Rating: 
Summary: Take it from a beta tester...
Review: You need this game! As one of Blizzard's closed beta testers, I have been playing an online beta version of the first Act for about a month now and the game is incredible.Despite being in 640 by 480 resolution, Diablo II is graphically astounding even on a larger monitor. The light sourcing, environmental effects, and spell effects are nothing short of stunning. The gameplay is addictive. Once you've played online, you'll find yourself losing hours of sleep as you play "Just one more game..." with your internet pals. With 5 characters to choose from, there's something here to suit everybody's tastes. With rare, collectable items involved in the game; trading between players online will prove to be a very interesting aspect in Diablo 2. These special classes of weapons/armor coupled with randomly generated Wilderness/Dungeon areas and 3 difficulty levels will make for hours of gameplay beyond your initial trip through the world of D2. On top of all this, the 'Hardcore' option allows daring gamers to create special characters who only live once online. (As opposed to standard characters who can die, but are revived in town.) Hardcore characters play exactly the same as standard characters, but once you're killed you stay that way. In the beta test, it has been proven that the death of a well known high level Hardcore character sends ripples through the online community as people begin to realize they too are mortal... As far as buying the Collector's Edition over the regular version of Diablo 2, I'd say it's worth the extra cash for the included Soundtrack CD alone. Blizzard's composers have proved with each successive game that they make some of the best music in the industry. The music from this game is no exception to that rule. Obviously, the small space allowed to me for this review cannot possibly do this game justice so for more information you might want to drop by the unofficial homepage . . .
Rating:
Summary: Take it from a beta tester...
Review: You need this game! As one of Blizzard's closed beta testers, I have been playing an online beta version of the first Act for about a month now and the game is incredible. Despite being in 640 by 480 resolution, Diablo II is graphically astounding even on a larger monitor. The light sourcing, environmental effects, and spell effects are nothing short of stunning. The gameplay is addictive. Once you've played online, you'll find yourself losing hours of sleep as you play "Just one more game..." with your internet pals. With 5 characters to choose from, there's something here to suit everybody's tastes. With rare, collectable items involved in the game; trading between players online will prove to be a very interesting aspect in Diablo 2. These special classes of weapons/armor coupled with randomly generated Wilderness/Dungeon areas and 3 difficulty levels will make for hours of gameplay beyond your initial trip through the world of D2. On top of all this, the 'Hardcore' option allows daring gamers to create special characters who only live once online. (As opposed to standard characters who can die, but are revived in town.) Hardcore characters play exactly the same as standard characters, but once you're killed you stay that way. In the beta test, it has been proven that the death of a well known high level Hardcore character sends ripples through the online community as people begin to realize they too are mortal... As far as buying the Collector's Edition over the regular version of Diablo 2, I'd say it's worth the extra cash for the included Soundtrack CD alone. Blizzard's composers have proved with each successive game that they make some of the best music in the industry. The music from this game is no exception to that rule. Obviously, the small space allowed to me for this review cannot possibly do this game justice so for more information you might want to drop by the unofficial homepage . . .
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