Swords and Sorcery

Although I have played Diablo before on both PC and Playstation format. It has taken me a while to get round to trying out the second installement in this hack n slash extravaganza. I was directed to Diablo II by my current passion for Record of Lodoss War. It seems once a game really impresses me I have to seek out other games in a similar genre to fully appreciate the scope of variety on offer. This quest often goes cross platform. And Lodoss, led to Baldurs Gate II and now Diablo II.

I must say, this product is extremely polished. I suppose I should expect that coming from Blizzard. But stepping across the puddle blood from Biowares Baldurs Gate II to Diablo II the difference is quite noticeable. The game installed without a hitch. The FMV was of much better quality, sharper, clearer - quite stunning actually. The in-game graphics are larger and much more pleasing to the eye. The player-control mechanism, battling and spellcasting mechanism fits comfortably and is almost transparent - without reading the manual or having a led-by-the-hand tutorial. You can basically get on with the questing minutes after the game is installed without havig to wrestle with the interface to your avatar.

I'm not trying to take anything away from Baldurs Gate II as it is undoubtedly much more complex in nature (following AD&D rules and taking party based combat) but Diablo II is RPG killing for the masses. Baldurs Gate II is RPG killing for the hardcore stats and dice folk.