I had pre-ordered Torchlight II (Runic Games©) a few months
ago, after seeing what Blizzard had
done to my beloved Diablo series of
action RPG’s. I’ve always been a firm believer that if you want to protest, you
should buy a competitor’s product. How about buying a product from the team
that brought us Diablo one and two in
the first place, practically inventing the action RPG? That sounded good to me.
It didn’t disappoint.
The first thing that struck me about the game was its graphics.
I’d seen the art style before in Torchlight,
but the visuals look so much more crisp and refined than they did in the
original. Not only is it a pretty look, but it makes it easy to see what’s
going on in those larger, more hectic battles. You’re ushered into the game via
a story-book sequence that pits the two of the first game’s heroes against the
bad guy, Ordrak, and explains why they aren’t the playable characters this time
around. It’s worth a watch, and gets all of that story nonsense out of the way
so that you can get to hacking, shooting and bashing your way through the
progression system.
Surprisingly, Runic chose not to deviate too heavily from
the tried & tested progression system in other RPG’s. You gain one or two
skill points each level that you can spend on skills. Putting enough points
into a skill will unlock its ‘tier bonus’, which gives it an additional perk,
making it a more useful skill than if it had gained X% damage alone.
There are four classes to choose from:
- The Berserker: Uses the spirits of animals to enhance his general combat strength. Generally played as a melee class.
- The Engineer: Uses tools and gadgets to both support his team mates and inflict heavy damage. Used as both a melee or a ranged class
- The Outlander: An explorer. Think of a rifle-toting scout with magical capabilities. Usually ranged
- The Embermage: Fire, Ice and Lightning. All we’re missing is brimstone. Not a unique class, but still interesting given how great the particle effects look. Usually ranged.
I chose to roll with the Berserker, who builds Fury with
each hit. Once the Fury bar fills up, you have a limited time in which you both
move faster and are guaranteed critical hits. Using a greatsword or hammer
while in this mode would allow me to one-shot the tightly clumped groups of
goblin-like creatures. In tougher fights, I would deal with the lesser minions
to build up my Fury, and then swing wildly at the boss before backing off
again. Each class has a mechanic like this that spices up the combat, and
changes the way you play on the fly. It gets you closer to the core of what
this type of game is about… smashing things to bits.
Another thing that Torchlight
II does well is its secret areas and challenges. Upon killing a ‘phase
wolf’, a portal opened that I blindly stumbled through. I was met with a
three-part challenge to kill waves of monsters, and the final prize was a
screen full of loot. This was not an isolated thing, though. A puzzle in a
bandit cave yielded another stash of goodies, and I would continually find
giant golden crabs that dropped keys that I needed to unlock golden chests. The
game really does reward you for exploring, rather than the old map exploration
system that was more like a scratch card; scrubbing away until you found what
you needed, and then leaving the rest untouched.
What’s more? The game is playable both in multiplayer LAN
and offline single player mode, as well as the expected hot-join multiplayer.
No relying on servers to hold their own, and no restrictions to your gameplay
experience.
Where does it fall short? If you were looking for a game
that overhauls the action RPG, you’re looking in the wrong place with Torchlight II. Also, you can only get it
through Steam, and some people don’t
like using Valve’s service. Other than that, you’re getting a polished, fast
paced, beautifully crafted action RPG with mod support (to come soon) and
generous multiplayer features, all for less than £20.
