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Diablo

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7.8 User Score:

Universal acclaim

Based on 12 critic reviews
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Based on 74 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

Genre(s): Third-Person Action, Role-Playing Game

Players: 4

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: November 30, 1996

Summary

The kingdom of Khandaras has fallen into chaos. An unknown force of evil has swept across the land. Plunging it nto civil war and terrorizing the populace. A mad king, his missing son, and a mysterious archbishop are all pieces to the puzzle that faces you. You have journeyed to the source of the evil. The town of Tristram. Now inhabited by only a handful of survivors. The catherdal there is buildt over the ruins of an ancient monastary, and now eerie lights and sounds are heard echoing through its abandoned halls. Perhaps the answer lies withing the remains of a forgotten past... Diablo invites you to enter a world of dark gothic fantasy. Play as a brave warrior, cunning rogue or mysterious sorceror. As you venture deeper into the labyrinth, you'll discover weapons, armor, and magical treasures, and develop your character's skills and abilities. [Blizzard]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Diablo II Diablo II: Lord of Destruction

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central IGN Insider Guide

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Computer Gaming World

Diablo is the perfect example of a game that transcends its genre.

100

Game Revolution

The hundreds of beautifully rendered monstrosities, items and labyrinths will keep you on your toes for months. Blizzard is also one of the first software companies to offer FREE MULTI-PLAYER GAMING.

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100

Just Adventure

By far the shortest RPG I've ever played. Surprisingly, this may be one of its strengths. An RPG that only takes about thirty hours (or much less if you are experienced) to play is easy to play again. And Diablo has serious replayability virtues. [Grade = A+]

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100

Gamezilla!

Hands-down, the best game I've seen in years...The fantastic design, intuitive gameplay, spectacular graphics, inspired music and sound effects, sheer number of monsters and unique items, and the free Battle.net service put Diablo at a high level of excellence that future releases may never reach.

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100

Yahoo! Games

A feast of atmospheric entertainment. While it might tire after a while, you'll likely get your money's worth long before that point, and moreso if you venture into the chaos that is Battle.net, where life takes on a whole new meaning and the hours slip mysteriously away. Diablo is a landmark game.

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100

Adrenaline Vault

About as close to Hell as you're going to get - whether you believe in it or not. Everything about this game just rules and it will blow you away. The gameplay is the easiest I've ever come across in an RPG which is just fantastic.

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GameSpot

A title that combines the elegant simplicity of an action game and the addictive storyline of an adventure game with the personalization and exploratoration of an old-school RPG... The best game to come out in the past year, and you should own a copy. Period.

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PC Gamer

RPG fans have waited for this one for a long time, and they won't be disappointed. [March 1997, p.102]

PC Gameworld

For a highly addictive, replayable game, facing the Lord of Terror is somewhat of an anti-climax. Provided you've played as a Rogue and have the Bow of the Bear it's pretty simple to kill him off. Playing the Warrior though is a little harder.

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Electric Playground

While Diablo is easy to get into, it doesn't hold too much charm after you have put many hours into it. The action is not complex and can become very repetitive.

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Computer Games Magazine

Despite the rather pale storyline (at least within the game itself), watered-down quests and a fair amount of necessary repetition, Diablo is a must for anyone interested in "just plain fun." Action gamers and RPG-ers alike will be enthralled.

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All Game Guide

If you're looking for an action RPG with medieval roots and influences, dark and moody settings, and unique game play, then run to your nearest retailer and pick up a copy of Diablo!

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 74 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Crane gave it a10:
This game is quite a legend, i spent many days playing this title and i never got bored. Diablo hasn't got the best graphics especially these days, but the atmosphere is outstanding. Personally i don't understand guys that rated this game with 1 or 0. I suppose that they're a bunch of retards or kids jerking off in front of WoW or other dumm MMORPG. Hey boys! This game is not about lvling and and skilling your characters, it's about a great story and challange. I used to play Diablo several times with the same hero to get top items from other quests (quests are a bit random too). Every single time it was the same fun. Screw the mass shit, hail to the legend - DIABLO!

