Diablo II

THE BAD:
Repetitive
No character customization

SUMMARY:
Diablo II was a classic when it first came out, just like the original Diablo that started the series this game moves from the slow paced Rpg style game to the Action/Hack-n-slash Rpg.

Gameplay 10/10

I've been playing it for years now and I still haven't gotten tired of it, I play it everyday. The gameplay is just so addictive even though the game is repititve you don't really notice that after your fighting for your life in a dungeon while hordes of undead are rushing at you.

Graphics 10/10

The graphics of Diablo, though outdated in todays terms, are still eye candy and isn't showing its age yet. The graphics of Diablo II fit perfectly with the Medieval/fantasy/gothic theme showing the darkness and evil of it.

Sound 10/10

The sound effects and music in Diablo II are enough to make you sit infront of your computer and drool over. Theres nothing better than hearing the sweet sound of steel smacking against the hard cold bones of a Skeleton and the sound of the bones cracking as they fall to the ground. The music in Diablo II also fits perfectly with the games theme, it puts the mood of a horrible/eerie feeling that has you on the edge of your seat at all times.

Repaly Value 10/10

The replay value of this game is endless and will have you coming back for more for many years to come, and the game really kicks in when your playing online with Battle Net with up to 7 of your friends. This offers more and new things to the game constantly as you have to work together to survive the deadly pits of Hell.

Overall this game is a must have for everyone who likes Action/Hack-n-slash Rpgs. I can guarantee that you will be adicted to this game for many months and your computer chair will have your butt imprinted on it.

THE BAD:
The game lacks a bit of options. Most of what could be done is just hack and slash, get the money and/or weapon, level up, and beat the game. It lacks diversity.

SUMMARY:
From Diablo
Coming from a Diablo player, the game is a great sequel, and, perhaps, destroyed the image of sequels being uglier than the originals. The additions implemented in Diablo II (D2) are indeed spectacular and have increased the replay value of the game.

I will try to take the game piece by piece to help you decide on whether it's goo enough.

Graphics
Have you seen the graphics of Diablo? They're nothing compared to the models of the different characters. The complexity of the image mapping, or the detail of the characters' clothes, and the shape of their bodies are well done. Comparing the graphics used in the program with those that came out during its release, D2 would have to be at par, if not better.

Sound
The ambient sounds or the sounds in the environment are really cool. Sometimes you would be able to hear howling from a distance. The good thing about the game sounds is that you won't need a good sound card to be able to enjoy it. Some games of today require a surround-capable sound driver for you to enjoy it. If you do have a 5.1 sound system, then it would be a great plus to your game since the game is created in a surround environment.

Gameplay
This is where there's a little problem. The game is very enjoyable, challenging, and exciting to play, but does it last long? If you're a gamer who goes for different tactics and strategies, D2 would bore you out by the time you reach Act 3. Of course, if you enjoy killing different enemies, you would end up adrenalin-charged until Diablo.

Replay Value
In my opinion, the game doesn't have a good replay value since all you do is hack and slash, or use magic all through out the levels. There's nothing much to do but try to defeat the missions, and increase your level. Since there are 3 difficulty stages, it gets tedious at times.

Network capability
Now, this is the heart of D2. With network capability, you can play online on Battle.net, and beat Diablo with the various players on the server. You can also trade weapons with the other players, or you can duel it out to get all their weapons and items.

D2 is also LAN (Local Area Network) capable, so you can invite your friends over and connect your PC's through a HUB.

Playing in a network, or playing Mutliplayer creates a whole new world for D2 since you have more players to play with or against.

THE BAD:
Battle.net accounts will get deleted. Lag. Stability is questionable.

SUMMARY:
As with any RPG/action game you perform actions over and over to gain experience to level up. As you level up you become stronger bigger better. You get to use new higher level items etc...

The fun comes in the quests. You go through endless dungeons and it does get somewhat repetitive but it's still fun for some "weird" reason. All the quests I've gone through involve killing and slaying hundreds of endless of demonic hordes minions until you retrieve an item or reach a location.

Basically put: if you like beating stuff up with minimal RPG elements, this game is for you.

If you like RPG's purely for RPG elements, go away and get something like Daggerfall or Morrowind.

The graphics and nice, the engine is fast, and the interface is very simple and intuitive.

