My Rating: 9.8 / 10

Playing Diablo happily on my computer, I figured nothing would come out that could top Diablo.  A few games came close, Age of Empires, Starcraft, Counter-Strike, but nothing really came close.  Then my step-brother hands me a Diablo 2 Beta CD.  I popped that bad boy in the CD Drive and played away for hours.  From that day up until release, I was hooked on that beta, and even more so the game when it was released.  Bigger world, more items, more enemies, and about ten times as fun as Diablo.  A dream come true.  Played this game for many long years, it was probably the sole cause of my grades slipping throughout junior high.

My Rating: 9.2 / 10

Diablo II is an awe-inspiring game that has stood over a decade as one of the most played games on the internet. The gameplay is seamless, integrating the best elements of its precursor with a plethora of both much-needed and insightful changes. The sound effects are gorgeous and engrossing, and the ambiance throughout the background steeps the world in a grave mystery. While the graphics are jaded in terms of today's standards, there are many gems that are to be admired. The plot is about as much as you could expected from an MORPG, and is truly vindicated with its incredible re-playability.

That said, there are a couple of caveats that leave something (albeit quite little) to be desire. There is not really much of a musical score that could be rated, and the audio gets repetitive after too long. Also, the mini-map feature seemed cumbersome and blocky, and often got in the way of how nice the scenes actually looked.

The cons are more nit-picking than anything; it's hard to dig at this game, and even after moving on to various games, I find myself dusting off the discs time and again to vanquish Diablo and his brothers.