Diablo II

"It's a "Then addictive, then boring, then addictive, then boring" type game"

Diablo II was released in 2000 by Blizzard. That means it's pretty old, but who cares. There were more Diablo game released. Diablo 1, considered one of the best games by many people, and a great expansion pack to Diablo 2, called Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. They all follow the same formula: they're all Action/RPG's. Onto the review.

Story 8/10
At first, this game might give you the idea that it doesn't have a really big and deep story. That's wrong in my opinion. There are quite a few cinema's in this game, which you can play whenever you want. The whole story and game is divided into four acts, and you'll get a cinema after each act you finish. They all tell a part of the story, and if you pay attention, it's deeper than you might have expected at the beginning.

After the hero of Diablo 1 defeated Diablo, Diablo came back. He used your Hero and a soulstone to gain his form and strength back. Diablo is a devil, called the Lord of Terror and he's evil, REALLY evil. He has three brothers, Mephisto and Baal. Baal, the Lord of Destruction, is inside the body of the great mage Tal Rasha, and Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred, is imprisoned in a temple. Diablo is on his way to his brothers to set them free. Once the three brothers are reunited, the world will be in great danger.

There are deeper parts of the story that you I will not spoil for you. Overall, it's a good story that flows well. It'd definitely not the best or the most original, cause there are probably many more devil stories, but overall, they executed it well enough to keep ypu interested, cause it might be super original, it IS interesting, and that, in my opinion, is more important than it's originality.

Gameplay 9/10
You'll have a great experience with the game, especially if you like it's genre. At least, for a(quite long) time. After a longer time, you'll find it repetitive. I'll explain the flaws later. The good points first. First of all, it's incredibly addictive. That's because the game is so easy to learn. This means your patience won't get screwed up. Another reason it's so addictive is that you will NEVER get stuck. It is always clear where to go. This can be a disappointing thing or a frustration killer. Let's go on to the facts.

As said before, the game is an Action/RPG, ans it's a hack and slash one. When you start your new game, you can pick one of the five characters. You can choose between an Amazon, Necromancer, Barbarian , Sorceress and a Paladin. All have strengths and things that aren't that good and they can all learn different skills, with everyone being able to learn thirty different ones. In the wilderness, you'll encounter many monsters that give you experience points for killing them, and of course, you need them to level your character up. When you progress, you'll notice there are many different types of monsters. They all have unique life, stats, resistances/immunities and other things. You will also encounter "special monsters" once in a while. They are stronger versions of that type of monster and have special enhancements and colors. There are also a lot of bosses in the game. At the end of every act, you'll have to fight the act boss. All of them are quite hard and they will provide a good and pretty long challenge. There are a lot of monsters in this game, and that's the basic gameplay, destroy everything that comes in your way.

Now about the acts I keep talking about. As I said in the beginning, the game is divided in four acts. Each of the acts are in a different place, like a huge desert and of course, in Hell. In the acts, you must complete certain quests that you'll get from the townspeople in that act. In the first 3 acts there are 6 quests, and 3 in the last one. Once you complete a quest, you'll almost always get a reward from one of the townspeople. The rewards vary from skill points to stat points to special items. At the end of every act is a hard boss. Killing that boss enables you to play the next act.

When you hear hack and slash RPG, you think about items. There is a very wide selection of items. There are damaged items, normal items, socketed items(to put gems in) , magical items, rare items, very rare items and set items. The last 2 are VERY rare, but they have good extras for you. The magical enhancements vary from +1 Life to 1 to all skill levels. There are lots weapons are lots of different armors and other defensive equipment. There are gems, all with there own powers, and also rings and amulets, all with magical enhancements to enhance your stats. Items can be found by opening (locked)chests, by killing enemies that drop them or by just buying them at the Black Smith. You can also gamble items at someone in the towns. You can gamble crap, but there is also a small chance that you'll get a very rare item. Overall, the wide selection of items will surely add to the interest of the game, especially trying to collect the set and very rare items is a lot of fun.

There is also a great amount of multiplayer in the game. It's possibly even better than the single player mode. You can do different types of multiplayer. One is by playing with some friends by connecting to each others IP Address, the other one by using Battle.Net. That last one makes use of the Internet. You can make your special Battle.Net character or just your normal single player character and play with other people all across the world. This is great fun, because there is a chatbox when you select Battle.Net at the menu and you can send messages or ask for items and that sort of thing while playing the game on Internet. It is very useful, cause you can get certain items you want this way.

Controls are super easy. Just click with your mouse on a spot and your character will go to that place. The menu's all have icons where you can click on, and they also have hotkeys if you really want that, but just clicking on the icons is easier. Now the difficulty of the game. That is perfect. Sometimes, you'll fight a huge group of monsters, and that can get quite nasty sometimes if you're low on life and/or mana (your magic power). The bosses are quite challenging too. There also is a Nightmare mode and a Hell mode. Nightmare mode is accessible when you complete normal mode, and Hell mode when you complete Nightmare mode. You'll keep everything you gained in the earlier modes, so that means the later modes are *quite* hard, especially hell mode. On top of that, you'll resistance to elemental spells will get lowered when you enter later modes. You can go back to the earlier modes whenever you want, which is quote useful if you feel you'll have to level up a bit before going into a harder mode.

