t13monkeys's Full Review: Diablo 2 - Bestseller Series for Windows
Of everything in Diablo, expect one simple thing from this sequel. More killing. The whole aspect of the game is based entirely on having your player kill as many bad guys for experience and then getting armor, weapons and other items from their lifeless corpses.
The Fun Factor
The fun of Diablo 2 isn't really in its plot, or its music, or any of that really, although they do play a role. Diablo 2 is fun because it's got lots of monsters to kill, and levels to gain. It's all about the character building factor, because Diablo doesn't really have too much of an engaging plot. Just consider the first Diablo, summed up as follows: “Rargh I am hero, find evil stone, smash evil stone into my head, become Diablo”. Not much really. You only meet a few characters in each Act and while they have more to say than the average RPG game, they really don’t interact with the player, other than to repair weapons, identify items, etc. You’ll be so out to build your character that you won’t let anything stand in your way. In a couple hours, you’ll probably won’t be referring to the NPCs by their names…good ol’ Deckard Cain will simply turn into – “guy that lets me identify all my items for free”. At least it did for me…
What Diablo 2 is Not
So while Diablo 2 looks like Baldur's Gate and therefore may seem to have slow time-consuming play, don't worry, Diablo 2 plays fast and furious. Start the game and you can immediately run out there and start hacking away and collecting armor and nice items like that. Don't have to worry about big boring towns or silly subquests like fetching people's slippers for a wee bit of experience. Just go out there and slaughter stuff if you want levels. The best part of this all? Almost non-existent load time. That means this game utilizes sprites so you won't get a extensive amount of details and variations as there were in Baldur's Gate, but its just as good. There's also a run feature that prevents the tedious walking around that bores players of other RPGs.
Pros -
1) Lots of places to go, and it’s not easy that to die either. You can be bold in Diablo 2 and not have to be cautious like in other computer RPGs. You don't have to worry about meeting a horde of orcs that will destroy you no matter what you do. In this game, you can pretty much kill everything effortless with a few mouse clicks. Dungeons are randomly generated, so you can expect a new map for each character you start. To heal oneself is a simple push of the buttom and the enemies come in numerous bundles so no need to search around for them.
2) Some creepy environments and enemies abound, to keep it interesting. No one wants to run around in a half-baked “the Sims” –like environment, hacking monsters. Diablo 2 presents a truly scary environment…some of which is inappropriate for little kids in my opinion. I wouldn’t recommend Diablo 2 for anyone 13 and under…and even then if you’re a mom considering this for your teenager, make sure you’re willing to let them see some of this stuff. There are some gory bodies hanging about in Diablo 2, and some sinister environments in crypts, rabid jungles, and even hell itself. The enemies range from undead zombies, raving little spear villians and vultures, to Diablo himself, demon of the underworld. A variety of fighting styles accompany these bad guys, keeping the gameplay fresh. They also appear in different colors and combinations. It’s somewhat silly but it’s so you can say…”gee, I’ve never killed a blue one before.”
3) Awesome FMVs. These are amazing, even if they are outdated now. You can compare these amazing FMVs to today’s Final Fantasy movie. The only difference is that Diablo 2 uses low-res movies, so they get a bit grainy. However the amount of special effects thrown in them is simply absurd. You’ll see angels fighting, and all sorts of crazy monsters and explosions. It’s really beautiful stuff.
Cons -
1) Graphics are grainy and enemies look like they’ve been copied from a picture of vomit. It’s not that much of an improvement from it’s predecessor, although it should have been. Worst of all, the resolution is stuck at 640 x 480. You’ll need a pricey $34.99 expansion to get more.
2) Useless hirelings. Egad, could they make those hirelings any more fodder-like? You hire them, and they’ll run enthusiathically into battle with you. That’s good. The problem? They’re just a tad bit too enthusiathic or just plain dumb. Your fellow comrade, which costs you a couple thousand gold pieces tends to charge recklessly into the hoarde of enemies chasing you, easily getting themselves killed. And if they’re up against a boss character, well forget it…they’ll be dead in less than a second. The worst is they can’t be healed, even though they tend to die quite quickly already.
3) The broken finger syndrome. For some reason Diablo 2 has a pain-numbing effect on the player, like asprin. It has a bunch of negative side effects that Blizzard doesn’t stamp on the box, but I mention them here for your sake. Diablo 2 can cause you to become sleep deprieved, ignore your wife (or husband…) and worst of all, it can break your fingers. Why? Because Diablo 2 demands that trigger clicking finger action…and you’ll easily find yourself clicking till the sun rises. Not even that, but also you might find yourself going through a mouse or too. For your sake, fellow gamer. Get a new, durable mouse. You’ll need it. Also be sure to eat and drink before you start. Blizzard doesn’t want its gamers to die from malnutritian.
Final Score – 9.6
Most games just aren’t this addicting. Most games I’ve played cannot get me to do an all-nighter and stare vividly at a blank computer screen. Most games cannot get me away from my lovely wife in bed. This game has done it. If you own a computer, you should have this game. It’s quite simple as that. Battle.net is fun and not just fun but also profitable. If you do become addicted, rest assured you can at least sell your rare items on ebay! Items there can go anywhere from $1 to collections or characters that I’ve seen sell for far higher…
Keep in mind however…once you get this game. It’s tough to let go. Make sure you have some time to spare. Nothing worse than breaking open the box just before school finals.
Since the Beginning of Time the forces of Order and Chaos have been engaged in an eternal struggle to decide the fate of all Creation. That struggle h...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.