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A.P.I Review:	DIABLO
Developer:	Blizzard	OPTIONS:	SCREENSHOTS: No.1   No.2   No.3
Distributor:	Electronic Arts	1-2 Player
Game Type:	RPG/Adventure	Memory Card (1-9 blocks)
Review Date:	May 1998	Standard Joypad

Setting the Scene

Years ago I played this ancient ASCII character based game called Moria,
it was loosely based on the Lord of the Rings books and the object was
to traverse the multiple levels of a randomly generated dungeon and kill
lots of bad monsters. Along the way you would pick up heaps of cool
items, magic books, scrolls, enchanted weapons and gold, every now and
then you visit the town above the dungeon to identify and sell the items
you had collected. Playing Moria gave me an intense dislike and fear of
the letter 'B' because that letter represented the Balrog, the meanest,
nastiest, toughest monster in the entire dungeon (beating the Balrog was
the aim of the game). After many months of playing you would eventually
find the Balrog then spend hours trying to kill him or be eaten alive,
game over. 

Many years later everybody was talking about this game called 'Diablo',
where you took on the role of a character (either a Warrior, Rogue or
Sorcerer) and traverse the multiple levels of a randomly generated
dungeon and kill lots of creepy monsters. The aim of this game was to
get to the bottom of the dungeon and kill the ultimate bad guy,
'Diablo'. Sound familiar? 

Regardless of whether the two games can be compared, or whether the
developers of Diablo have any idea they copied Moria, Diablo has made a
huge impact on the games industry over the last two years. 

The $64,000 question is: Has the gameplay survived the port from PC to
PSX? Have the graphics and sound improved? Having played the PC version
would you bother buying the Playstation version or should you just brush
the dust of your PC and return to the dungeon? The answers to all these
questions and more, next on "Diablo, the Review".

Genre

How many programmers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Who cares,
they're all to busy playing Diablo. Sorry about that, it's a Role
Playing Game, you become a character, you beat up bad guys, get
experience and gold and go up levels, classic definition of RPG. 

Graphics

Earlier I made a comparison to Moria, an ASCII text based game were you
took on the role of the '@' character and ran around killing lots of
'b','h','o','t' and 'D' characters, you occasionally picked up some '$'
symbols (gold) and some '*' characters (gems), if you were lucky you'd
come across some '|' or '\' symbols which you would use to hit the
critters. 

You get the idea, luckily Diablo has improved dramatically on the
graphics available only 8 years ago with real time light sourcing,
transparencies, high-resolution sprite based graphics and Full Motion
Video. All used to good effect to set the scene and provide us with
enough eye candy to distract us from what the game is all about.

The inevitable comparison to the PC version must be made, and I have
nothing but good things to say. Don't believe all those other reviews
you've read, if anything, the graphics have improved. The improvements
are very subtle and the untrained eye would miss many of them but they
are there. For example, as you walk past the little river flowing
through the town you can actually see your reflection on the water, this
did not happen in the PC version, subtle but effective. The frame rate
is always constant and smooth, the movement of your character is
realistic and convincing and the death animation's of the monsters are
many and varied.

One cool feature of the graphics is how the appearance of your character
changes as you wear different armour or weapons. As the warrior, strap
on your leather tunic and short sword and your character will look like
a plain clothes detective from a medi-evil cop show, but strap on a suit
of full plate and a two-handed sword and you'll look like a walking,
grunting killing machine. The Rogue and Sorcerer have similarly
different graphical representations depending on the equipment they are
carrying.

Overall the graphics in the Playstation version of Diablo are just as,
or more impressive than the PC version. While the game isn't exactly
pushing the Playstation's 3D capabilities to its limits the impression
of depth and space is achieved with great effect. If you're picky you
may notice the odd frame of animation being dropped when the action hots
up, but if this is the case you should really quit your job as a traffic
counter and get a life.

Sounds and Effects

To continue the comparison, the sounds and effects in the Playstation
version are identical to what I remember from the PC version. 

The music is spooky and creates a real feeling of tension, changing to
increase the stress levels as you progress deeper and deeper into the
depths of Hell. The characters have a few choice phrases that they use
to inform you of their status, the most impressive of which is the
Rogue, who never ceases to impress with her best Winona Ryder
impression.

Also impressive is the full speech used throughout the game, all the
characters you interact with actually talk to you, you hear yourself
reading the books out loud, even some of the Boss characters taunt you.
I'll never forget the first time I heard "FRESH MEAT" echo down a
hallway of the dungeon, it was definitely a change-of-underwear event.

The bottom line is that the original audio feel of the game has been
preserved. Although there has been nothing obvious added in this area
the sounds and effects on the Playstation version are bound to be
appreciated more than the PC version simply because the Playstation
lends itself more to being plugged in to a decent stereo than any
computer on the planet.

Playability

What could I possibly say that hasn't been said before? Diablo isn't a
multi-award winning game for no reason, it is one of the best games to
be released in the last few years, most people would agree. 

