Diablo (Sony PlayStation 1, 1998)

In 1998 game creators of Blizzard created a multi-platform (PS/PC) game called Diablo, and in later years Diablo 2 and more. Diablo's unique level set-up allows a player, or players (2 on PS and 4 on PC online), to fight the seemingly endless armies of demons and undead from hell as they make their way to the final boss; DIABLO, the Lord of Terror. In this edition a unique concept was made so every time the game was played different levels, and random quests would be presented to the players as well as 3 modes of game play (Normal, Nightmare, and HELL). The random level creator, also found in the later editions, was beyond compair at the time. This method made the game's 'Replay Value' far higher than most games created to this point. Even today (2006), Battle.Net still homes well over 25,000 players for Daiblo (Sorry players, Battle.Net is PC only). However, the new 2-Player set-up allows the multi-player aspec to live on in this edition of Diablo. Bravo to all at Blizzard for this wonderful installment and GAME ON to all you gamers! (5 of 5, Excellent)

-Review by, Rowen Edogawa (nick name)

Diablo, one of the most successful games ever created found its way to the Playstation. I managed to pick up this game when it was still relatively cheap.
Let me say that was the best $18 I ever spent.
Assuming the role of one of three characters one must battle their way down to the bottom of a labyrinthine maze to destroy the Lord of Terror, Diablo. This massive monstrosity has corrupted and killed many and has taken over the small burg of Tristram and the locals have turned to you for help. The citizens of Tristram are a helpful sort offering all kinds of services and items to help you rid the land of Diablo's influence.
On the note of Diablo's influence he has several types of minions guarding every floor of the labyrinth and it goes without saying that they won't go down easy if at all. It should be noted that this game is incredibly difficult in some places and its quite easy to be surrounded and mauled to death before you can blink especially in the last floors where the monsters are the toughest.
Overall, Diablo is an excellent game for people who love hack and slash games or even RPG's in general. It's a solid experience and if you haven't tried it you really should. Keep in mind though, it won't be a walk in the park though. ;)

Any fan of the Diablo franchise who also happens to own a PS1 (or PS2) can find good use of this game, even if you own the version for PC. There are subtle differences between the two versions of the game, and I enjoy them both.

However, the biggest and most annoying drawback that the PS version has is the lack of buttons available to perform all of the actions in the game. A PC obviously offers a full keyboard, but the Playstation only has its simple controller with only so many buttons to cram all of the functions of the game on it. If you get this game on PS, as I did, you may go crazy for a couple days trying to arrange the button configuration in such a way where it has everything you need on it, and then you have to remember which button you associated with what action. Because EVERY button will be occupied, guaranteed. But there will inevitably be a function that you'd like to use that you couldn't manage to squeeze into the control configuration, so you'll have to regularly go back and forth between the game and the options menu to activate any funtion that you want to use that you couldn't fit onto the controller. My friends, at times this can be considerably annoying.

Also, don't expect the kind of rich details that you enjoy on the PC version. The Playstation version of this game looks incredibly blurry. If you can, I'd recommend playing this game on a Playstation 2, which will more than likely increase the quality of the game by a few degrees. And you can play with your tv settings to get the most out of the picture. Its not unbearable, but at times you might be squinting your eyes because something on the screen is a little blurred.

Another thing, you'll probably truely loath the time it takes to save a game on the playstation version. With the PC, it was as simple as clicking "save game" and instantly you'd be returned to gameplay, data saved and all. And its also important to save in the Diablo world because we fans of these games know that a swarm of monsters can appear without warning and suddenly you're dead. So it definitely takes away from the game on the PS version when you have to save the game and then wait almost a whole minute for you to return to playing. If you're like me, you'll be so put off by how long it takes the game to save that you'll avoid saving altogether until you want to stop playing, but you'll suddenly die before that happens and then have to start from the beginning again, all your efforts lost - at which point you'll probably want to burst into tears.

In summation, if you can cope with the time it takes to master a workable controller configuration, can live with the fact that playstation 1 games are simply not as crispy clear as more modern games, and have the patience to wait a few moments each time you save your game - then this game can offer a fun new way to play with an old classic. And you'll also love that this version gives you the option of speeding up the characters' movements, which originally are devastatingly slow. So hey, the Playstation version isn't so bad after all :)

I grew up playing the original Diablo for the PC, and this is a very faithful port. It doesn't bring any new elements to the game, but it does switch things around in a few small places. Very fun to play through, especially with a friend.

There are only two reasons I only gave the game 4 stars. In multiplayer, you have to move on the same screen, because there is no split screen. This obviously can't be helped, and usually doesn't pose much of a problem, but it sometimes gets a little annoying. The other reason is that the aiming system is a little bit harder, since you have to use the directional pad, and once in a while I found that I had to move a few steps in order to hit a certain monster.

Altogether, this game is great, though. I'd recommend it for any Diablo or Hack and Slash/RPG fan.

I began playing this game on the pc when a friend let me borrow it, I instantly fell in love as it is very simple to play and fun as well. I don't really like all those rpgs that require you to have a healthy set of notes to self to play so this one was just right for my taste. after about four years of playing this game, I learned a version had been made for the ps1 and for a while this title was extremely hard to find. I am proud to own this game and would recommend it to anyone who might be interested in this genre. It's great for those cold winter days\nights when you have nothing to do. Thank you Blizzard for such a beloved game.