Diablo II: Lord of Destruction

"Expands the game, Expands the fun"

When I first heard there was a sequel to Diablo, which I loved very much until players decided "Hey, I like to eat my own feces! Let's make some trainers for Diablo so I can walk through the game without getting hurt at all!". Well... it kind of went downhill from there. Anyways, when Diablo II came out, I was in line the third day it was on the shelves. The second the autorun screen came up, I pissed my pants. The second the game started, I crapped my pants (It's a very serious medical condition, so I thank you for not laughing). The second I started to play, I lapsed into a coma. This game took every little detail from the first Diablo, put into a washing machine, and used leather shoe polish on it. It did away with the three original characters and had 5 new characters in their place, each specializing in unique skills. It had 4 acts to blast your way through, it had tons of new items with special enhancements, and best of all, it was nearly completely cheat-free*! No infinite health and mana, no town killing, no duping (at least I don't THINK the duping thing works), and no "Mmmmm... feces..."

*-closed battle.net

After playing this game for about 3-6 months (can't remember really) the expansion came out with even more mind-boggling fun! 2 more characters, an extra act, and a totally kick-ass evil bad guy - Baal: The Lord of Destruction. I saved up and bought this game the second it hit the shelf (exaggerate), ripped off the plastic (along with half the box cover), shoved the CD in my computer, installed it, and commenced the awesomeness. Improvements were made on... well pretty much everything i guess. And now.. ON TO THE REVIEW!!!

Story - I'll start the story from Diablo. Diablo, the lord of terror, is on the rampage. His evil minions are attacking townsfolk, and heroes from all over the world are challenging him, each, in turn, failing. Thats when you come. You fight your way through 14 levels (or somewhere around there) of death, starting with an old monastery, through catacombs, then through caves with molten lava covering the path, and on to hell. It has been rumored that if you can defeat Diablo and take it's soulstone and plunge it in your forehead (talk about a migraine), then you will receive special powers. Well... that's not the case. After defeating Diablo, your character plunges that thing in his forehead, and Diablo takes over his body. In Diablo II, the character from the first Diablo is now Diablo, and you have to kill that mofo. The minions are back, along with the terror and.. you know, all that junk. Your goal is to defeat Mephisto, Diablo, and Baal and destroy their soulstones so that they may never return to wreak havoc upon the world.
Score - 9

Graphics - Well, the graphics aren't much. It has pre rendered (I think thats the word) backgrounds, and everything sorta looks like a demented cartoon. There's not much 3D, so if you want a completely 3D world to fight evil in, it's not here. But, the backgrounds, items, and characters still look awesome, you just need a pretty good graphics card to see that.
Score - 7

Characters - The characters are: Barbarian (specializes in brute strength and war cries that enhance powers), Amazon (specializes in ranged attacks with bows, crossbows, and javelins, along with evasion), Necromancer (specializes in raising the dead to fight for you and your party, and curses to curse your enemies, which lowers their defense, speed, etc.), Sorceress (specializes in elemental magic like lightning, cold, and fire spells), Paladin (specializes in auras that surround you and your party to enhance damage, to heal your party, etc.), and the expansion characters, the Druid (specializes in nature-type skills like having wolves/bears/ravens/plants/spirits to fight for you and enhance your attributes, shapeshifting into a werewolf or werebear, and elemental spells such as Hurricane and Volcano), and the Assassin (specializes in traps, and attacks with big... blasts...). The use of different specializations make playing on the internet a whole different experience from single player.
Score - 10

Single Player Gameplay - Well, if your new to the game, it's best to start here and learn the basics if you don't want to be made fun of left and right. I can't say much for single player... your solo, you need to find your own equipment, and it's kinda boring without other people to talk to and help and stuff.
Score - 4

Multiplayer Gameplay - This is where the real fun's at. You start in a chat room, where you can talk with other players, advertise your goods for trade, and where you can find some really cool people to help you through the game. All the players are, well, halfway-decent human beings. They usually swear like crazy and make fun of anyone they don't like. If your new, I strongly suggest you don't talk with these people, unless you don't mind taking their abuse. Their main "insult" is N00B!! and it sorta gets old after awhile. When you want to start playing, you can either create a game with a title such as "Leveling Up" or "Brg Free Stuff Plz" or something like that, so people know what the main purpose of that game is. Each game can hold up to 8 players for you and your buddies. You can trade with a trading screen, so nobody cheats, and make fair trades with people throughout the game, so you can get exactly what you need for your characters. It's all around fun wrapped in a shiny box with a blood red ribbon. I strongly recommend multiplyer (closed bnet) for anyone interested in this game.
Score - 10

Replay Value - The main replay value comes from the creation of new characters, so you can use their skills instead. It's like a completely new game! Say, when you just finished the game with a barbarian, and you decide to make a sorceress instead. You don't fight melee, you need more stat points in energy for mana, your normally ranged, you dont need a really good weapon to dish out the pain, and you can equip different items for her. It's all around awesome x12.
Score - 10

Overall Score - 8
This game is 1 of a kind! Once you start, you won't be able to stop too easily. With it's range of characters with their own specializations and the unbelievable amount of items to equip your character, I don't know why this game hasn't gotten it's deserved credit.

Author's Note - Okay, you finished the review, now GO BUY THIS AWESOME GAME!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/04