Genre – Dungeon Crawler
Platform – PC

It has taken me a very long time to write this article.  Every time I go into the game to get some screenshots, I end up playing for hours and forgetting about the screenshots.  I already have Diablo II on my top 25, but Diablo 3 takes my number 4 spot.

I have been playing this game since day 1.  It did some things well and some things not so well.  Blizzard has made some major changes over the years, usually for the better.  In the beginning, there was a player market place where you could sell in-game items for real money (or for in-game currency)!  I made a whopping $13 way.  Many argued that this made the game unfair.  I found it a new and thrilling element to the game.  A couple of years in, they removed the auction house.  In doing so, they really upped the quality of crafted items, which made the reliance on super-rare drops less, which ultimately made the game more enjoyable.

Another thing that I was disappointed about was the skill tree, or lack thereof.  Instead of highly customizable skill trees, there are a handful of skills that you can pick from.  You can go into an advanced mode, which allows you to put any skill into any slot, which helps a bit, but I still miss those skill trees.  After you hit level 70, you start to gain Paragon points, which allow for some further customization, but I would still like to see more.

Another thing that was changed was the inventory.  Diablo has always been about the loot, and they greatly improved this in Diablo 3.  Items, no matter their size, only take up one inventory block.  The runes are a thing of the past, but items are still socketed and there are many different sets of armor.  In a more recent update, they rolled out ancient armor, although I still have yet to see one.

The story is solid.  The graphics are great (check out some of the screenshots below).  If you have the expansion, you can pick from the following classes – monk, witch doctor, wizard, crusader, barbarian and demon hunter.  I’ve played each one up to level 70, but my favorite, by far, is the monk.  I also enjoy playing on hardcore mode, which means that when you die, it’s game over.  As you progress through the story, you can choose followers to join in your quest.  They are actually useful and have different abilities.

I would say ignore the negatives that you may have heard about this game and try it for yourself.  It’s a lot of fun and you’ll likely get sucked in!  I have played over 600 hours on my main monk alone and I keep going back to it.

Genre:  Dungeon Crawler
Platform:  PC

We are now entering the “not kidding around” part of my top 25.  I’ve sunk more time than I care to admit into all but two of my remaining top 25.  I’m talking YEARS of actual game time, all combined.  Coming in at number 11 is Diablo 2.

This game was released in June of 2000 and I think I started playing it about a year or so later.  I was immediately sucked in.  This was a very revolutionary game as it really created the genre of dungeon crawlers, which are often called “Diablo clones”.  There was a first Diablo, which was a good game in its own right.  There was also a Diablo 3, which is another great game, and there are rumors of a Diablo 4.  Blizzard, the developer, takes so long on their games, however, that we’ll likely not see it for a good five years, if it even exists.

I loved Diablo 2 for many reasons.  The game play is just fun.  You are constantly clicking on things on the screen.  There is quite a bit of strategy in this game as well as you have a lot of different spells and abilities you can pick from, but can really only have two active at any given time.  You also have to keep a close eye on your mana pool and your health.  This game has a robust tech tree, which makes every play through unique and every character fresh.

The writing is really good.  I have a tendency to ignore a lot of the lore in games, but I read every bit of this that I could.  It’s a story of good vs evil and keeping balance in the world.  Heaven vs Hell.  One of the oldest stories there is.  But let’s not kid ourselves here.  This game is really about the loot.  It’s so satisfying to see gold and items spew from the body of dead foes.  And when you see a really rare piece drop, you really get excited.  However, my biggest issue with this game was a seemingly arbitrarily limited inventory space.  You could not carry much and your bank wasn’t that large, either.  That made for some difficult decisions when seeing that phat lootz drop on the play field.

To make inventory matters worse, the game had charms that had to stay in your inventory to have an effect.  Some of them only took up one inventory slot, but some took up three!  This may have been an annoyance, but it also really added to the depth of the game.  The result was keeping different sets of gear for different types of mobs.

This game features some awesome battles, great environments and graphics that are a bit out-dated now, but the game is still wildly popular and fun.  The soundtrack really adds to the tension in some areas.  The maps are different every time you play, too, so it feels different every time you play it.  If by some chance you’ve never played it, DO!