Diablo II

Technology Report
By: Brandon Parker
Email: parkerbg2004_tr1@hotmail.com

I will take this time to tell you about my new game. It is called Diablo II from the Blizzard Company. But what does all this mean? Well, Diablo is Spanish for Devil, and II is Roman numerals for 2 (hint the second version). Blizzard is also the creator of Warcraft and Starcraft. The specific company that made Diablo II however is Blizzard North. The game is VERY graphic oriented. It performs excellent on a Pentium III machine but is very hard to play on a Pentium II. The music is the same as the last version, only they added a few notes in it. It is rated Mature, why, I don't really know but probably because you go through all the lands that have been taken over by Hell and Diablo and eventually kill him and all his followers. The game was made on 3 CDs, an install disk, play disk, and a climatics disk. It has...

THE GOOD:
Excelent replay with free online play. Good plot. Loads of options to toy with. (items/classes/spells)

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...

THE GOOD:
Replay Value
Graphics
Story Line

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...

There are two things in this life that can make me truly happy: girls and games. Unfortunately after confessing my love for my best friend... I am left with one out of two. Lucky for me, Diablo II has just been released and my endless and sleepless nights of bemoaning my rejection have been turned to sleepless nights of planning and plotting my next foray into the dark world of Diablo II...

I wrote the opening to this review long before Diablo II came out, searching for a way to ease my pain; I believed that nothing in my pitiful life would change from then till now. Little did I know that on the same day that I was able to purchase Diablo II, I started going out with that same girl that ripped my heart out a month or two before. So, what magical day could all of this have occured on?? None other than Canada Day, the best day of them all. That's right, my name is Suetekh, and I AM CANADIAN. By the way, my parents were not extremely sadistic, stupid or drunk......

THE GOOD:
The graphics of this sequel of Diablo (released in Fall, 1996), are greatly enhanced for this version, featuring several "flashy" spells and lighting effects. The sound in every aspect of the game is phenominal; the music presents this game as "epic" as your character indulges deeper and deeper through the acts to meet with the final battle against Big D himself. The hack n' slash format of this RPG is better presented under the RTC (Real-Time Combat) presentation, as the depth of the skills, weapons, monsters, and other items is truly massive. For the price of this game you do get nearly everything you paid for, as this game will please fans for years to come.

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...

THE GOOD:
It's fun. Lots of battles. RPG element still there. Graphics are nice. Online play is good too.

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...