Steven H gave it a0:
A game about painstakingly maneuvering a cookie cutter character at 2 miles per hour through a dungeon, hopelessly attempting to hit guys that teleport away from you the second you reach them, and mashing buttons 1-8 to heal yourself from the 500 fireballs flying in your direction at every moment. Think "Raiden" or "Raptor" or something of that sort, only you move in slow motion and the enemies move in fast forward. Warrior is basically the only class that can survive the beating that you will no doubt endure because you can't manually dodge, the rogue is the only class that can successfully hit the enemies due to her ranged abilities, and the sorceror is just there as a comedy option basically. So essentially you have 3 broken derivative classes that have no hope of surviving the game, even if you do everything possible to level up, unless you use 1000 healing items and plenty of saving and loading in the process. Gameplay consists of clicking stuff, and standing around corners waiting to bonk enemies. A true classic.

William M gave it a9:
Its a real shame some people give this game a 0 or a 1 because of their hatred of a challenge. I can understand the frustration that Diablo can cause for new players, ESPECIALLY new RPG players. This older game does not coddle you in any way, and becasue of that many people may find the game "unplayable" For those people i would recomend perhaps Fable or one of the many other RPGs around that hold your hand the whole time. Now onto the game. Diablo for its time was unsurpased. I remember getting this game as a child and playing it for days and days, usually in a fit of rage because i had progressed to far down into the lvls before properly clearing them out therefor causing me to be underlvled and geared, BUT that's whats is so great about diablo. THere is no guard telling you to "TURN BACK YOU ARE TO WEAK!", no, instead you are faced with challenges. Graphics for the time were amazing but now of course are outdated, however they are decent enough where it is not distracting. The music is INCREDIBLE! One thing I will give Blizzard credit for is their AMAZING audio. The item system is great, the random item generation makes for a fun challenge to deck yourselft out, even main quest rewards are random, which can be disappointing when you get that nice new armor for your warrior that doesnt do much for him, however the game is easy enough to replay through and compile your gear. The only reason why I didnt give this game a 10 is the bugs. While mostly fixed now, infact last time I played through a year ago i didn't have any problems except random crashes (Vista didn't like it, had no problem on XP) The game originally shipped with some nasty bugs also blizzard was the first to discover the wonders of internet hacks and the horrible effects they had on their games. So, to summarize, If you like a challenging game where you are forced to actually use judgment and enjoy hack and slash rpgs, then diablo is for you! If you one of the masses(I'm talking to you, all you people who think Halo and GTA are amazing revolutionary games.) and you hate a game that will challenge you and let you fail then your better off playing Fable or WoW WOTLK.

Simon gave it a10:
Unbeatable atmosphere and storyline, combined with the best graphics of its day. Diablo was and is a true classic.

Ghast Master gave it a10:
I'm still playing diablo 11 years later... It's my favorite game of all time. It has great replay value, mood, and awesome item randomization. I wish more modern games would go back to the root of gaming and devolop a game like this with updated(not necessarily 3d) graphics and bug fixes. Diablo was rife with bugs. I would pay 1000 dollars for a decent game, but they don't make them too often. If Diablo was updated and they fixed the glitches/bugs, and kept the style but at the same time updated the graphics, I would pay 1000 dollars for it. Basically, if this game was remade today with all the new fancy technology, it would rate around 97. Cheers.

Michael U. gave it a1:
A terrible game. The only place that is safe is a very small town with around 10 people. The sorceror is useless because he can't recharge mana. He must buy potions to recharge it, and they are expensive like hell. The game is extremely hard to play, with a boss in the second level that could kill me in 3 or 4 hits. The ending is very short and makes you feel like you wasted all your time beating this stupid game. The levels are all underground and don't look much different from each other. They seemed to have made it very dark and gothic, yet it doesn't even scare you. Its a shame they made it this way, it has a great story, music, and ideas. Its hard to make a gothic game with a great story and let is go to waste, but Diablo rises to the challenge.

Griper gave it a0:
Diablo is hack and slash... done... well... better. No longer do you have long winded fights and few enemys to deal with (Or longwinded fights and MANY enemys to deal with) Diablo is made for quick and merciless slaughter... I look at these reviews and I see nolstalgic people, and retards. Neither are acceptable. Diablo isn't the GOD game, it doesn't trump all other games 12 years running... but it WAS good in it's era. Not great, GOOD... And Diablo isn't the WORST game, Graphics is only 1/10th of a game and Diablo pumped some impressive visuals at it's time. Now why would I rate something so low that I praise so highly? Because alll you nolstagic brats have gotten on my nerves. Diablo is not the God Game... it may have revolutionized the genre, but rating a game on it's historical footnotes alone is stupid.

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