Torchlight 2 Review
Torchlight 2 is an action rpg developed by Runic Games and published by Perfect World. The game was released also on Steam and will be available for Mac OS sometime after release. Torchlight 2’s biggest feature is that now features peer to peer multiplayer. Is this added multiplayer feature enough to make Torchlight 2 complete with king of the action rpg genre Diablo 3?
Story
The story in Torchlight 2 is the weakest aspect of this game unfortunately. The story takes place years after the end of Torchlight. The Alchemist from the first game is corrupted by the Ember Blight and this causes the corruption to destroy the original town from the first game. You play as one of four new classes on a mission to stop the Alchemist and restore the world back to normal. The major problem with Torchlight 2’s story is the methods in which the story is told. Traditionally point and click action rpgs are not one of the best genres for storytelling but Diablo 3 showed that a good story can be told. The lessons that Diablo 3 learned from Diablo 2 is apparent in the mistakes that Torchlight 2 made in their story. In Diablo 3 story is told through commentary between the followers and lore found throughout the world. All the dialogue is fully voiced and the cut scenes in between Acts are some of the best CGI cut scenes I have ever seen. Whereas Torchlight 2, being a $20 game you can see that the budget focused mainly on the art assets and gameplay mechanics. Torchlight 2 much like Diablo 2 tells its story through text spoken from quest giving NPCs. For this reason it is hard to follow the story and I often skipped through most of the dialogue opting to just focus on the task at hand. Not to mention the cut scenes produced by Klei Entertainment, developer of the Shank series, were often less than a minute long and the audio cut out frequently. I would of rather that Torchlight 2 implement some of the story techniques introduced in Diablo 3 or forgo telling a story at all.
Graphics
The graphics in Torchlight 2 are fantastic. The cartoony art style is very reminiscent of World of Warcraft. I love that the game runs great on a variety of systems. Like the original there is even a netbook mode which is optimized for low performing systems. Unlike the original though, it is much more varied in the environments that you visit. The first Torchlight consisted of only one hub town and dungeons underneath the town. In Torchlight 2, there are now wide open areas where you visit environments containing snow, deserts, haunted forests, and mines. In all, Torchlight 2 is a great alternative if your system cannot run Diablo 3.
Gameplay
Without stating the obvious, Torchlight 2 plays much like the Diablo Series. You have four classes the Outlander, Embermage, Berserker, and Engineer. The Outlander uses ranged weapons like pistols, shotguns,rifles, and bows. He/she also uses a Magical Glaive that you can level up with different elemental properties. This is the main character that I played and by the end of the game I enjoyed using my Glaive to take out enemies with explosive fire damage. The Embermage is the traditional mage class that focuses on three elemental trees: inferno, frost, and storm. The Berserker is the melee focused class which utilizes claws, light elemental magic, and animal spirits to rip through his/her enemies. Lastly, the Engineer uses large two-handed hammers, can construct robots to heal or attack enemies, he/she can throw down spider mines, and use a huge cannon for when you want to get up close and personal. With these four classes you basically run around dungeons and open areas killing monsters, leveling up your skills, and collecting and equipping loot. With that said though there are some minor differences that distinguish the two. First off the bat ,Torchlight 2 is more Diablo 2 than Diablo 3 is. What I mean by this is that when you level up unlike Diablo 3, you pick the skills that you want to equip and allocate points into traditional rpg areas like strength, magic, dexterity, and health. Other small changes include mana potions rather than regenerating mana bars, having to buy identity scrolls rather then just right licking on the item, and buying town portals rather than one that is always equipped with a cooldown. These differences in my opinion are what set the game apart and make Diablo 3 a much more evolved and streamlined experience. I think many traditional fans will find Torchlight 2 to be the spiritual successor to Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 as a more modern experience. One difference that I do enjoy in the Torchlight series over Diablo 3 though is the new improved pet system. Pets have the ability to sell items and now they make a shopping lists of health and mana potions,identity scrolls, and town portals to bring back to you while you continue to fight. Pets also have the ability to turn into different animals if you feed them particular fish such as spider or dinosaur. While I enjoyed the commentary of followers in Diablo 3, ultimately the pet system in Torchlight 2 is better because you bring your pets into a multiplayer game and you do not need to return to town as much. Other great additions include the ability to customize your character male or female, epic boss fights, tons of different types of enemies, and a great enchantment system. Not to mention Torchlight 2 gets rid of the annoying need to visit a blacksmith for broken armor. I think what also sets Torchlight 2 apart is great dungeon design and great loot drops. The best dungeon in the game is called the Luminous Area because it is an arena where you fight a bunch of previous bosses and the floors rise from the air similar to the game Bastion. Also, loot in Torchlight 2 is a lot more frequent and useful compared to Diablo 3. I was getting new gear every 15-30 minutes where in Diablo 3 in seems like it was designed for you to get the best gear from the auction house. Overall, Torchlight 2's gameplay may not be as streamlined as Diablo 3 but Runic made enough smart decisions to make it more accessible to modern gamers while retaining what makes action rpgs great in the first place.
Features
Torchlight 2 is probably the most bang for your buck in a $20 downloadable title in the history of video games. The main story mode comes in at around 20-25 hours with three full acts. After you beat the game there is a new game plus where you can level your characters up to level 100. With four classes to choose from and tons of side missions to complete, you will be playing Torchlight 2 for a long time. Not to mention there is six player co-op online, offline single player, and LAN support. Also unlike Diablo 3, Torchlight to has mod support through Steam Workshop allowing for almost unlimited replayability thanks to all the user generated content. For $20 this game is an absolute steal.
Conclusion
Torchlight 2 and Diablo 3 have many different design philosophies that gamers will either hate one or the other for or respect both for being great games. In general Diablo 3 is more cinematic story focused,polished, streamlined, and closed experience. Torchlight 2 is a more traditional Diablo experience, with some modern nuances. The ability to play the game offline, LAN support, and mods ultimately makes Torchlight 2 a more open experience in the end. If I had pick one that was better though I would have to give the nudge to Diablo 3 simply because the storytelling is miles better than Torchlight 2. Other differences are only small compared the huge amount-able similarities in the way both games play. In conclusion, just because you like one games' systems over the other don't let that prevent you from playing two of the best action rpgs to ever hit the point and click genre.
Score: 9/10
Buy: The game is twenty dollars. Are you kidding me?
Link: https://sites.google.com/site/not2nerdyent/Reviews/Reviews-2/torchlight2review
Walkthrough: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2T7GS9p4owMYhyvYYjCpzY2K5ZRIPqXn&feature=plcp
