One of the Best Action-RPGs ever to grace a console.
Other Platforms: PC
Expansions: Hellfire - only PC
Sequels: Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction - also only PC
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Climax
Release Date: 1998
Genre: Action-RPG
Number of Players: 1-2
ERSB Rating: Mature
Review
I remember back in 1997 Diablo was released for the PC. Little did I know after playing it for hours at one of my friends house that they would later the following year, release it onto Playstation console. Now I was more into console games then PC at the time so I snagged it right away and started in on it. The game is so deep and has so many things that I would like to talk about, I am afraid this could be a long winded review. Most of this is similar to the PC version, but since I have played it more for Playstation, I will stick to that. I have since played through both games as well as the sequels as well. Let's get started!
Story
First off, let us dig into a little background to the story line of the game. Deep underneath killing scavengers and demons, there is a story that fits nicely into the game play. To put the story in a nutshell, it is the fight between good and evil, heaven and hell if you will. You start in a town that has been attacked by minions of a dark overlord who has also killed your family, name Diablo. You learn more about him as you descend into the dungeons underneath a church on the side of town. You find out he is one of three demons called the "Prime Evils", he is also called the Lord of Terror. As the story unfolds you come into contact with names such as King Leoric and his son Prince Albrecht, you may also find out about Lazarus, the Archbishop of the town you start in, Tristram. You must fight through levels under the church that soon turn into other parts of the under earth, such as Catacombs, Caves, and eventually Hell, where you must seek out Diablo and slay him.
Characters
When you start the game you are giving a choice to pick which character you want as your hero. You have three choices, a warrior who is strong with a sword and good in hand to hand combat. A Warrior is good if you want brute strength and minimal magic abilities. Another character you may choose is the Sorcerer who is great with Magic and ultimately has the strongest spells at his disposal. The final choice is the Rogue, a woman, for a lack of a better term, who is almost naked, who is great with a bow. All three classes are better with certain weapons than others, they also have different maximums for each stat. Such as Warriors have a higher strength maximum then a Rogue, who has higher dexterity then the Sorcerer who has the highest magic stats. This system works great for the game.
Game play
Game Play is a little different from the PC version as it had to be condensed to a controller for the Playstation instead of a keyboard and mouse. The developers did this very well and most things are only a button push away, like your map and a one button heal and mana filler. Diablo has dungeons below the church in the town you start out in where you face creatures that come to attack you. You can kill these monsters and they drop gold, items, weapons and also give you experience. Things start off kind of slow as you must back track to town to keep getting better gear and heals until you get stronger. The load times to town are around 30 seconds or so, nothing to major and are similar to what you get when you descend to the next level of the dungeons. More on the dungeons now, they are randomly generated, yes random, meaning you don't get the same dungeon all the time. This alone adds extreme depth to the game and replay value off the charts. As you proceed through the levels under the church you also find treasure chests, sarcophagus that contain items or skeletons, you never know! You also may find shrines and fountains each do different things. Other things you may find are books telling the story of Diablo, side quests such as the Butcher, or the water that has turned bad due to the monsters. Fight your way through the levels until you find the next steps to go down to the next level. You may also find a few sets of stairs that lead to town, which is always nice. The farther down you progress, the harder battles become. Battling through the monsters doesn't ever really get boring. You always want to get to the next level or get try to find a new weapon. Your killing can be done with many types of weapons, swords, axes, clubs, bow, and staves, with different types of many of these. You can also add armor, helms or crowns, rings or amulets and everything increases your stats. After fighting you must return to town where you can Identify special items, repair your weapons, heal and look for other quests, as well as shop around with the witch or blacksmith(or the peg-legged boy if you can find him). Overall town is a safe place where you cannot fight monsters and is a good place to go if you need something.
Sound and Graphics
The sound is fantastic, with strange and scary music all the time, random screams and the creakiness of doors and chests opening. This is one game you don't want to play in the dark if you get scared! The sound is something that really adds to the game and the creatures often sound possessed and really do make you think evil is in the room with you. The graphics for the Playstation version were not as good as the PC version of the game. If you can get past the occasional graphic mishap or frame skip you should be fine. They are nothing to noticeable, but side by side you can just see the PC version is a little more crisp and pristine. The creatures and demons, including Diablo himself, look fantastic. In fact they may scare you even more than the music. One beef I wasn't to fond of was that the camera angle is a little closer then the PC version and therefore makes it harder to see some enemies, particular the zombies who hide against the walls. Nothing major, just a few little tic tac things where the PC was better.
Overall
If you put all these great things together, mix it up a little and throw it in a dungeon, you have one of the best Action-RPG games ever made. Diablo set the bar for games that came along later on consoles later on, such as Baldurs Gate on the PS2. The replay value alone makes this game a can't miss with every play through being a different game. The constant level grinding is actually fun along with the scary music and good graphics to boot. This game was fun on the PC and if you are more of a console driven man, like myself, you will enjoy this game and have nothing but good things to say about it. Overall I give Diablo for the Playstation a 9.0