Review: Diablo II

From...

	GALLERY

July 7, 2000
Web posted at: 10:15 a.m. EDT (1415 GMT)

by Jay Turner

(IDG) -- After years upon years of tuning, tweaking, and broken release dates, Diablo II is finally on shelves and stands as maybe the best example that good things come to those who wait.

PC gamers who've never played Diablo are harder to find than a cheap apartment in Tokyo. Blizzard wowed gamers years ago with a game that made action fans take a look at RPGs and vice versa. By taking away the cumbersome mechanics and introducing a basic point-and-click combat interface and a system of constant reward, Blizzard did for RPGs what they did for realtime strategy with Warcraft: They made it easy, intuitive, and impossible to put down. As soon as gamers got their hands on the original, they began clamoring for a sequel.

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Now Diablo is back, and it's obvious that the years in development have been kind. Blizzard's trademark is perfect playbalancing, and they've struck that pose again with Diablo II. Five character classes, each with multiple skill trees and power paths, join together to fight the Prince of Terror as he returns to plague the land. Whether you play the Barbarian, Amazon, Paladin, Sorceress, or Necromancer, you'll find that no one class is more powerful than the others. No matter how you choose to set up your skills, with the right tactics your character will be a force to be reckoned with in the world of Diablo II.

This title's been years in the making, and though that shows in its dated graphics and layout, it's what's inside the game that counts. Control is as easy as pointing and clicking, and spells and potions are as close as a hotkey away. Great voice samples, atmospheric music, and the gruesome sounds of combat all contribute to Diablo II's overall sonic perfection. The multiplayer game and single-player mode are, for all intents and purposes, the same, and those worried about cheaters can play their games on Blizzard's free online service Battle.net, which stores characters on Blizzard's servers, away from the prying fingers of cheaters. Diablo II's graphics, 2D and rather outdated, are all that keeps the game from being all-out perfect, but even the visuals sport impressive lighting and spell effects.

When you buy Diablo II, be ready for some serious patch and driver downloading, as a huge portion of early adopters had all sorts of graphics and sound card problems. You'll also want to connect to Battle.net immediately upon starting up, because there's already a huge patch that fixes some rather daunting gameplay bugs, and there ought to be another on the way, because gamers are finding new bugs all the time. Liberal application of Blizzard's technical support system should have you up and running in no time, and, for once, the game is worth the trouble.

With its philosophy of constant reward (you're always finding better equipment, learning new skills, or just leveling up) and its all-too-easy interface, Diablo II takes what the original Diablo did well and expands on it. You'll get caught up in the quest to have the meanest Barbarian, the nastiest Necromancer, or the holiest Paladin, and you'll forget the real world exists. The real evil in this game isn't Diablo himself, it's that once you start, you won't be able to stop.

• Developer: Blizzard



• Publisher: Blizzard



• ESRB Rating: MATURE



• Requires: P233, 32MB RAM, 650MB HD, Win 95/98/00, 28.8k+ modem for multiplay



• Recommended: 64MB RAM, 950MB HD, 8 MB graphics card



• Graphics: 4.0
  Rather dated, the visuals still manage to impress when you spot the subtle color/lighting effects and the huge and disturbing bosses.



• Sound: 5.0
  Great voice acting, moody music, and visceral sound effects make this game a treat for the ears.



• Control: 5.0
  Everything's just so damn easy. If you thought the control would give you an excuse to stop playing, you thought wrong.



• Tech: 3.5
  There was a patch out before the game shipped. If that doesn't tell you something, then there's some oceanfront property in Arizona we'd like you to take a look at.



• Multi-Player: 5.0
  Finally, a game smoothly integrates multi-and single-player into one experience. Take your single-player character into a game with your buddies, or create a cheater-proof character on Battle.net. It's all just a click or two away.



• Fun Factor: 5.0
  If you liked the original, then Diablo II is a no-brainer. Anyone who ever considered an action/RPG should run straight to the store and sell their souls for Diablo II.

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