The only problem that randomly, for no consistent reason you will encounter a game crash which tottally will demoralize you especially if you're playing online. This does happen, even with recent versions of their lastest patches. It's not severe enough to be detrimental to gameplay, but it is "sometimes". Especially if you know nothing should be going wrong.

THE BAD:
Unfortunately, though the graphics have greatly improved since the original Diablo, they are still inferior to games up to date. The gameplay may get old after so many hours of gameplay, but fans still return to this gameplay scheme after a short time. Unfortunately, there are quite a deal of bugs within the game, especially within the multi-play (such as motion-lag [character keeps moving while everything else freezes] and too many online time-outs of the game).

SUMMARY:
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 5/5
Gameplay: 9/10
Value (cost at time of original shipping date, not current): 4/5
Tech. Issues: 3/5
Personal View: 14/15
Total: 4.2/5.0 (84%)

Looking back on my score, it seems this game isn't as good as I like it myself (it is my all-time favorite game), yet I do think this score is fully-appropriate to the average reader. The graphics presented in this game is quite outdated, but it is still a much better presentation than the original (the DII expansion gives a screen size of 800x600, while DII itself is only 640x480). The characters and monsters seem small and quite plain because of this screen view and lack of screen size at 640x480 to fit the characters sharper and cleaner. In the sound department the music is a main likeness of mine, but the voice acting of the NPC's is also presented great, as well as the sound effects. Though the gameplay itself remains constant with it's battle schemes and quick inventory updating, it still becomes rather addicting to players. The featured aspect of Diablo II is it's multi-play over battle.net. Over this players can trade with each other, duel with each other, and the most important quality of playing with other humans is questing with the other players. Diablo II uses this advantage with the character classes of the game being able to positively affect the other players with auras or other kinds of spells. The longevity of this game does seem short in its normal mode, but as you reach into the Nightmare and Hell difficulties you do realize that you must spend more time strengthening your character so that they can even survive (the magic resistances of your characters drop significantly with each difficulty level).

Certainly this game appeals to fans of RTC-RPG's more than some casual gamers, but many casual gamers have hooked on to the Diablo II bandwagon through the past couple years since it's release. Other gamers view Diablo II as "repetitive" and "not worthy to be known as an RPG". Try it over a friend's home first if they have the game to see for yourself. I also recommend purchasing the expansion (or buying the game packs which include DII and the expansion, or the Diablo Battle Chest which includes Diablo, Diablo II, Diablo II Exp., and the Diablo II Exp. players guide [which has several hundred pages of helpful information]), which also greatly enhances Diablo II through graphics, items, and a fifth act after you defeat Diablo (where you must defeat the final Prime Evil, Baal).

THE BAD:
Too Damn Addicting! >_<

SUMMARY:
Well let's see where to start?

This game is insanely addicting so before you install it make sure that you have a lot of vacation days!

The only thing I have to say that's wrong about this game is that it takes a long time to load up at the beginning.

The gameplay in this game is unlike any other. The weapons are all unique and amazing and have their strengths and weaknesses. That's part of the addiction in the game, trying to find all the weapons in a special suit so you have the ultimate armor.

The Enemies are all awesomely designed and they AI is great, 99% of the time they don't run around mindlessly but they actually attack you in groups and stuff.

Bottom Line: Get this game and be prepared to take off a few weeks from work!

SUMMARY:
this game is very strangly addictive. its a basic hack and slash game with a few extras to make it really good.

the graphics during the game arent that special, but then you see a FMV. the FMVs are amazing! they are done with that great blizzard style and you could find yourself watching them all day if you dont feel like playing.

the controls are quite simple. you click and you move to that spot. if there is a monster or bad guy there you either walk up to them or shoot them(if you have a bow or magic). you can choose from many different spells or skills. each class has their own set.

the sounds are great and really add to the game. each type of monster says a different thing. also the boss say some things in very well done voices.

all in all this game is a must. you will find your self play untill you pass out if your not careful.

THE BAD:
Laggy online play, no restrictions on anti-social behavior, no true innovations over the original Diablo.

SUMMARY:
Some people pass over Diablo 2 because it uses a resolution of 800x600, isn't a 3D FPS, or it only supports 8 players max per game (ie, it's not "massively" multi-player). These are silly reasons to dislike Diablo 2. There are much better reasons to criticize it.

Before I write about the bad, I should emphasize the good. First of all, this is the most addictive game I've played since the original Doom. It almost compares with Tetris and Pac Man. Also, Blizzard followed a winning formula here: they basically made an expanded version of Diablo, their hugely popular hit from a few years ago. What I don't quite understand is why it took so many years to release Diablo 2.

