Diablo II Review (no fat)

Game Description

With a high profile prequel, Diablo 2 was viewed with some skepticism by Blizzard fans. How could it could bring as many new and novel ideas as the first game of the Diablo series. Blizzard, however, proved everybody wrong and released another one of their greatest hits.

Diablo 2 Gameplay

The only change in Diablo 2 is that the game’s reign has been expanded…more characters. Your objective remains the same as you fight your way through loads and loads of monsters to defeat the dark lord Diablo.

Diablo 2 Classes and Skill System

Unlike the Warrior-Mage-Rogue trio from Diablo, you’ll have to choose between becoming a Barbarian, an Amazon, a Necromancer, a Mage or a Paladin. Each class has access to a distinct skill tree that you will constantly develop over the course of the game. When leveling up you always get a single skill point, which you can use to either learn something new or enhance one of your researched spells. Skill points can also be won by completing some quests.

Diablo 2 Items

Diablo 2 takes this part of the game to a different level. With special items’ names being colored in blue and unique ones in gold (a color system that functioned in the first game too), Diablo 2 introduces a new item category, namely set items. These items (that can be identified through their green names) are quite rare and form a set, with other items of the same kind.

Each item on itself will give you great bonuses to your stats, skills and damage, but when you gathered all items from a set, you will get an extreme boost in either of these compartments. Completing a full set is a hard thing to do in single-player, but it gives online sessions a fun trading option. The complex item system has made the game a lot more fun in multiplayer mode. With so many players looking for set items or unique items to complete their armory, the set items are sold by player-merchants for streams of gold.

Diablo 2 Multiplayer

One of the biggest problems that Diablo’s online multiplayer system had was the fact that hackers could easily change their character stats and item stats, because they were stored inside the client’s computer. Diablo 2 cures this problem, since data is now stored on Battle.net servers, thus hackers will not be able to alter this information anymore. Play fair, or don’t play at all.

Soon after the release, the Battle.net servers became soaking with Diablo 2 players, forming an online community is still active 5 years after the game was launched. The action-RPG system is preferred by many over the deep, story-based RPG systems of other MMOs, so Diablo 2 still remains a perfect multiplayer game for someone not looking for too profound in a game’s story and simply wants to hack-and-slash and gather loot.

Diablo 2 Graphics

Diablo 2’s graphics seem a little out-dated for the year 2000, when 3D graphics were present in every kind of computer game. Blizzard stuck to the old isometric view that made the original Diablo so simple. While camera rotation problems created poor gaming experiences in a number of other 3D games, the Diablo 2 developers avoided that pitfall. But even as the perspective remained the same, the details and artistic landscapes flourished under the development team’s mice. The landscapes are also more diverse and developed than Diablo, including jungle, water-towns, ruins, desert areas, underground rivers and the now classic, Hell.

Diablo 2 Audio

Not much to say about Diablo 2’s sound, as it remained as great as it was in the first game. Of course, the sound of gold and loot falling down from enemies is an interesting and welcome addition.

Diablo 2 Conclusion

Diablo 2 offers a huge gaming world, the opportunity to play an open multiplayer game, and a complex character development system. Like its predecessor, Diablo 2 has incredible replay value, and most importantly, it offers a lot of addictive gameplay in either the single-player or the multiplayer mode.

Diablo 2 Cost

Diablo 2 retails for $19.99 but it can also be purchased in the Blizzard Battle chess Box, which includes both Diablo and Diablo 2, plus the expansion set to Lord of Destruction and a strategy guide, at the price of $39.99.