Diablo

Diablo is the name of a popular series of computer games which are loosely described as being "roleplaying" although they are often alternatively described as being "hack and slash". The aim is to kill a variety of demon minions and ultimately to defeat Diablo, raising levels, casting spells, finding and buying new weapons and armour and getting stronger.

Diablo I was essentially an entire dungeon underneath a church, although you could reach high level areas from various other entrances. In this way, it was similar to Angband, which in turn was based on Lord of the Rings (and various games that came out in the wake of Lord of the Rings). Angband has never been credited by Diablo's creators however.

Diablo I was criticised for being too evil, and scaring young children, because of the sheer graphic nature of the demons involved. Although players were fighting against demons, it was nonetheless thought to be bad for children. This of course ended up boosting sales.

Another major criticism of Diablo I was how easy it was to hack for internet play. Ultimately, when up against other players, players were almost forced to hack to get unique items or else they could not compete and would get killed.

Diablo II featured several demons, with new areas. Whilst there were small dungeons, it was mostly played on land. Diablo II also had a few more quests that were slightly more roleplaying than Diablo I, with some quests being required while others were optional. Diablo II also had skill trees, which meant that choices earlier on led to different skills opening up later.

Whilst Diablo II also had problems with hacking, one key advance was that you started afresh with a new character when you logged onto the internet, as opposed to in Diablo I when you imported a character from your game on your own computer. It was therefore a lot harder to hack. Furthermore, in Diablo II you could turn off player killing if you wanted to play cooperatively.

Both Diablo I and II featured unlimited internet play as part of the game's purchase.