Diablo came out in the mid 90's to rave reviews and newly found addiction from PC gamers everywhere. I got my own copy (still the original) and found the game to be a refreshing switch from other games I was goofing off with at the time. Diablo's premise is that you enter the town of Tristram to defeat an evil that has sprung up out of nowhere and resides in dark places below the village. The graphics for the time were pretty good albeit grainy and dark by today's standards. The characters you could play as were all great although the only real difference between them (Magician, Warrior, Rogue) were the starting stats, and even your Warrior could learn spells (same as the Magician) provided he found enough books and skill levels, the Magician could do much the same with Warrior weapons, provided the player put points into Strength and Dexterity. The plot to be honest was a bit ho-hum, go down, hack and slash, and rescue some kid while defeating monsters with thier own story and lore, which oddly I found no interest in. To make matters worse the singleplayer game went much quicker than multiplayer and so a shorter game is less apt to hold your attention span. But it's real value came when adventuring with friends either by internet or modem (yeah, people did modem to modem gaming back then...unreal ;) ) and it was in this way the game became unbelievably addictive as hours long searches in dungeons for the best weapons and equipment became a pastime.

Diablo II was the much ballyhooed and awaited sequel in gaming history at the time. The game saw a few delays getting out of production (usually a surefire sign a game will be a dud) but turned into solid gold. In every single way an improvement over it's forebear. And the plot was outstanding! The music, atmosphere, the weapons and armor you could find...what was there to *not* be liked about the game? The story has you following the previous game's hero (the plot assumes it was the Warrior) and watches his downward spiral as he travels east towards the place of Diablo's rebirth, releasing mayhem as he moves. Besides special missions that give you permanent stat upgrades and named items you have a gigantic choice of places to explore, there are runes and gems that you can drop into weapons and armor, giving them custom upgrades.

D2: Lord of Destruction follows the path of the last bad guy, the Lord of Destruction, into the frozen lands of the north, homeland of the Barbarian. This expansion gets a lot of mixed reviews, but personally I like it. The music, locales, and especially the amazing experience one can get just by going through the expansion once is not to be ignored. Plus super customized "named" armor that you make by having certain rare runes is definitely a bonus beyond words.

Online play is fun but with so many hacked items it's simply better to go it alone and try and get some good stuff that's legit, a real sign of respectability these days. The game is very addictive and you'll find yourself going back to it again and again. Try it out and see :)