GB Demo Reviews - Diablo 2

Playability: The point-and-click feature that made Microsoft so popular is available now in yet another Role-Playing game! It's not hard to figure out, but the point-and-click stuff gets old when you're fighting half-a-dozen characters. As far as the demo is concerned, this is easy stuff if you've ever played games that require you to be quick with your mouse and simplistic keyboard commands.

Graphics / Sound: Kudos for the sound. Voices, music and sound effects are tight. Graphics are decent, nothing to complain about, but it's just a Role-Playing / Adventure game so there's not a lot of room to move on this stuff anyway.

Computer Specs: PII 233 / 32MB RAM / 140MB Hard Drive Space - which is fairly basic, but these simplistic requirements explain why this game is just average.

Fun Factor: As a demo, it's not too addictive. I've heard of people losing jobs and families because of this game, but this demo does nothing for me to suggest that, and I'm ready to lose my life to a game if it's willing to take me. This game does nothing of that sort.

Overall: As a demo, Diablo II is just too simplistic. There are so many things that they could do with it, but I realize that they just want to have you BUY the game after playing the demo. But that's not what this is about - we're all about playing games for FREE. Why is it that most role-playing games are in medieval time? Why are we tantalized with the rare and exotic weapons, yet we can never get enough gold to procure these weapons in the demo? C'mon - give us more!



There are over 1,000 downloadable games at pcgameworld.com, one of the major sources of PC Game Demos. My goal for this column is to provide the reader with a guide to these demos. Specifically, I will tell you which ones are worth your time and your hard drive space and which ones are not. All demos will be rated on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest. Five different points will be considered in the evaluation process: Playability Graphics and Sound Computer Specs Fun Factor Overall Testing system: PII 350, 128 RAM, Voodoo 3000 PCI, 256K DSL Internet


DIABLO 2


The first thing that should pique your interest in a game like Diablo II is the fact that it has consistently hit the top of the charts since its June, 2000 release. As of this writing, with the latest data available from February 2001, it is still the #6 seller on the charts of PC Data. Games like this don't sell almost a million copies in one year (2000) based on expensive commercials. Or do they? Word of mouth sells a helluva lot of video games, but colorful screenshots and quick-clip in-game movies thrown out during selective football game commercials sell a lot too. I heard and saw both, but my impression of Diablo II, (the DEMO) was not quite as spectacular as others had made it out to be. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but it's not that amazing and I'm quite concerned about the #6 status - I mean, it did get beat out by The Sims (#1) and other weak games like Roller Coaster Tycoon (hah!) as far as sales go. However, it is worth a look, since it's selling so well and you're probably going to end up getting the damn thing as a gift anyway because your parents (or some other gift-givers) will hear the geeky Best Buy guy talk it up as the "hottest game since Tomb Raider III." Here's the deal: you can play this "game" (as a gigantic 131MB demo - but for chrissakes! where are the 131megs?) for a bit, but once you finish it, it's finished. There's nothing left to do. You've killed every single nefarious being on the map. Yeah, it takes a little exploration and ingenuity, but for the most part, a monkey could figure out this demo. You start off as the "BARBARIAN" which is a pretty decent thing indeed, since he's the guy who is most likely to inflict the maximum amount of pain on the most amount of creatures. He's hard-ball, for sure, but he sure doesn't act that way with the locals. I expect the BARBARIAN to be doing whatever he has to do to survive... however, killing creatures in town is apparently out of style, no matter how weak Mr. Barbarian is from an exhausting 10-day trip into the realm of Hell to protect these arrogant bastard townspeople from their imminent death. I'm also displeased with the fact that there are a whole slew of weapons that you can never have in the demo because you'll never be able to procure enough gold to buy them. The game is engineered like most basic role-playing, level-based games. You kick some ass, you get a level. You invest a huge amount of time, and you get some new experience points. No matter what, it's all about time. More time = better character skills and compositions. However, the demo doesn't call for much of that. You'll learn some basic stuff and spend some time in the dungeons, but when it's all said and done you'll be left wondering what the hell you just did. There are better demos out there.				SCREENSHOTS FROM DIABLO 2 (enlargeable) Lot of time in the field, so get ready for that. I know you want to slaughter that heifer, but you can't. Unleash. Make hell. Too bad you don't have have a better weapon. She might be friendly. Don't count on it. Those quill-spitting rats are the quintessential pain-in-the-ass of games like this. But let's face it, an ass- whipping like this is why you play this stuff. Slaughter is for the hearty. Peace is for the weak.

Playability: The point-and-click feature that made Microsoft so popular is available now in yet another Role-Playing game! It's not hard to figure out, but the point-and-click stuff gets old when you're fighting half-a-dozen characters. As far as the demo is concerned, this is easy stuff if you've ever played games that require you to be quick with your mouse and simplistic keyboard commands. Graphics / Sound: Kudos for the sound. Voices, music and sound effects are tight. Graphics are decent, nothing to complain about, but it's just a Role-Playing / Adventure game so there's not a lot of room to move on this stuff anyway. Computer Specs: PII 233 / 32MB RAM / 140MB Hard Drive Space - which is fairly basic, but these simplistic requirements explain why this game is just average. Fun Factor: As a demo, it's not too addictive. I've heard of people losing jobs and families because of this game, but this demo does nothing for me to suggest that, and I'm ready to lose my life to a game if it's willing to take me. This game does nothing of that sort. Overall: As a demo, Diablo II is just too simplistic. There are so many things that they could do with it, but I realize that they just want to have you BUY the game after playing the demo. But that's not what this is about - we're all about playing games for FREE. Why is it that most role-playing games are in medieval time? Why are we tantalized with the rare and exotic weapons, yet we can never get enough gold to procure these weapons in the demo? C'mon - give us more! TOTAL SCORE: 6.5
DIABLO II Demo Size: 131MB System Requirements [P233/32MB/Win95/98/ME + DirectX]

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