This week: Diablo

Everyone has heard of the classic Diablo series, the first games was incredibly popular and the second game is still being played today by the thousands 11 years after it’s release on the PC. Many could be forgiven for thinking the first game never made it to the PSX. I was surprised actually to see it was up there. But there is no doubt this game would sell amazing as a PSOne Classic.

Story

The name Diablo isn’t for nothing, you’re a warrior and things are going haywire in the world, at some point you’ll face Diablo. The real fun of the story of these games are all the NPCs you interact with. They all had their own sense of humor and motivations, and that made them a lot of fun to help out. You travel to a lot of different destinations in Diablo games, and the atmosphere is what really makes the game stand out.

Gameplay

Well, the gameplay on all Diablo games is hack and slash, but the most classic variety. For an RPG at the time this was lightning fast action and the point and click nature of Diablo gameplay is the basis of many MMOs even today. The gameplay really depends on the character class you chose and in the first Diablo, you had three choices, the Warrior, the Rogue and the Sorcerer. These choices are really iconic in gaming today, now that almost any Western RPG has these character classes to choose from. The gameplay was undoubtedly enjoyable and its easy to be overrun by too many enemies making entering dungeons a harrowing affair. The gameplay in the PSone version was a little different to the PC version as to where you didn’t use a cursor, but other than that, it was

You could expect fire in a game called Diablo

Graphics

The great part of Diablo’s graphics is the art style. Every dungeon was frightening, ever enemy terrifying, and it was all brought together with  great music and sound effects. The videos that accompany the game as well were beautiful at the time and they still hold a lot of style, (I remember through Diablo 2 they almost felt like rewards). You can tell as well that the graphics team did a lot to build their own mythology for the series, and it continues once again with the imminent release of Diablo 3 for PC (and maybe consoles). The colours as well always made the game stand out, with certain filters to keep it bright, but still making it seem old and full of atmosphere.

Why Should Diablo become a PSoneclassic?

Well it was an addictive, stylish and popular title when it first came out, and subsequent sequels only changed slightly from this model, keeping the gameplay the same, just adding new characters and situations. The art style was great, and the world was huge and absorbing. There’s no reason why this wouldn’t be a huge success as a PSone Classic, as this would be the perfect game to play on your PSP. But there is one problem at the moment which might make the game difficult to release on the Playstation Network. Blizzard’s Diablo was ported to the PSone by Electronic Arts, a few years ago Blizzard merged with Activision (EA’s arch nemesis), so it’s tough to know who owns the rights to the port. I have messages Blizzard on this and should hear a response in the next few days.

PSoneclassics.com