Review of Diablo II Lord of Destruction for PC by Protomario
14Lord of Terror,Hatred,and Destruction! Time to team up and send these demons back to where they belong!
Diablo II is a dark fantasy/horror-themed hack and slash, with elements of the role playing game and "dungeon roaming" genres. It was released for Windows and Mac OS in 2000 by Blizzard Entertainment, and was developed by Blizzard North. It is a direct sequel to the 1997 hit PC game, Diablo.
Diablo II was one of the most popular games of 2000.[2] Major factors that contributed to Diablo II's success include its continuation of popular fantasy themes from the previous game, and its access to the free online play service, Battle.net.[3]
The game was conceptualized and designed by David Brevik and Erich Schaefer, who with Max Schaefer acted as Project Leads on the game. The main production roles were handled by Matthew Householder and Bill Roper.
The storyline of Diablo II progresses through four acts, with each act following a more or less predetermined path and list of quests. Some quests are optional. The player assumes the role of a hero from one of five different character classes. Players fight monsters through wilderness areas and dungeons in order to level-up their character and gain better items. Combat is in real-time, and shown from an isometric viewpoint. Players also have the option of hiring one of several computer-controlled mercenaries, or hirelings, that follow the player and attack nearby enemies. A powerful boss monster awaits the player at the end of each act. Item drops, monster attributes, and most dungeon layouts are randomly-generated by Diablo II.
In addition to the four acts, there are three sequential difficulty levels: Normal, Nightmare, and Hell. On higher difficulties, monsters are stronger and are resistant to an element, experience is penalized on dying, and the player's resistances are handicapped. A character retains all abilities and items between difficulties, and may return to a lower difficulty at any time.
Players can also create a hardcore character. In softcore, the player can resurrect their character if killed and resume playing, while a hardcore character has only one life. If killed, the character is permanently dead and unplayable, and all items and equipment on that character will be lost unless another friendly character has the "loot" icon checked.
The story of Diablo II takes place some time after the end of the previous game, Diablo, in the lands of Sanctuary. In Diablo the main body of the story takes place beneath the floors of a cathedral in a small town known as Tristram. It is here that Diablo, the Lord of Terror, is defeated by an unnamed warrior after many previous battles are also won.
The unnamed warrior that vanquished Diablo drove the demon's soulstone into his forehead, in an attempt to contain the monster's essence within his own body. Later in the canon it is suggested that this is what Diablo intended so that, should he be defeated, he had an "escape plan" in place of dying.
Reference-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_II
The intro is not mine, all credit to Blizzard and www.Gametrailers.com