Every game has at least one little flaw, and this game also isn't without flaws. One flaw is that the quests are way too easy. Boss battles may be hard, but finding the bosses or completing the quests isn't hard at all. It's way too clear where to go, which really affects the exploration of the game. You won't have to search a whole lot to find the place you'll have to be. It isn't a game where you'll be exploring a whole world to find what you need. It's more like: "I've done this area, now onto that area." This can be a good thing too, cause it means you'll NEVER get stuck, but it would've been better if the game was more free. Another big flaw is that you'll get really bored after a while. It's really nothing else than slaying monsters. Of course, that part is executed well in this game and it takes a pretty long time before you do get bored, but I'm pretty sure that it WILL happen. The boredom comes from the repetitiveness of the game. The ability to choose between five different character does make it a bit less repetitive though, and the harder modes are a good boredom killer too, but overall, there should've been more different elements in the game. BUT, what it does, it does it well, that has to be said. Another little flaw is the save system. If you save in a certain area, you'll HAVE TO exit the game (not the whole game, only the game with the character your playing). The monsters are revived and the only way to get back to an area is to use Waypoints, a magical something that teleport you to a certain area. It would've been a lot easier if you could just start at the point you last saved.

Overall, the gaming experience is very polished and you'll play this for hours, it's that addictive, but the addictiveness of it will slowly disappear when you play longer and longer.

Graphics 7/10
The graphics are 'Okay', but it definitely isn't the first thing that catches your eye when you pop the CD in and play it the first time. They are rather outdated for it's time. In 2000, there where enough 3D games, and this one is just 2D with some 3D elements, like Rollercoaster tycoon. Not that the 2D graphics are bad, though. There is a lot of detail put in every little rock, tree and cliff in the game. It's not that everything has one boring color, it's pretty varied. It's just not spectacular. It doesn't really matter it's not 3D, I think it would actually be a lot harder if it was in 3D, this game is more suited for 2D graphics. It's in an isometric kind of 2D, so that gives some 3D elements. The 2D is REALISTIC 2D, not the cartoony 2D from the Gameboy games. Some flaws are in it though, and one of them is a bit of slowdown that I noticed. When too many things happen on the screen, the game will slow down a bit. This is very annoying when you're battling a boss, cause you're whole orientation is gone. Other than that, no real flaws. It's good that they put in a lot of statues, ruins, rocks, trees etc. in the area's, so the rather repetitive looks of the area are filled up a bit. Some caves and dungeons are a bit short of detail though, cause they're mainly walls and a path with nothing eye-catching too be seen. Overall, it definitely looks good for 2D, but the slowdown and the sometimes shortcoming of detail may annoy or bore some people.

Music 8/10
I think the music is actually pretty good. That's because they fit every act perfectly. In scary, bloody dungeons, the music is scary. In the desert act, the music really gives you that dry dry but oh so beautiful desert feel. In the jungle act, the music really gives you that "Hunga Bunga" type of music, which really fits the dark and rainy woods. In the Harem section of the desert act, you'll hear ladies singing a song which really gives you that Arabian feel. That makes me give it an 8 out of 10, because the music fits the area very good. There aren't a lot of different songs though, which I consider as a flaw. When you hear a song, expect to hear that song a very long time. Every act has about 2 or 3 different types of music. This may cause the music to get repetitive. One thing I consider as a good point is that it's a not a very, you know, screaming type of music. It's just very relaxed, and that really makes the game a lot more creepy. Overall, a pretty low diversity of songs, but they fit the acts really well.

Replay Value 9/10
There is no limit to the Replay Value OR length of the game. You've got five different characters, four different acts, the addition of a Nightmare and Hell mode, many, many items and a huge multiplayer world. And with the expansion set, you'll have even a whole new act, 2 extra characters and a whole bunch of new neat secrets popped into it. Downloading patches on the Internet that give you some fun extras will also make the game more interesting, and with all the things the game itself has to offer, you can play it as long as you want without getting bored. The only thing that keeps the Replay Value from getting a 10 out of 10 is the repetitiveness that slowly walks into the game, but except that little thing, you'll have yourself a great time killer.

Buy or Rent
If you like Hack 'n Slash RPG's, this is the game for you. With unlimited replay value and a very fine gaming experience plus the multiplayer, this is a game that you'll have hours and hours of fun with. It does have it's flaws, but it's so addictive you can surely get around them. If you plan to buy the game, then I hope you'll have a great time with it like I did!

Overall 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/17/04