Torchlight – Game Review
Sometimes a game comes along that makes no bones about what it is and doesn’t care about making huge innovations. Torchlight, an action RPG with a similar style to Diablo, is one such game. While some may find another Diablo clone to be one too many, it should be mentioned that the game was developed by a number of former Blizzard employees who worked on Diablo and its sequel. Of course the real question is, “is this game simply another rip off or is it Diablo 2.5?”
For those unfamiliar with the gameplay in Diablo, it is a hack and slash RPG, where you control a character with the mouse in an isometric view. To attack you click on opponents and/or select abilities. As you progress you unlock new abilities and gear. Torchlight shares this style of gameplay. You can choose between three classes, each containing skills that can dramatically change your play style. The first is the destroyer, who is the standard warrior who specializes in doing massive melee damage. The alchemist is the resident spell caster, who can also summon minions. The vanquisher is the ranger, with the ability to fire magically treated arrows and bullets. One thing to note is all of the classes can use the various weapons, as long as their stats meet the requirements. The stats of the character are lacking, as there are only a few stats you can upgrade and depending on how you shape your class you may only be increasing two or three of them. While the characters don’t add too much depth, the pet you start with adds some interesting elements to the game. First and foremost the pet is an AI helper who can attack enemies and cast spells and wear accessories to boost their stats. Of course the greatest thing the pet does is serve as your personal pack mule. They can store additional items in their own separate inventory, but more than that, they can run the items back to town to sell and return with the profits. Having this feature may seem like a novelty to some, but to hardcore dungeon runners this is a godsend. While running back to town can be simple, as most games incorporate some sort of fast travel, it breaks the flow of the action. So instead of stopping your fighting every so often to run back to town, you can simply send your pet and keep pushing forward.
While the gameplay is more refined, the game does lack one thing that all other games of this type have that make them worth investing so much time into, and that is multiplayer. Without it the game can lose some of its fun, since you can’t share in the experience, but one thing people should note is that there will be a Torchlight Free-to-play MMO coming out in 2010, so all is not lost. Sadly we need it now rather than later. The other huge problem is for the hardcore gamers, the game is a little too easy. Of course this makes it a great introduction for younger or inexperienced gamers. Of course the greatest asset to the game is how low the system requirements are, so it is possible for inexperienced gamers to be able to experience the game without fear that it won’t run on their system. In fact, there is a netbook setting for those who want to play the game on a computer with even lower system specs.
Time for a rating. While the game does not have multiplayer, the price ($20 on steam) makes it worth it for hardcore Diablo fans who need their fix. Making it a definite cool. For others it is more of a cool- to a meh+, with great gameplay but not offering anything really new. Also if you absolutely need multiplayer you can wait for the MMO. Yet considering that Christmas is coming up, the price makes it a decent stocking stuffer for someone who has an older PC.
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