Diablo II

Diablo II is a dark fantasy-themed action role-playing game, with elements of the hack and slash and dungeon roaming genres. The game was released in 2000 for Mac OS and Windows bij Blizzard Entertainment and developed by Blizzard North. The game also has an expansion pack, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, which was released in 2001. Diablo II was one of the most popular games of 2000, because of the addictive gameplay and free access to online gaming via Battle.net.

The story of Diablo II takes place after the end of the previous game, Diablo, in the lands of Sanctuary where Diablo, the Lord of Terror, was defeated by an unnamed warrior. The hero who slew Diablo drove the demon's soulstone into his forehead in an attempt to contain him, but this is what Diablo wanted and just made him stronger, and the adventurer is in turn corrupted. The player is an adventurer who appears in the wake of the destruction caused by Diablo and attempts to find out the cause of the destruction, starting with the corrupted warrior (from the first game). As the player continues through each of the four acts, he faces off against the Prime Evils, superpowers of Hell, and the two lesser evils who once overthrew the three prime evils, and learns of the truth behind the corruption. Diablo released Mephisto (Lord of Hatred) and Baal (Lord of Destruction) from their soulstones, as they were taught long ago how to corrupt them by the fallen angel Izual. In the end, the player eventually reaches and slays Mephisto and Diablo. The story continues in the expansion to the game, where the player chases the last of the Prime Evils: Baal (Lord of Destruction) who is going after the mythical Worldstone in an attempt to corrupt it.

In this game you can choose between five different classes:

The Amazon- She is similar to the Rogue from Diablo. They both primarily use bows. The Amazon can also use spears and javelins.

The Necromancer- This guy mostly uses death-themed spells. He can raise skeletons, create golems and resurrect dead monsters to fight along sidehim.

The Barbarian- He is good at the front-lines of a battle. He has more HP than the other characters and also the only character that can dual wield weapons.

The Sorceress- She uses elemental spells, mostly on the offensive. She is also able to teleport to new destinations.

The Paladin- He is an all-rounder. He is able to use thunderbolt spells, he can use bows and he's also good at melee weapons. He is the only character capable of using the shield as a weapon.

In Diablo II you have to complete four acts in order to complete the game. At the end of each act you have to fight a boss. In order to get to these bosses you will have to fight through dungeons and wilderness areas and completing quests. If you want help with completing these quests you can hire mercenaries to aid you in your battles. Item drops, monster attributes, and most dungeon layouts are randomly-generated by Diablo II, just like in the first game.
If you want to make it a little harder you can choose from three difficulties: Normal, Nightmare and Hell. On higher difficulties, monsters are stronger, experience is penalized on dying, and your resistances are handicapped. However, you're always able to change the game-difficulty.

The graphics of this game are greatly improved compared with the first game. The sound and music are delightful to listen to. Some tracks were created by reusing the tracks from the original game, while others by rearranging tracks that were out-takes. Tristram uses the main theme of the first Diablo game and it is the earliest track composed for Diablo II.

The game has got several awards, including the 2000 runner-up Reader's Choice Award for role-playing game of the year. It was also awarded a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records 2000 edition for being the fastest selling computer game ever sold, with more than 1 million units sold in the first two weeks of availability.

I think this game is great, it really is addictive just like the first game. If you're planning to buy Diablo III when it comes out, you should first play and complete this game, it really is awesome.