Diablo II

There's not much bad to be said about this game. It takes all the elements from the first game and makes them better. Better graphics, story, sounds, levels, characters, weapons. I remember playing this game for the first time for about 12 hours or so. It's hard to stop once you start. It excelled on every expectation I had for it. The ending really stuck with me. It is very bad ass. The difficulty I found challenging, but not impossible.

The most addictive part about the game is the level building. There's nothing more satisfying than building your character up super strong and mowing down some demons in hell. The final thing I like about this game is it fulfilled every want I had for the series. There is no need to continue further. This game and it's expansion should be the end of the series in my opinion, but they are that damn good.

If you want an example of what an ideal expansion pack should look like, Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction would probably be it. This expansion overhauled the original so comprehensively it is inconceivable nowadays that someone would play Diablo 2 without installing the expansion pack as well.

For one the pretty ordinary graphics of Diablo 2 is improved to an acceptable level, and secondly Diablo 2 has added a considerable amount of additional content. Another Act is added to the storyline, 2 new characters are added that can be played from the start, numerous additional treasures and weapons were added and finally your character's stash size and weapons that he/she can carry have been increased. Even though all this additions have been made, they all contribute to better the game without changing the essence of what Diablo 2 is all about.

My only critique would be of the personal kind. By the time I installed the expansion, I have had my overdose of the hack-and-slash gameplay that Diablo 2 offers, and the expansion didn't manage to rekindle my flagging interest in Diablo. I just grew tired of killing the same monsters repeatedly just to slowly increase my skills and look for that weapon that's just that little bit better than I already had.

If you are planning to play Diablo 2, don't even bother to install the original without adding the expansion immediately. If you have played the original and liked it, I'm pretty certain you've already tried out & liked the expansion!

or 4... At least I think that's how long I spent playing Diablo II in every spare moment I could find, I'm not sure, I kinda lost track of time for a bit.

The concept behind making Diablo II so popular is ridiculously simple. Make an engine that can generate nearly infinite numbers of uniquely different magical items and people will play until the end of time trying to obtain a sword or a suit of armour that's just that little bit better than what you already have.

The stories and cut scenes that drive the game forward and link the various Acts are superbly done and contribute in some way to dispelling the "nothing but a clickfest" label that the Diablo games have been cast as.

Many spells and abilities are only available at level 30 or above and to fully appreciate these players are encouraged to move on to nightmare and hell modes in order to fully develop their characters. Indeed, the most powerful weapons and items are only available in these harder game modes and because of this Diablo2's replayability factor is very high.

The 4 character classes are both well balanced and varied enough that strategies that prove effective for one character class often prove disastrous for another. While Necromancers and Barbarians are traditionally the dominant classes, Blizzard has gone some way to leveling the playing field with their patch. The introduction of the D2 expansion pack also promises to introduce more characters and levels. The future certainly looks bright.

Diablo II is disarmingly addictive and it comes as a breath of fresh air in a crowded field of first person shooters and real time strategies that after a while begin to blend together in mimetic mediocrity.

Just remember to give your mouse hand a chance to recover every couple of hours....

When Diablo 2 was released in 2000, it didn't quite live up to most critics initial dizzyingly high expectations. But for me the proof of the games' star quality is in its longevity. Diablo 2 is still very popular almost a decade after its release with a huge following on Blizzard's battle.net. Given the fact that this was the first RPG game I've ever played and that I didn't play it until 2009 I wasn't burdened by high expectations and thoroughly enjoyed this game and spent many happy hours playing Diablo 2. Although Diablo 2 is far from perfect I give it a 10 for its ability to entertain and engage you for many hours.

The addictive hack'n-slash gameplay along with the ability to customize your character to suit your playing style is Diablo's 2 strongest points. You will spend most of your time just clicking on various monsters and your character will do the killing, this simple way of playing is oddly addictive (to most people anyway). The interesting part of the game is building up a character with various skills, strengths and weapons to deal with the progressively stronger monsters you will encounter as you progress in the game.

One of the games other strengths is its very forgiving learning curve, allowing a new player plenty of time to get into the game and build up a strong character before having to face some serious opposition. The game appeals to a casual player like me because you don't have to explore every aspect of the game to complete it, but have enough depth and intricacies for the hardcore players to explore who want to do more than just kill Diablo and watch the end movie.

A few things bothered me about Diablo 2. The one thing (that bothered a lot of other people as well) is the low quality graphics, even for a game released in 2000 it's just not up to scratch. The graphics were improved somewhat with the expansion pack so install the expansion if you want to play Diablo 2. The other is that I found one or 2 of the end-level bosses were disproportionally difficult to kill compared with the rest of the monsters in Diablo 2. There is no way to cheat to get past a difficult boss so you really can get stuck after spending many hours building a character who is just not good enough to get past one particular monster.

Overall, if you for some reason never played Diablo 2, it's still not too late. Pick it up from a bargain bin and give it a try!

After playing Diablo II and the following LoD for months I still love the game. Its great! Thanks to all the people who created it and to the

actresses and actors who gave their voices to the characters and npcs. (Especially to mr Ed Trotta - Greetings!)

Love