Diablo 2

Herald rating: * * * * *

Blizzard, PC/Mac

$99.95, M15

Review: Peter Eley

The much-delayed sequel to Diablo — 1997's Game of the Year — is finally on the shelves, and yes, the wait has been worthwhile. So many sequels are disappointing, but Diablo 2 is just like the original, only much better.

The wheel hasn't been reinvented here, just made to go faster. Diablo fans will recognise it as the same game, but with cutting-edge graphics, more depth and some neat new touches.

One of the flaws in the original game was that it could be clocked quite quickly, but Diablo 2 will take longer to complete, without being too much harder, especially in the early levels.

There's just a lot more going on — more items, spells, non-playing characters and lots more locations — all beautifully rendered by a graphics engine that takes advantage of today's technology.

The setting for Diablo was a bit monotonous, flicking between the town and the dungeons. There are lots of dungeons in Diablo 2, and you spend a fair bit of time in the town talking to non-playing characters and acquiring various items, but there are other exotic locations — forests, deserts and tropical islands among them.

The original extended its playability by having three main characters, all of whom could be used to play an entire game. Diablo 2 has five playable characters. Add this to its greater complexity and you have a game that should sit on your hard drive for some time.

On the downside is a frustrating autosave feature which sees levels restocked with baddies when you restart, an overcrowded multiplayer server, and a few glitches which need to be fixed with a patch from Blizzard's website.

E-mail: petereley@herald.co.nz