Introduction
From a company
that is renowned for spitting out a quality title with each release, gamers
waiting for the sequel to the extremely popular Diablo series finally got
their wish. Myself included was one of these gamers, waiting for he release
of one of my all time favorite games to have its sequel released. And for
me, it was worth the wait. Diablo offered all the gaming goods of the original,
yet expanded upon every aspect.
Storyline
The game begins
not to far from the end of the original. "The Wanderer" (your previous character
in Diablo) was forced to sacrifice himself by containing Diablo's life essence
in a soulstone and driving it into your forehead with hopes that you would
contain the demon for all eternity. Unfortunately that was not the case.
Diablo took control of the wanderer's body and heads off east in search
of his two brothers. This is where your character comes in. Diablo is wreaking
havoc along this journey east and you are hot on his trail to stop him.
The game's story line is extremely interesting as I found myself glue to
the computer screen through every cut-scene. Diablo II has been divided
up into 4 different Acts, which break the game up into near equal parts
of the story. After each Act you are rewarded with some of the most visually
stunning CGI cut-scenes I have seen on a computer game to date. There is
no explanation for how amazing these movies are. Totally about 24 minutes
worth combined, they are truly a sight to behold. To add to the replay value
after you have beaten the game once the folks at Blizzard offered two more
modes of harder play with better treasures. You may also play online at
their coveted battle.net where you can join in a party with up to 8 different
players at a time.
Gameplay
Some can argue
that Diablo is not a true RPG, yet in my opinion it is. You take the role
of a character and develop him the way you would like him to be. And Blizzard
did just that. There are 5 different classes to choose from. Most of them
very classical classes but they work nonetheless. Amazons, Necromancers,
Barbarians, Paladins, and Sorceress's are at your disposal to choose from.
Each one contains special skills that you can evolve as well to create the
best character you believe possible. The fighting involved in the game is
quite simple as it coins the phrase Hack 'n Slash. To put it simply you
run around hacking at enemies with your sword, or cast spells constantly
as a caster, so get your mouse finger ready for a nice workout.
Graphics
The in game
graphics are about the only thing that somewhat was disappointing about
this game. Although they did improve upon the original graphics of Diablo,
by apply some interesting shadow/lighting effects, and perspective effects
to the maps, the characters are still bland and seem too flat as they move
accros a 2D landscape. The spell effects are nicely done to cover up the
2D area you tromp across through the entire game. I will hand it to Blizzard
though for there amazing ability to use the tools they had to their fullest
as even though the maps are two dimensional there are some areas that provide
a great optical illusion to give it a seemingly three dimensional look.
Sound
The musical
score is a great touch to the game, as I have enjoyed its atmospheric touches
so much I even went through the trouble of downloading the mp3's of the
in game music from Blizzard's website. They provided voice acting throughout
the entire game. Every character in the cities has voice over acting, and
is done quite well. The sound effects are up to par, but nothing extremely
spectacular. The game as of current is nearly bug free. It is up to version
1.04 and has corrected almost every issue it had at the time of release.
Even in its original box state the bug issues are minor at best, at least
for the single player. At current the battle.net servers to play a multiplayer
game are quite stable even at the oddest of hours.
Conclusion
Overall Diablo
II is an amazing game offering hours upon hours of gameplay that was as
addicting as the first title. The story line is great, and the CGI cinematic
propel the story forward as you venture on your quest to destroy Diablo.
Diablo II offers enhancements that fix and add upon every aspect of the
original making Diablo II a must have title for the year of 2000. If you
are a newcomer to the series or looking to pick up the sequel after having
waited so long to it, I would highly recommend it.
-Review by
Ckaoz
