Diablo

The Good
There is no doubt that when Diablo came out in 1996, that it was destined to be one of the top video-internet games ever. Strangely enough, though, I feel what most have said to be it's biggest downfall, that of hacks, cheats, and dupes, are one of the things that makes the game even more interesting from a sociological standpoint. With chatting available while playing or in a chat room provided by Battlenet, one can taunt, challenge, or trick an opponent into going on a dungeon crawl. The number of different and unusual people I met, while being enhanced by the gameplay, was to numerous to mention. Pk's or player killers, were perhaps the most interesting ... as I often found new ways to torture these little devils without the use of hacks by simply utilizing plain old fashioned guile. The monsters are good, but the people involved made the game a creative bonanza. Also, being a health nut, I never once had high blood pressure in my life ... until the pk's and bounty hunters were on my heels. Praise goes to those who created Diablo with such an open ended strategy ... though it might not have been intended! By the way, the shrines comments of wisdom and the vast array of fantastic and slightly spooky equipment and maps, didn't hurt.

The Bad
Ummm well, in town was kinda drab and eventually boring with the same old NPCs around. It would have been nice to have more character types like in AD&D games as well as, say, 2 or 4 more people capable of playing in the game.

The Bottom Line
Diablo is a haunting, (accidently?) open-ended, dungeon crawl you can play online with friends. But watch out for the occasional Player Killer (PK) who might ruin your game by destroying you with hacked characters. Otherwise, the graphics interlaced with conversation (you can type messages to those in the Diablo game) can help you and your team conquer the numerous quests and mysteries of the Diablo world.