"Only 1/2 better than the first Diablo."

When Diablo came out, lots of people was crazy about this game. This is true due to it's unique style of gameplay and teamwork. Then, everything was ruined due to massive amount of hacks.. which caused people to cry in despair to Blizzard for a solution (which was never solved).

Diablo 2 was announced later on and was finally released 2 years later in the making. With high hopes of solved problems that existed in Diablo1, gamers went to buy the game to see if it was. Did it?


-GAMEPLAY/STORYLINE- [07]
While storyline is NOT the best, it's still original and better than most games that are out. As for gameplay, it has lots of possible combinations ranging from your character type (Amazon, Paladin, Necromancer, Barbarian and Sorcoress), to weapons (pike, swords, maces), to skills (Ice Orb, Whirlwind, Iron Maiden) and to other many other settings. While this helps with reply values.. the major fault lies with the quest and story system. Once it's completed, it can't be done again (unless it's on a higher difficulty). True the bosses can be killed over and over.. but you won't get as much pleasure you get in Diablo 1 (when random events/quests happen regardless if you've done it before or not).

-CONTROLS- [10]
I can't express how easy it is to play this game. The control system is so flawless that it's VERY EASY to learn and play the game effectively. Oh, there IS one problem still (which can be harmful).. is your hands and wrist may be damaged from nonstop playing ^-^

-GRAPHICS- [05]
A big disappointment since it was 2 years in the making. Not much different than Diablo 1, it's just plain average graphics compared to today's standards.

-MUSIC/SFX- [03]
Music isn't great as all, except when it's played in the FMV (full motion videos) or the Harlem theme. As for SFX, speeches are great (good actors/actress!) and sound effects is acceptable.

-REPLAY- [08]
High replay is obvious for a game such as this. It's not that hard to see player(s) wanting to become much stronger and gain powerful weapons. The ONLY downfall I can see to the replay is the system is more linear compared (due to the quests tracker) to Diablo 1.

-THE FINAL GRADE- 07
I feel if they added the nonlinear ideals of Diablo 1 and added it with Diablo 2's gameplay.. it'll keep the interest much longer. Granted there is not a big difference compared to first game (except for more customizable characters and REALM to keep hackers off) but most gamers won't see it that way. This is one game which you'll either love or hate. For me, I love it, but wished it was better.


Overall Summery [+/-]
+ More characters, skills, options
+ More quests, monsters, items, weapons, etc
+ REALM Battle.Net for fair non-hacking games
- Linear due to Quest Log tracking
- No modem playability
- Not really a ''new'' game (it's Diablo 1 with a makeover)
- Non-REALM games is hackable

Master LL- hopes Diablo 3 will be a major ''makeover''.

Grade Scale (01-10):
01- Avoid like plague
05- Average
10- Perfect

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/06/00, Updated 11/06/00