Faster Bigger Harder: A new millennium, a new Diablo.

2. Diablo 2 (2000)

Expansion: Diablo 2: Lords of Destruction. (2001)

Behind you, no your other behind

It wasn’t the magnificent game many now remember with rose tinted glasses. If anything, it was an improvement on the original but wasn’t really anything all that different. It was an addictive game that improved on the original a lot time, but like the original hasn't necessarily aged all that well over the years either. The cut scenes were as good as ever though.

Blizzard created a new engine for Diablo 2 which got rid of level loading but because of the vapid slow internet restrictions of the early 2000’s the once vaunted battle.net, nixed the resolution to 640x480 which kind of sucked. The game was good though. While not as scary as the original, and definitely more fantasy based than horror, the legacy of the original ensured that over 250,000 games were pre-ordered before it was released. It was not however until the Lords of Destruction expansion that it became a great game. Lords of Destruction became the fastest selling expansion in PC history to that point.

For future reference, when a Lord of Hell comes to your front door, don't open it, and pretend you're not in. 

Lords of destruction turned Diablo 2 from a decent game into a really good one. This was the fabled fifth chapter that Diablo 2 had been missing. It made Diablo 2 now feel truly epic in its creation. The full on orchestral music soundtrack made a welcome return as well, replacing the almost subdued music that had come with the original.  It also added two new player classes, which was nice. It even allowed for the resolution to go up to 800x600! Woo hoo!  The expansion also did a lot of in game tweaking with what seemed most notable at the time, the doubling of inventory space. You could also ‘socket’ items which gave your weapons elemental effects too, which was a nice touch. By far the thing I remember most about the expansion however was the increased difficulty setting Blizzard included. Nightmare and Hell difficulty were a joy if sometimes frustrating road to travel down. There were new monsters, and a new end game boss to fight, There was also a skills overhaul which balanced the system better.

It was a big game at the time and rose tinted glasses seem to have people forgetting the issues that came with it. Diablo 2  wasn’t as original as the original, but it was an improvement, and gave the fans what they wanted. Fans played it for years after it was released. Diablo 2 had many competitors, but none matched it and when anything similar popped up over the years, Diablo 2 was always the benchmark against which they were measured which is testament to just how good this game was

Rating:

Diablo 2: 4/5

Diablo 2: Lords of Destruction: 4.3/5