. From the day I started playing to the day I stopped I was enwrapped in Diablo 2 every single day during that time period. Not a moment went by when I didn't think about the game when I was away from it. I played the original Diablo and liked it, but I felt it had some problems that prevented it from being great. Well along comes Diablo 2 and completely fixes these problems. Diablo 2 is a true sequel to its predecessor. It doesn't contain the same gameplay rinsed and repeated. It provides a whole new gaming experience altogether. I am basically only reviewing the multiplayer aspects of D2, since reviewing both would leave me typing till the wee hours of the night. Besides, if you don't play this game through multiplayer mode, you aren't living.

Gameplay – 27/30
There are 2 huge flaws in Diablo 2 that prevent the game from being perfect, and I will address them first. #1 Skill in Diablo 2 is irrelevant. The best players are the ones with the best equipment, not the most talent. You can have a character on level 80 and have been playing for 6 months having average equipment, and go against another player who is on level 60 with superior equipment and very little knowledge about the game and get worked 99 out of 100 times. Back when the game was released this was not a big problem because everyone was pretty much equal. Nowadays, this is a huge problem. People start playing, spend $50 on D2 gear, that they buy off of Ebay, and just like that they become the best. I don't care how dumb or little this person knows about the game, but he will own all he fights, because his items are superior. In order for the game to be fair they should base it upon skill of the players, not the items they are wearing.

#2 Blizzard randomly releases patches. When it does this they take a certain character class that is good and make it terrible by nerfing its stats and abilities. Then take a terrible class and make it the best. When you invest 2 months worth of playing time into a character only to sign onto your account 1 day and realize a patch has been released, making your character worthless, thus wasting all the time you put into it for the last 2 months, makes most people a little pissed. This has happened, O I don't know, I would guess about 8 times during the life of D2. It is so annoying and nothing I have ever done has made me as furious as this had.

Now about the game in general. It's very similar to the original, just with more options. You can equip items on all parts of your body: head, torso, left arm, right arm, belt, boots, gloves, right ring, left ring, neck. This allows each character to equip more items. Items are bought from venders or found by slaying enemies. You walk around by clicking (so much clicking…) your pointer where you want to go. When you left click attacks, right uses a designated spell. After killing a certain amount of monsters you gain a level. When you do you receive 5 stats to place into 4 categories of your choosing: strength, dexterity, vitality, and energy. You also get 1 point to invest into an ability of your choosing. You can put 1 point into a new ability to learn it or into an already learned ability making it stronger.

There are 5 classes of characters: Barbarians (the elite close combat fighters), Paladins (close combat fighters, party characters), Amazon (long ranged attackers), Sorceresses (magic casters), and Necromancer (summoners). Each character is good in their own way. Depending on what patch there may be a different “best” character. Back during the release the Barbarians where the best, then the Sorceresses, then the Amazons (stupid Zons, ><…), and now Necro's and Pally's.

You can build your character multiple ways. The 2 most popular ways are PVP (player vs. player, fighting against other people) or PVM (fighting against monsters, or the computer). You will need to invest stats differently according to which kind of character you want. PVM characters are good for partying with others to advance further into the game. I always did PVP, because there is nothing like going 1 on 1 with another gamer and destroying his character, proving you as his superior. But whatever you choose in entirely up to you.

This game is so deep and involved my review would span for pages before I had completed gameplay alone. That is why I have included what I feel as the most important, while leaving many other aspects untouched.

Multiplayer factors – 16/20
This category speaks for what benefits or hurts the game based on its multiplayer capabilities. First and foremost, before I had begun playing D2 I had never really been exposed to masses of idiots. Imagine in school the people who are mean, annoying, hard headed, and unintelligent. Ok, now that you are imagining this imagine all these kinds of people bunched into 1 body. Now imagine this 1 kind of person taking up 95% of the world's population. My friends I welcome you to the world of Diablo 2. I would say 95% of the people on D2 act like this. They are incredibly mean, and their inability to interact with people because they have no social life is quite obvious. If you have just started don't bother asking people for help. They will screw you, insult you, insult your mother, kill you, steal your items, etc. Being a new gamer and asking a basic question like, “what am I supposed to do after doing this?” will make you the target of a bombarge of insults ranging from “stupid noob”, “lmao noob”, “rofl noob” and etc. Basically no one on the game has the inability to speak without insulting someone else. You will be amazed how it seems that the only word some people know is noob. What's a noob? It is someone who is new to a game. The obvious flaw here is that everyone at one time or another is going to be one, so why make fun of people for it? Good question, but like I said earlier 95% of the people playing this game are not very bright. I came away learning a lot of new words after my experiences with D2. I understand that Blizzard has no control over the attitudes of its players, and not all people are mean. If you are lucky you will even make good friends throughout your experience in D2, I know I sure did.

Another problem is the hacks. Blizzard has made it a focus not to allow cheating on the servers but it is there nevertheless. Hacks range from account stealing to revealing entire map layouts. This is a problem and makes the game unfair and untrustworthy. If someone is being nice you are recommended not to follow their lead because they may be exploiting a new hack that will leave you at a disadvantage.
Overall the multiplayer aspect is good. Dueling to partying is fun to do. I wish Blizzard had inserted dueling tournaments into D2 and some options regarding clan creating.

Funfactor –15/15
When you aren't lagging this is fun. This is the most fun I have ever received from a video game in my entire life. Diablo 2 is not just a game but also a lifestyle.

Control – 15/15
Control is perfect I don't know what could be done to make it better.

Graphics – 6/10
Game looks like crap. Characters are small and slightly detailed. I like how your characters appearance changes based on the items you wear. The background is poorly detailed as well. The FMV's look good.

Music/sound – 1/5
Horrible. The music will give you a headache after 20 minutes. The music will mostly be drowned out by the sound of you hacking and slashing your way through enemies, and their screams of death. I can still here the music playing over and over in my head. Aaahhhhh get out, get out stupid Diablo music. I hate you!!!!

Story – 4/5
Diablo was killed in the first installment. The person that killed him has become him through years of torment and guilt. Now Diablo is trying to awaken in his new body, and YOU must stop him. There is more to it than that but this review is getting rather long so it all wont be included.

Replayability/Lastability (Bonus) – 5/5
The beauty here is that you will beat the game multiple times. The game only truly ends when you are satisfied with the outcome of your characters. Or when you get tired of playing.

Conclusion - 89/100
Diablo II is one of the best games I have ever played. My life actually changed after playing Diablo 2, as yours will probably change too. This game is so good that the flaws alone are not enough to prevent it from receiving a lower score. Anyone who likes MMORPG's will enjoy this game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/07/04, Updated 06/05/04