Diablo II

The Good
Diablo II is the sequel to the sensation that was Diablo (obviously). The folks at Blizzard, staying true to their nature, have given the consumers a fantastic sequel to an already great game.

The basis of the game is this. At the end of the first game, your character defeats Diablo, and then stays in the town of Tristam. But after awhile, he leaves, and in his wake a onslaught of devastation occurs. It turns out that Diablo has come back - inhabiting the body of the adventurer from the first game. Your task is to defeat Diablo and his minions and set things right in the world again.

Graphically, the game is utterly beautiful. Even when all the special effects are turned off, there is enough eye-candy to make any jaw drop in astonishment. Spell effects, creature detail, the glow of the fire, all rendered in 800x600 glory. Even the cinematics rival those of the Final Fantasy Series (FF7 and up). The cinematics, although not required viewing to play, contain some of the coolest FMV I've seen in years. At the start of the game and inbetween the various acts, the story is progressed through the movies, and just enhance the game in itself.

The sound and music are excellent as well. Again, all the characters are figures with voice-overs and scrolling text (with the exception of the cinematics), and do well to further the plot. The technical quality of the voice acting is top-notch. The is no doubt in my mind that all the recording was done either at a professional studio or in-house (if they have the equipment for it). The music in the background is very sparse, but it kicks in at the appropriate time.

The controls haven't changed much since Diablo came out. With the exception of on-screen menus that pop-up when you right-click on specific icons, and the fact that you belt number are 1-4 instead of 1-8, the control is exactly like before. And it's good not to screw around with a formula that has worked before.

The automap, while not perfect, is good. Although I would have preferred and automap similar to Nox (with the automap tucked in a corner), Blizzard addressed the automap "clutter" and have different settings depending on your game-style. You can have it like the original (why you would, I have no clue), or you can have it fade out in the center. That way you can still see around you, but still be able to make out the automap to navigate.

The gameplay, after combining all the elements mentioned above, is awesome. The game mechanics are very natural after playing for just a little bit, so it's very easy to get into. The levels are humongous, and wandering around to scavenge everything is only half the fun. And for posterity, here's a small list of other things I found great with Diablo II:

1) The fact that there are only 2 type of Scrolls (Town Portal and Identify). Considering the massive number of scrolls in the first game, I find that this way is much more efficient.

2) The Waypoint system. I like the fact that the waypoints are listed ahead of time, and that while you are playing you can set a goal of how far ahead you what to accomplish. Makes for good strategic play as well. Especially in cases where you are low on potions and need to rush to find the next waypoint. Makes for some great "Evade and Find" gameplay.

The Bad
Although I love Diablo II, I do have a few things that I can't stand.

First, the save system. I like the fact in the first Diablo that you can save at any position and then start back up right where you left off. Especially while you are in the middle of a quest. No such luck in Diablo II. If you Save and Exit Game, your stats, equipment and money are saved, but your position is not. The only benefit from this is that when you start your game again, everything respawns - monsters and gold/chests,etc. But it's still real annoying.

Second, I've had glitches where I gotten stuck on a rock. I can't move and I haven't learn "Leap" yet, so I end up having to Save and Exit, and basically start the level over.

Third, The automap STILL bugs the crap outta me. I find playing with the automap is both a minus and a plus. A minus being if there is a lot going on onscreen, you can't make heads or tails out of anything. And it's a plus when you can see back to where you've been or ahead (somewhat) to where you need to go.

The Bottom Line
Even though it has it's faults, Blizzard did a top-notch job with this sequel. They are one of the few companies that will take a game and make sure it's right BEFORE going gold. A fantastic game. If you like the genre, it's a must have.