Diablo 2

Diablo 2 is one of those games that test the durability of the player’s mouse. In Europe it is one of the most popular hack-n-slash RPG’s and the community is still going strong since the game’s release back in 2000.

The game concept is about the story of a past hero who thought to have defeated Diablo “The lord of terror” or the devil, that has now been possessed by Diablo’s soul and is in the present on his way to free two more prime evils which will show themselves as game bosses and unleash hell onto the mortal realm. The player is a new aspiring hero with the goal to send Diablo and his demon minions back to where they came from.

The player chooses his character from 5 classes, Paladin, Sorceress, Amazon, Barbarian and Necromancer, and controls it in an isometric 3rd person view.
Over time, the classes allow the player to choose and utilize certain powers. The paladin is a sort of holy warrior, using holy spells to smite the demons and various other monstrosities, the sorceress uses lighting, fire and ice to combat the vermin, the amazon is good at using bows and spears, the barbarian likes heavy armor and big swords and the necromancer raises the dead creatures (killed by him or other players) to fight for him.

Type of play:	Mimicry
	Ludus
Narrative:	Enacted
Game mechanics:	Altough maps are large, the player is always contained within by fences, walls or natural barriers. There are no time constraints and the player is allowed to stick around in areas as long as he wishes.
Interactivity:	The player can interact with the game by clicking on the map (moving the character), clicking on objects and by assigning and tapping hot-keys which is an alternative to clicking certain items.
Choices:	The player has to make some long term decisions even before he starts playing by choosing for his character a name and class which will restrict him in the choice of game objects he is able to use. As the game progresses the player has to decide on which attributes and skills to focus on when unused skill points are available. It’s an important choice because it will direct his play style in the long run. In the short term, the player has to make choices of which abilities to use on certain NPC’s and which type of monster to focus on if he is up against a group of them.

Like in most RPG’s the player has an inventory to store items, equipped item slots and a skill point system to gradually gain new abilities.
The player starts out in a secure area, a camp with various vendors and story telling NPC’s and his only items in the inventory are very basic weapons typical for his class.

The player can go about exploring the map on his own or take a quest from one of the characters in the camp, either way, he’ll meet his first challenge right outside the protected area. The class specific weapons all handle a bit differently but it comes down to clicking on the enemy creature until it dies. It is easy to kill the first few creatures but the player is not immune to their attacks. After a few kills the player has gained enough XP (experience points) to choose his first new ability and increase attribute points to make him stronger. The dead enemies might have dropped money or items which the player is free to use to upgrade or fix his current gear by visiting the vendors in the camp.

That is mostly how the whole game is played yet most players will play it trough to the end and some will go even further and repeat the whole game two more times to reach the character’s maximum level.

The game is tiered into three difficulty modes: Normal, Nightmare, Hell and once the end boss of the game has been defeated the player is returned to the initial starting position, with all his acquired items and starts the game all over again, with the hit points of the enemies adjusted in relation of the player’s powers at that point.

While the game can be completed as an individual player, it was specifically designed to be played in groups of players, called a ‘party’. The different classes abilities complement each other and make the game experience much more fun.

An addiction effect is present with this game, making the player spend hours to improve his character, collect items and beat the next challenge which is always just a few steps away. Blizzard, the developing studio of this game, have that aspect figured out perfectly and it shows with all the other games they released but they tend to cut corners in prop/model varieties. The same models are used over and over again throughout the game with minute variations in color, abilities, item drops and name tags which makes the game a bit bland for those who like rich visual representations of game objects.

I think both these aspects are important to consider for new games and as new technology provides the means to have great varied visual representations of game objects, the more important factor of keeping the player constantly interested and longing for new content is somewhat lacking in many of the latest high profile games.