Click to go to Blizzard's Diablo website.

These pictures are linked to Blizzard's site, because I am totally out of storage space on my site.

Diablo is not exactly what I'd call your traditional role playing game. I would tend to call Diablo more of a 'bubble-gum' RPG. It does the basic elements of some RPGs (stat tracking and such), but the fact that it is pretty much 95% action, and requires you to click every time you want to whack/shoot/fry a monster, lends a very arcade/action feel to the game. There is little character interaction, other than trading items, or receiving quests. Does this mean it is no good? Certainly not. Diablo is a very fun game, and one that has a lot of replayability (not to mention the add-on pack Hellfire which is available at your local software store). I like Diablo because I can sit down and play a couple of levels fairly quickly. Animation is very smooth, sound effects and soundtrack are excellent, and the eye candy is very tasty!

Attributes tracked in the game are:

• Strength - your raw physical power. Determines how much you can carry, and how much damage bonus you get when hitting monsters.
• Magic - how good you are at the mystical arts. Higher magic levels allow for casting more powerful spells, and use more powerful magic items.
• Dexterity - your general agility and accuracy. Low dexterity keeps you from swinging at or hitting your target often. Highly important for archers.
• Vitality - a measure of general health and physical fitness.
• Mana - the amount of magical energy you posses. Determined by magic attribute, class, and level. Potions may restore this as it is used up.
• Life - the number of hit points you possess. Determined by vitality attribute, class, and level. Can be restored with potions or spells.

Additional stats that are tracked:

• Armor Class - total of all protection that you are receiving through armor rating, dexterity rating, and magical effects.
• To Hit - rough percentage chance that your character has to hit an unarmored opponent. It is a combination of dexterity, class, level and magical effects.
• Damage - a rough estimate of the amount of damage your character will do against an unarmored opponent. Combination of weapon, strength, level, class, and magical effects.

Resistance to various magical effects that are tracked:

• Magic - resistance to spells based on raw magical energy.
• Fire - resistance against fire of all types, magic and natural.
• Lightning - resistance to lightning of all types, magic and natural.

Below are the three basic types of characters available in the base Diablo package (ripped shamelessly from Blizzard's Diablo page). There is another (two actually, one is hidden) class available in the Hellfire add on pack.

		The Warriors of the lands of Khanduras are well trained in all of the weapons of war. Ranging from crusading paladins to unscrupulous mercenaries, Warriors can be found wherever there is conflict amongst their countrymen. Many of these adventuresome men joined with King Leoric's army and went to battle against the Northern kingdom of Westmarch. As the fires of war burned themselves out, these Warriors returned home to find their kingdom in shattered disarray. Dark rumors of the mysterious demise of King Leoric abound and the evil that lurks within his Cathedral has drawn many Warriors to Khanduras seeking fortune and glory. Though they were warned by the people of Tristram, a few of these brave souls have ventured into the chaotic labyrinth beneath the old church- never to be heard from again... Whether they are driven by valor, honor, madness or greed, new Warriors arrive in Tristram every day, ready to challenge the dark unknown that awaits them beneath the earth. The Warrior is the strongest and toughest of the three available classes, and he excels in the art of close combat. His primary weakness is that his extensive physical training has left little time to develop more than a rudimentary knowledge of magic. The extended periods of time that most Warriors spend away from their homes and civilization requires that they learn to repair their own weapons and armor, although their skill is no match for the talent of a true blacksmith.
		The Sisters of the Sightless Eye are a loosely organized guild shrouded in mystery amongst the peoples of the West. These highly skilled archers employ ancient Eastern philosophies that develop an "inner-sight" that they use both in combat and to circumvent dangerous traps that they may encounter. Known only as wandering Rogues in the West, the Sisters conceal their secret affiliation by posing as simple travelers. Many pompous fools have made the mistake of underestimating these steel nerved women in combat and paid a terrible price for their vanity. The strange events transpiring in Khanduras have caught the attention of many of these Rogues. They have come from as far as the Eastern dunes to test their skills against the dark evil that is said to be lurking in Tristram. It is also believed that untold riches wait to be discovered among the ruins of the ancient cathedral. Although not as powerful in close combat as the warrior, the Rogue is the undisputed master of the bow. A skilled Sister can send a stream of arrows at an opponent, each fired with a seemingly careless precision. The innate sixth sense that all Rogues seem to possess also allows them to sense trapped fixtures, and aids them in attempts to disarm these traps.
		Although practitioners of the mystic arts are scarce within the often superstitious and religious lands of the West, many magi have made the pilgrimage from the Far East to see for themselves what horrors lie beneath the ruined Cathedral of Khanduras. The veiled Brotherhood of the Vizjerei, one of the eldest and most dominant mage-clans of the East, has sent many of its acolytes to observe the dark events unfolding in Khanduras first hand. The Vizjerei, known for their brightly colored turinash,or spirit-robes, have taken a keen interest in both gathering knowledge of demons and seeing them slain. The Vizjerei elders hope that their acolytes will learn the secrets of the dark evil that they sense growing in the West and can destroy it. The possibility of discovering long-lost tomes of magical knowledge within the confines of the labyrinth has also captured the interest of many wandering Sorcerers. Most magic in Khanduras is in the form of enchanted items and elixirs. The Eastern Sorcerers have developed a greater understanding of spellcasting than the other classes, and while a Vizjerei neonate knows only the simplest of spells to start, he can expect to rapidly grow in power as he discovers new incantations. All Sorcerers possess the ability to recharge spell staves by drawing power from their surroundings and channeling it through the staff.

Graphics and animation are excellent in Diablo, and the soundtrack really rocks. You can tell that the guys at Blizzard really spent their time making sure that the graphics and sounds really set the mood, from the bloody, gory room that the Butcher occupies, to the dark eerie catacombs under the old church. Also the manual is a good read, helping to advance the storyline, something that few games do too well anymore.

Gameplay in Diablo consists of talking to the various shopkeepers in the town (there's only one town in the game, but there will be several in Diablo II), receiving a quest, and then going into the basement of the church, and retrieving the item (usually protected by a strong level boss), or killing the monster. Ultimately, you are led to the final level of the game, where you have a showdown with the big end game boss. The nice thing about the way Diablo works is that every time you start a new game, it randomizes the dungeons and quests, so while you may know that the Butcher, or the Skeleton king are on a certain level, you won't know where because the level floorplans get scrambled every time you restart.

While Diablo is a good single player game, it is equally good as a multiplayer game when you are hooking up with friends. The online client for the game is easy to manage and navigate, and allows for up to 4 players to join together to fight monsters in the dungeon. Since Diablo randomizes the dungeon every time you start a new game, you will be able to play again and again without getting too used to the layout of the level (unlike the multiplayer levels in action games like Quake).

This is a fun game, whether you want to devote days at a time playing it (easy to do), or just want to hack on monsters for an hour or so. This isn't a hardcore RPG though, so don't count on the interaction that you might expect out of a game like UO or Discworld.

Price: ~$29.99 - 49.99 at local retailers, with no monthly fee for online use.

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