Developer: Blizzard North
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Web Site: http://www.blizzard.com

Insights

When I called the company I used to preorder Diablo II, and they told me that even though it had been released for over 2 weeks, and that even though I had pre-ordered it two years ago, they didn’t have any in stock to give me, I was more than shocked. Apparently, the company had given preference to those people who had pre-ordered 2 weeks after the original Diablo’s release. This game has been bought by the masses at nothing less than alarming rates that force us to question what has happened to our society. Nearly anytime you log on to blizzard’s multiplayer service battle.net, at least 50,000 people are playing on the east coast alone. That’s not counting probably greater numbers on the west coast, European and Korean servers. Chances are that if you buy the game someone you know with a computer will have it. With that kind of numbers, Diablo II has become more than a game but more like a social Mecca for the gaming community.

If you are a former Diablo player, you probably bought it for the single player game. Since 1997 Blizzard shifted their focus from the single player world to that of online gaming. In contrast from the wide spread cheating that took place in Diablo’s original multiplayer, Blizzard has incorporated two kinds of multiplayer, one that is to date at least unhackable. For those single player fans you can take your single player character and play him multiplayer but by doing so you open yourself up to the risk of playing with cheaters. Your other and more popular option is using Blizzard’s troubled “Realms” that save your crucial character data on their own servers. The Realms got off to a very rough start, as Blizzard hadn’t fully anticipated the massive rush of buyers would be buying their game in such a short period of time. Lag and server errors were rampant due to the extreme server congestion, but as of the date this article was written they are nearly gone.

Game play

Your job if you choose to accept it is to become one of 5 types of heroes and save the world from becoming a permanent outpost of hell. Well, after you swallow the seriousness of your task you get down the real fun of the game. Richly detailed cut scenes are your reward for completing each vestige of the game and the intro is sure to captivate your interests. You start as an inexperienced Amazon, Necromancer, Barbarian, Sorceress, or Paladin each equipped with their own large skill trees to tempt you until you reach such a level to employ them. Unlike the original Diablo, spells and skills are learned as you gain experience and not gained from finding a book with the necessary knowledge. Hack n’ slash action awaits you but for some reason it’s more than just fun. Addictive is the best word for the game and fun would be the runner up.

The death animations of each creature are either cool or comical and the spells are equally cool and drive you to progress your character further along the path to hero perfection. Playing with others is really a must. If you are trying to complete various quests on the Realms you’ll want to have the help of others. The difficulty of the enemies and the amount of gold and items increases respectively with each player in the game. A total of 8 players can work together simultaneously. Players can join up with each other in a “party” system that shares experience gained from killing monsters and all gold that is picked up or go solo. All this helps ease any possible conflicts between players in a situation where one player is hogging all the loot.

Key Elements

Blizzard’s announcement that the game would feature graphics displayed in 640 x 480 drove many to shock as the original Diablo featured 800 x 600 as a display. Diablo II features good detail in almost every object and character but the real reason that the decision was made to 640 x 480 was that it would be unplayable in a higher resolution. In short, do not be deterred, at the lower resolutions the graphics are respectable, but still not in all areas of the game. The first act is bland graphically but once you reach act II the areas are much more realistic and diverse. The sounds are designed to make you feel as if you truly are immersed in the game world. More often than not I thought that it was raining outside when it was raining in the game. You really can’t differentiate at all. The music just feels right for every area in general also. You could say that Blizzard’s team did an awesome job.