The Devil's Lure
Written: Mar 08 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Addictive, More Character Classes Available, Good Story
Cons: Graphics, although rich, are not quite up to current tech capabilities
The Bottom Line: All in all, Diablo II is a fantastically compelling game with a rich storyline, a good interface, and interesting game play.
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| jonathanwade's Full Review: Diablo 2 for Mac |
I have been a fan of role-playing games since the time of Gemstone (Apple II). I enjoy a compelling story with a richly developed history, an easy to learn interface, and variation in game play -- Diablo II has all of these things.
I played Diablo 1 on the Mac and the PC and the Mac version was significantly slower even on comparable machines. Blizzard has done a better job this time of porting the game into the Mac OS. I have Diablo II for both the Mac and the PC and they are virtually indistinguishable.
The designers have excelled in creating an interesting game that lures the player deeper and deeper into a dark fantasy world where humanity is slowly losing control to the forces of Hell. Into this Maelstrom steps the hero, played by the character, in the form of a Barbarian, an Amazon, a Sorceress, a Palidin, or a Necromancer.
I'm currently about 1/4 way through the game playing each character class sequentially. I've found that the designers again excelled in varying the game terrain and NPC interaction enough that each of the play times has a unique and compelling twist. Overall I have found the Barbarian, the Sorceress, and the Necromancer to be the most fun to play.
The Barbarian is fun because he has a number of multiple weapon attacks and can use weapons in both hands so that he can have a throwing weapon along with a hand-to-hand weapon. This is the best character type for typical hack and slashers.
The Sorceress is fun (if you can keep her from getting killed in the early levels) because of the interesting spell effects.
The Necromancer is fun once you've obtained the power to raise skeletons because you can walk around with your own little army.
My only real gripes have to do with the save function and the video.
The save function is oddly limited. Instead of saving the game and returning you to the place you last left, the game saves and puts you back at the start. It also only saves one copy of the character so that every save overwrites any previous saves so there is no going back. A more traditional save feature would allow for multiple saves and less need to "start over."
The video, while good, is dated. It is more pixelated than it ought to be given the current technology, but it is good enough to be creepy.
I'm not a real fan of online gaming (due to time constraints, bandwidth, and phone line issues) yet so I have not tried the free Battlenet service, but I understand that it allows you to play in parties with other people.
I would also point out that the game is dark and occultic. It might bother some people because of the heavy demonology, the scenes of torture, and the costumes and guise of some of the monsters.
All in all, Diablo II is a fantastically compelling game with a rich storyline, a good interface, and interesting game play.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jonathanwade
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Member: Jonathan Wade
Reviews written: 31
Trusted by: 8 members
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