Since Steam, or 2K, or Gearbox have decided that announced release dates for Borderlands don't really matter, I've been forced to take my looting elsewhere. What better place than Torchlight, the new Diablo clone made by some of the same guys who worked on Diablo and who now call themselves Runic.
 
At first, I was a bit sceptical about the game, I usually don't enjoy clones. But Diablo is the game that got me back into gaming those many years ago...it made me buy my first PC, for crying out loud ! Also, this kind of game is becoming a genre in itself, so...yes, I love clicking and watching animations unfold.
I played for a couple of hours and if it wasn't for my need to get some sleep, I could be up all night still playing. On some level, this kind of gameplay is less complex than, say, Peggle, and yet it has the same addictive quality. And, of course, looting, wich is what the game is all about. And there is a lot of it. Two hours in and I'm already filling my stash with stuff that I won't use but...I just wan't to keep a little longer. One of the nice things they did was to create a secondary shared stash, wich I can fill with sutff for other characters I will create. It's already filled with interesting staffs for my future mage.
 
Another detail I loved was the music, composed by Matt Uelmen, who wrote the original material for Diablo, wich is my favourite soundtrack of all time. It's all there, heavy percussion and wicked guitars. Love it. Also, if you're a big fan of the soundtrack, you can get all the tracks from the installation folder of the game, pretty simple to find and copy. Should be pretty easy to mod your own music into the game, I guess...
 
I won't get into gameplay much because if you ever played Diablo, you know all there is to know. Get quests, kill beasts, collect loot, level up, learn new skills, repeat.
 
I admit that at first I wasn't much into the artstyle but it grew on me and I don't mind it anymore. Despite being cartoony in a Warcraft 3 kind of way, it looks pretty good and has some steampunky influences that actually make it more unique than your traditional fantasy setting.I'm carrying pistols and rifles !
You can pause the game at anytime and it makes the camera rotate around your character, nice to see all the stuff you're getting in the dungeons.
I also appreciate that fact that this style of art allows them to keep game assets smooth on your PC and that means you can play this game on pretty much ANY computer you have lying around. That's a wise decision on Runic's part.
 
There are only 3 character classes to choose from and nothing really bold there, you got your fighter, your ranged class and your mage. Pretty clichéd, but it also matches the philosophy of keeping it simple.
 
One of the things I miss is having some open areas, as far as I know, it's all dungeons in this one. Would be nice to have some of those desert- or jungle-styled levels. Maybe in the future expansion packs ?
 
Well, here's how I see it: for 20 bucks, if you're into this kind of game, please go buy it. Give the guys at Runic a chance to expand this project, because they made a pretty good game, for a fair price, that will run on any machine and keep you entertained. It looks good, it plays very well and sounds excellent.
I respect their vision for the game and would like to see them succeed.
 And you know, you'll probably play Diablo III with your grandchildren when it comes out, so...get some good looting now. Life's too short.