A review by Christopher Stewart. © 1997 Do you remember Nethack and Moria? Even if you don't (not everybody experienced the stone-age of computer gaming ;-) you should get Diablo. Nethack was (is) an ascii-based dungeon game of which many versions existed in the "old days". You ran around Dungeons slaughtering monsters, collecting magical items, pilfering gold and fulfilling quests. Well, Blizzard has constructed a slick, Pentium-needed version of this game. It's a prime example of the adage "it's in the gameplay". Combined with state-of-the-art technology, this makes a potent combination. The premise of Diablo is a above-average quest to "get the devil". Standard in theme but very well executed. You can play one of three classes of character, a Fighter, Rogue or Magician. Each has differing aptitudes and the game modifies it's quests and play based on the selection. According to the documentation, each time you run through the levels the layout is different. As of this writing I'm on my second run through and I've encountered different quests with a different class choice. While I found the game a little too easy and a tad too short (after completing all the quests and levels that character isn't playable again) I loved it enough to do it all over again from the beginning. You travel about the town and countryside (from an isometric view) visiting the various stores and collecting information before making another journey to the underworld. Lush graphics, great music, professional voice-overs (as opposed to the programmers hamming it up) and smooth animation make for a joyous trip. The creatures encountered all have distinctive methods of attack and movement and are well animated. Sometimes the game throws a whole slew of beasts your way, forcing you to actually use strategy to overcome the odds (many will let you get away with brute force, not here). Control of the the game is accomplished with the mouse. The keyboard being used for spell hot-keys and modifiers. Attacking is as simple as clicking on the target and the rest of the controls are well thought out (and documented). Installation was a snap (we recommend leaving your graphic card's DirectX driver's intact if they are already present). You might run into problems if you don't have DirectX 3.0 installed so visit your card's manufacturer's homepage to get the latest version. Most of the game runs from the CD (speedy except for a lengthy gap between game levels) so hard drive requirements are minimal. One of the only things I missed in this Blizzard game was a proliferation of animated cut scenes to "tell the story". There ARE a few scenes near the end (the game-end sequence is great) but not enough for my taste (I, admittedly, am a 3D animation junkie). What they could have done with the already rich source material boggles the mind. Let's hope for a Diablo II, the Devil comes back. A sequel is hinted at in the end-sequence and I'll be first in line. Battle net: I'm not usually one for cooperative gameplay but when I logged on to Battle-Net, Blizzard's internet-based game server, I was in for a surprise. The game searched the various servers to find the fastest and quickly called up the interface, even over my 14.4 modem. Functionality includes chat rooms and discussion areas as well as the cooperative gameplay associated with the title (which, to say the least, worked well). I logged into one of the chat forums and simply asked if anybody would take me on a tour. One kind personage offered and I was given a guided tour of the system. Recommended to all. Multiplayer games over our IPX network worked just as well. The only hitch was the fact that you (as the owner of the game) has to use a "spawned copy" (like a demo version) from the CD to connect to the other players, as well as starting a new character. It would have been nice to keep the character I'd been using to whup my office's respective butts. Perhaps we'll all have to buy the game. System Requirements: Pentium 60 or faster. Windows95 or NT4.0 (you can use your company's Dual PPro server!). Mouse. Hard Drive and Double speed or faster CDROM (although I found a 6X slow to change levels). SVGA graphic card that supports Direct Draw and DirectX 3.0 installed (provided on CD). Windows '95 compatible sound card. System as Tested: Pentium 100/256k cache 32 megs EDO ram Soundblaster 16 ATI 3D Expression PC2TV (Rage2 chip with hardware MPEG) Samsung 17" Gli monitor. Logitech Cordless Mouseman Pro. CH Flightstick