So, what's it all about then? You take on the role of one of three
characters, the muscle bound warrior who speaks with his steel before
his mouth, the cunning Rogue who's deadly accurate bow is the bane of
many a dungeon dweller and the all powerful Sorcerer who's spells of
mass destruction scorch the life from anyone in his way. 

The first thing to address is how the developers responsible for the
port managed to convert more than 14 keyboard and mouse actions to the
Playstation Controller. The answer is very simply to eliminate all the
unnecessary actions and filter it down to a few essential functions,
attack, open, cast spells, increase health and increase mana. By doing
this there is a much greater 'arcade' feel to the game, you push one
button to attack, one to open doors, one to take a healing potion, one
to take a mana potion and one to cast a spell. While there are other
functions you can do in the game these few key actions are the only ones
you will do with any regularity. With this in mind the developers have
done an excellent job of adapting the game to the relatively limited
Playstation controller. The Playstation mouse is not supported by this
version, simple because you could not even do these basic functions
without the use of another controller or keyboard. 

Since the thing you will do most in the game is attack, it is fairly
important that it is intuitive and easy. In the PC version you would
point your mouse cursor at the enemy and click, so how do you convert
that to a controller? In this version you simply point your character in
the general direction of the enemy, the bad guy will attain an ominous
coloured outline, showing you which is your current target, you press
the attack button and they die painfully. Easy really.

If it's true that the multi-player capability is the key to the success
of the PC version, the absence of it could certainly spell the failure
of the Playstation version, this is certainly NOT the case. In fact the
addition of the two-player game, where you both play on the same screen
simultaneously, has actually enhanced the gameplay of the Playstation
version. 

While it is a tremendous amount of fun adventuring with a pal, there are
two basic problems with the implementation of the two-player mode. Since
you are both on the same screen you cannot go wondering on your own at
any stage. You are stuck walking around the same area with your
adventuring partner, unable to move around independently, this can be a
little frustrating at times but could only have been overcome by a split
screen, which would have detracted from the playability considerably. 

The other gripe I have is that it is all too easy to stab your friend in
the back. In the heat of battle the auto-aim feature keeps you out of
trouble but quit often you will clear the screen of enemies and still be
slashing or shooting wildly, the accidental slaughter of your companion
usually follows. A little control and practice usually minimises this,
but be prepared to get punched in the arm lots while you're learning, an
option to turn off friendly fire would have prevented a considerable
amount of pain and suffering on my part.

I order to beat this game you must kill the creature known as Diablo,
residing on the 16th level of the dungeon he has surrounded himself with
all manner of horrible creatures who are tasked with stopping you and
your companion from getting anywhere near him. While this is the end of
the quest, your journey of filled with numerous smaller quests that you
must complete in order to obtain special magic items that will assist
you in surviving long enough to meet Diablo. These quests are part of
the charm of the game and tend to break the monotony of trudging through
dungeons killing seemingly endless lines of monsters. I must have a
small gripe, for some reason the Playstation version strips you of any
previously earned quest items if you start a new game with a saved
character. This could mean you will find yourself starting a new game
with a naked 25th level character, look at it as a challenge and stop
complaining you cry baby.

Apart from these few minor problems the gameplay has been preserved for
this version. The basic premise of adventuring through a dungeon
environment in order to conquer an ancient evil to free the town of
Tristram from its dark grip is still there. Slice and dice your way
through hundred of creatures from Skeletons to Orcs, Acid Splitting
beasts to evil Sorcerers, pick their corpses for gold and magic items,
and boast to your friend about what level your character is. It's all
still there, with the added advantage of being able to play it from the
comfort of your couch instead of a rickety old office chair.

So, the final word on Playability is that apart from a few minor changes
that had to be made for the conversion the essence of the game remains. 

Value for Money

Ordinarily the 16 levels in Diablo means that it would get a pretty good
rating for playability, under normal circumstances it would take several
days to complete the game. Add to that the fact that the randomly
generated levels are different every time you play, the multiple
missions and quests you can complete and Role Playing aspects of the
game and Diablo has almost unlimited playability. 

The two player mode adds a whole new dimension to the game and only
serves to further enhance the replay value, it would have been a real
shame is the developers had not taken the extra time to add this feature
and I am very glad that they did.

As with the PC version this port gives you the option of playing at one
of three difficulty levels, Normal, Nightmare and Hell, you must kill
Diablo at least once in each level to progress to the next one. The
difference between the difficulty levels is enough to challenge even the
most experienced player, while Normal is relatively easy, Nightmare and
Hell are both extremely challenging and should keep you occupied for
many days as you struggle through the deeper levels to Diablo.

The only question that remains to be answered is whether veterans of the
PC version should bother with the conversion. The answer is, probably
not. If you've played the PC version to death, you've found every item
and killed every creature and you've had more Diablo kills than hot
dinners then you're not likely to see anything new in the Playstation
version. However, for non-PC Playstation owners Diablo is a game not to
be missed, get it now.