Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Beta Report
Blizzard has sent us the official beta of this add-on--be sure read our extensive gameplay impressions.
The official expansion pack to one of last year's best-selling games is scheduled to be available later next month. In the meantime, Blizzard Entertainment is busy polishing its next game to perfection. To this end, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction has recently entered into a beta-testing stage, in which about 2,500 players from around the world will get to try out all the new features in the expansion pack. GameSpot was fortunate to reserve a place in the beta test and has since extensively played the beta version of the game over Blizzard's Battle.net service. Based on this, the following pages contain detailed descriptions of the expansion's many new features. The information in this preview won't replicate what you've already read on GameSpot--for instance, you'll find much more about the assassin and the druid classes in our previous coverage. So this update is best suited for those who have been keeping up with the Diablo II expansion pack as closely as possible and relishing the details of the game. Don't worry--we won't spoil anything along the way. With that out of the way, let's get into Lord of Destruction.
Like all the best expansion packs, including last year's Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark, and Blizzard's own Starcraft: Brood War, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction attempts to fundamentally improve upon and extend the core aspects of the original game. It does this by adding new content and new features suitable for all types of Diablo II players. Most obviously, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction includes two all-new character classes, bringing the total in the game to seven. It also appends a fifth and final chapter to the Diablo II saga, during which you'll take on Baal, Diablo's brother, whom you never encountered during the original game. These additions are exciting in themselves--but when coupled with all the innumerable ancillary changes and enhancements in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, the end result promises to be as impressive and as robust as Diablo II was itself.
It's been reported previously that one of the big changes introduced in Lord of Destruction is a technical enhancement to the game, which will let you play it at an 800x600 resolution, rather than Diablo II's (and Diablo's) fixed 640x480 resolution. It takes no time to get accustomed to this change, though the improvements it yields are instantly noticeable. You get to see more onscreen, and yet the characters remain large enough to be easily discernible. The new, less obtrusive minimap option (which can replace the full-screen automap overlay) also works great. The higher resolution makes all the characters in Diablo II look sharper and makes the 3D-like parallax scrolling effect of the isometric terrain even more pronounced. All this comes with little compromise of performance on a midrange computer system. Suffice it to say, once you begin playing at the higher resolution, you'll be hard pressed to switch back. In fact, you'll wonder how you ever got by in Diablo II.
If this already sounds exciting to you, you'll be even more excited to learn that it's really just the tip of the iceberg--read on to find out some of Lord of Destruction's gritty details, which should help breathe new life into Diablo II.
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Quick Links
Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Downloads | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum
- Blizzard Entertainment
- Blizzard North
- Action Role-Playing
- Release: Jun 27, 2001 »
- ESRB: Mature
Games you may like…
-
Diablo II
(PC) -
Diablo III
(PC) -
Diablo
(PC) -
Summoner
(PC) -
Dungeon Hero
(PC)
Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.
See More Similar Games
1 Comments