"Mmmmmmm, Fresh MEAT!!!"
As I walked through the dark, foul-smelling ruins of an underground
labyrinth, my first thought was "Gee, this is some town, with a massive
network of tunnels underneath its cathedral. And so many Satanic
creatures too! Why, the priest must get a huge following if he can
emphasize every sermon about Hell with a live representative." My
second thought was to stop thinking, and concentrate on the task at
hand - the slaying of a repulsive, bloodthirsty demon named "The
Butcher."
Unfortunately, or fortunately (if you are up for a challenge), this
assassination mission is only one of the quests that will be presented
to you in Diablo. As a Warrior, Rogue, or Sorcerer, you will have the
opportunity to prove your worth. Each of the quests takes place in the
one giant labyrinth underneath the town where you start. As you progress
through the endless tunnels, you will advance
in combat levels while slaughtering tons of demons and gaining thousands
of gold pieces. The ultimate goal is to fight your way down to the
nethermost hall, where the ultimate challenge awaits. This is the
Diablo itself, some sort of minor functionary to Satan.
What really sets the tone for this game is the ambiance. The music is
fairly haunting, while the atmosphere of the game is dark and
foreboding, even in the town. But hey, if your city was sitting atop a
gateway to the underworld, it wouldn't be very cheerful either. You
can even hear the wind rustling through the trees.
Overall, the feeling is that this world is bleak and threatening, with
something far more terrifying down below. This is reinforced by the
bloody corpses that you'll see once you get close to the labyrinth's
entrance. Otherwise, the town itself is the character's haven. It is
the only place where there are no enemies and where there are weapons
and spells to be bought. Townspeople will also provide information, for
a price.
The gameplay is fairly simple, and this is what makes the game so
addicting. You simply journey across the level, in an attempt to clean out the creatures
that inhabit each floor. As you turn to face a creature, you
simply press the fire button repeatedly, and the character will either
cast spells, fire unlimited arrows, or begin slicing with a blade. You can use spells even as a Warrior or Rogue, and these come in handy. One such magic art restores health, another raises Manna (the
ability to cast spells), and others are simply used for their
offensive capabilities. These can come in handy during those sticky
times when you either run into a whole nest of little devils or one
large opponent like the Butcher, who happens to be a fairly tough
customer.
As this game is a translation
from the PC
version, where it made its grand, award-winning debut, the graphics are
not quite as good. When playing Diablo on the computer, I get the feeling
that the characters are almost claymation models; they look so detailed and
lifelike. The background scenery itself seems real, and there is real contrast
between ground and the large pools of lava later in the game. On the Playstation,
the graphics are still very good, but they seem to have a more cartoonish aspect.
Additionally, the PC version has much higher resolution, the sound is slightly
better, and the controls are much easier because of the keyboard/mouse interface.
Nevertheless, the game's designers have programmed certain functions
into the controller that make for easier play. One of these is a button
for the spell that raises health, as well as one that raises Manna.
This works well, because when you are in the middle of a battle, you do
not have time to fumble through numerous menus (it may slow down your
concentration even if the game pauses) or press some random pattern of
keys.
The only major drawback is an incredible amount of loading time between floors
and between the labyrinth and the outside world. Furthermore, all the action
takes place in the same old labyrinth. This was solved in the PC
version by the randomly generated levels. Every time you'd play, the layout
would differ. This is not the case in the Playstation version - what you see
is what you get, each and every time. Far more interesting would have been the
appearance of different surface towns, other labyrinths, perhaps a copse of
woods or a dark mountain pass.
Then again, there is something to be said for one area of sheer
horror, if it is done well, from graphics to sound to gameplay. This one
is. Diablo is well worth your money, particularly if you are a fan of
adventure games but do not want a total roleplaying experience. Sequels, anybody?
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