Click, Click, Click....
Plot/Overview
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A genre-defining hack and slash deathfest that has kept me going long into many nights, Diablo 2 evolves and overshadows its dungeon-crawling predecessor. The game stars you, the new hero who thinks their gonna slay the many, many (many) beasts and bring happiness to everybody…minus the beasts. You start off in the rogue encampment with a rabble of people who seem to know much more than you of the dangers that lay ahead and none of whom seem to want to do anything about it. So it's up to you, the seemingly much more powerful level 1, to dispatch Diablo's minions and finally the keeper of the Chaos Sanctuary. After the grassy fields of the chapter 1 are stained with the blood of the fallen, you journey through a dessert, the Kurast jungle, and finally Hell itself. The expansion pack takes you to the snowy mountain aside the town of Harrogath, and into the depths of the mountain to the Worldstone Keep, where Baal, Diablo's brother, seeks to destroy the Worldstone. Breaking the Worldstone would allow the depths of Hell and its creatures to spill forth into Earth.
I'll admit, the story in Diablo 2 is thin, and really who cares? The story isn't the reason why you play this game. To tell the truth, I skipped all the cutscenes and half the dialogue. If you play D2 you play because you enjoy the sight of legions of monsters getting incinerated at the click of a button or the sound of your axe slicing through the bones of the undead. The game is about killing and arranging all the stuff you pick up in the limited space provided, so if you're a Tetris fan who always thought the blocks would look better covered in blood and guts then you're in for a treat.
Graphics
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For it's time, the graphics in D2 are great, and the expansion pack only helps with the 5th chapter scenery and the 800x600 resolution. The environments get gradually better as the game goes on, ranging from semi-bland grassy area to grimy black land accented by blazing (and most of the time blinding) red/orange lava in Hell. The characters are all unique, although they all start to look similar once the armour goes on them. The stronger armour makes your character look better, but that being said each armour doesn't have a distinct look, which is a little disappointing given the pictorial representation of each item in your inventory. All the items look so much better before you put them on, which is a let down when a stock weapon has curves, jewels, or spikes once you get to the equip screen. The only character who's skills look really good in my opinion are the sorceresses, because hers show off the best visual aspects the game has to offer, which are the flame and lightning effects. The fire in D2 is quite realistic, but the lightning is beautiful. It streaks across the screen like a drunk sports fan and lights the area it travels to, revealing enemies who aren't struck by it's fury. The monsters in the game are creative (especially in the later chapters) but get repetitive, as there are only a few types that just get rendered in different colours to distinguish them from their weaker counterparts. What I really enjoyed (while not panicking from having to face them) were the bosses. Each chapter has a boss that goes with its environment (except for the third which is kind of random), and each has a variety of attacks that will a) impress you as they are different from anything you've seen in game and b) dig you an early grave, but lets save overpowered boss attacks for the gameplay section.
Sound
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The sound in D2 is forgettable, to the point that I have the sound turned off and my iTunes on in the background. But if you are going to listen to it, you are treated to a lot of death noises and monologues from your character which don't really tell you anything you didn't know already. Likewise, the skill sound effects are unimpressive. The only one I really liked is the Barbarians Whirlwind, which sounded like Crash Bandicoot when he spins, so it brought back some nostalgia for me. The only thing I would advise turning the sound on for is to hear Cain's Sean Connery impression, which after one or two sentences you realise is (unfortunately) his actual voice.
Gameplay
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Gameplay in D2 consists of killing, picking up stuff from the recently deceased, and dropping things to make room for more stuff. Almost any kill will net you a drop, most of which is equipment. This prompts the question, "If the zombie I just sliced in two had a plate armour, why wasn't he wearing it? It may have prevented the whole sliced in two thing…" The space they give you to manage all of this stuff is VERY limited, and you will constantly find yourself with no space left and in dire need to return to town while in the thick of combat. As you can imagine, this gets annoying within the first hour and doesn't stop throughout the rest of the game. You shouldn't however let that stop you, as the good outweighs that bad. The killing part of the game can be executed quite easily, or excruciatingly bad depending on how you build your character. Each character has their own set of skills; some good, some not so good, and some that to this day have never really been known to have a use. As much as you can mess your character up by using the wrong skills (and this happens easily), your character can be made or broken by their equipment (which is why the aforementioned space issue is such a problem; how do you find better equipment if you can't pick anything up?).
Controlling your character is easy. Point. Click. Done. If you don't like to click or have a faulty mouse then stay far away from this game as it will cause nightmares. You click to do EVERYTHING. Move, attack, pick up, drop, buy, and sell, all controlled by the little gauntlet that hovers over you at all times. The only thing not mouse controlled are the potions (which can be mouse controlled but when you're dying and in desperate need to either run or kill the disgruntled lackey attacking you then it's rarely an option). That's another thing to be wary of, make friends with the potion merchant. You will go through potions like you've just bought a years supply and they expire tomorrow.
One thing I really don't like about the game and something that I believe takes away from its accessibility is its difficulty curve. It starts off a few steps short of dull with minimal resistance from what you'd prefer dead and for the first couple hours inclines nicely. The enemies get a little harder and start to come in bigger groups and all the while you've been running around and eating your spinach so now you're flying right through it. Then you hit a brick wall of enemies that are harder than the mini bosses you've been dealing with and are coming at you in swarms. This would have been fine if there had been any middle ground at all to speak of but there isn't. One minute you're enjoying the bloody gurgles of your most recent kill and the next you're fleeing for your life from the exact same thing you just killed only in blue instead of brown. If you do manage to make it past that wall and go on to the nightmare difficulty then you are faced with another, which sports a few more bricks and a lot more cement. This is however still do able, and with enough senseless violence you can overcome. Unfortunately, once you beat the game on nightmare and start over on hell, the wall becomes a mountain and the difficulty curve pitches vertical.
Re-Playability
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High. You can play this game a lot and still only scratch the surface. Each character can be built multiple ways and because the map is randomly generated each play is unique. Not only that, but the loot you get each time is going to be different, and will allow you to evolve your strategy differently. This game's life is as long as your mouse cares to last before right click becomes a 50/50 deal and left click is a pipedream.
Fun Factor
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This game is a lot of fun. There's multiple ways to ruin your foes' day and each one entertaining, even when performed a million times. If you're looking for something to play for a half hour or something to blow your weekend on, this game has a good time to offer.
Score
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Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 5/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Re-Playability: 5/5
Fun Factor: 5/5
Overall: 32/40