Here's my first big complaint with Diablo 2: it's just more of the same. There's no innovation here. Even the Diablo 2 expansion pack delivers nothing new except more magic items and classes. Just more of the same. It'd be like if id released nothing but Quake 1, Quake 2, Quake 3, etc. Oh wait. Well, nevermind. To see what I consider innovation, look at the Ultima series, by Origin. They're not all classics, but at least Origin tried their damnedest to produce an innovative game.

A word or two on the multi-player gameplay: the battle.net servers are lagged to hell on weekends, and occasionally lagged on the weekdays. The best time to play, in my experience, is between midnight and noon. This doesn't necessarily have to do with the lag (though the lag is quite tolerable during those hours); it's simply to avoid all the anti-social teens and pre-teens who get a kick out of spoiling everyone else's fun.

Even with these problems (and the silly arguments that the game sucks just because it's low res and not a Quake clone), I can't stop playing it. I can't stop clicking on monsters. I can't go to sleep at night. I'm totally hooked.

Hopefully, Blizzard will support clans, have a story-line that affects gameplay (Diablo had no storyline, and Diablo 2 has an optional storyline -- you can read it if you want, or you can just ignore it), and maybe implement a persistant world that you can actually interact with (Diablo 2 consists of simply doing the same quests over and over again until you get bored with it).

Why didn't I rate it a 3.0 or 3.5? Like I said, I can't stop playing it. It must be good if I'm so addicted.

THE BAD:
low res graphics. (but their good) battle.net lag. Some off balanced enemies.

SUMMARY:
I didn't originally plan to pick this one up. The original was just a rip off of "Mines of Moria" with graphics. Lots of my friends had it though and they were saying all sorts of good things about it. Okay, so fine I cracked under peer pressure. In this one instance this turned out to be a good thing. This game is great. Lots of people refer to it as a "RPG" but don't fall for it -- it's just a Hack and Slash game. You can call it an "RPG" if you want, but you have to make air quotes when saying it. The plot is actually pretty interesting. This shocked me. I mean, you hack and you slash and you kill, right? Who needs a plot? Well, the game designers sure did and it's a pretty good one that, if you pay attention, will really leave you thinking. The FMVs are pretty good, the animation isn't the best I've seen, but I think it's the style chosen and not an actual lack of ability. The game play is wonderful. The controls are simple and intuitive. For the most part it's just click on things to do the most appropriate thing (talk, pick up, kill, open door, ect.). Of course there are other commands, but it doesn't take long to remember them. The combat learning curve is perfectly slanted. It's very easy to learn how to fight without dying and how to build your skills and your stats, creating a character that can kick much booty. But, if you REALLY want to be a master, there is much more to learn. What skills work best? What's worth the points? What stats should I raise? Which items are best for me? Once you've answered all these questions you can beat the game, but it doesn't end there ladies and gentlemen. The game continues. To actually "win" the game you must play it through three times, each time it becomes more and more difficult. There are five different classes to try your hand at and there is even a mode of skill where you have but one life to live. If you die...YOU DIE! Increasing the difficulty to heights I have not yet ventured. Also, the greatest thing about Diablo II, it has a completely free online gaming environment provided by Blizzard. That's worth major bonus points to me.

I have two major, and one minor problem. Balance comes to mind. Most monsters are a pushover, that's all well and good, that's the way it's supposed to be. Bosses, of course, are hard, but that's the way it's supposed to be. The balance of some of them though, such as lightning enchanted creatures, are totally off the scale. Next, progressing in the game usually takes long stretches of time. You can't just sit down and play it for fifteen minutes or a half hour and expect to get anywhere or accomplish anything that furthers your quests. Every time you reload the game, the monsters re-spawn. Although this is annoying when you're trying to get somewhere and you stop to eat or something, it's important when you need to increase your level. On network play there are drawbacks: Maps change each new game, lag death is too frequent and loss of connection has been the cause of many of foul words emerging from my lips. (Mind you that last one has more to do with my cable provider...and my ill temper)

A final warning, since the whole game is about hacking and slashing that's all there really is to do, if you bore of this quickly then this may not be the game for you. But if you're looking for something to do online or on a network with all your buddies, Diablo II is a great choice for some fun hacking and Slashing.