Every RPG that has been made after Diablo 2 launched back in 2000, has in some way or other been compared to the great RPG in the sky.  Every developer has either strived to emulate Diablo 2’s success by making RPGs with similar mechanics or tried to “shake up the genre” by putting in radically different elements, but even those developers were doing so because of Diablo 2.

Make no mistake; Diablo 2 is a high bar to succeed, even for the company that made that very game.  Many games have come close, but just like Counter-Strike is for the FPS genre, Diablo 2 represents as close to perfection as we can come to a computer game about clicking things till they died and collecting loot compulsively.

With Diablo 3 soon set to descend onto our computers and steal our souls, I’ve had a go in the open beta.  Here is what I think and how it holds up to its holy older brother.  Continue reading →