I need some loot, duder.
Action RPGs in the vein of Diablo are missing on the console side. We got a few entries last generation with Baldur’s Gate and Champions of Norrath. Aside from Arkadian Warriors and Sacred 2 the genre has been off the grid on Xbox 360. Now some of the minds that brought you Diablo, Runic Games, have ported their 2009 surprise gem to XBLA.
If you found your way to this review, you’re probably aware that the PC centric title is the current poster child for dungeon crawlers. Not to bring up Diablo in a Torchlight review a million times. But hey, we need more than one franchise that’s worth a damn, right? Torchlight on the PC follows the same UI formula most PC RPGS utilize. There’s an action bar at the bottom for all your attacks, hot keys for potions, and about a million menus to navigate all the armor, weapons, abilities, and stats you’ll have to manage.
That sounds like a lot. Shockingly, this console iteration is fairly successful in delivering a clean an intuitive design that will hopefully entice more developers to make more games that satisfy my endless hunger for loot. It isn’t a perfect system. The menus are hard to get used to, and you have only 6 hotkey abilities at a time due to being limited by a controller. You can however compensate. The game allows you to create multiple hot key bars you can swap with the d pad. It works, but still can’t match a keyboard. However, it felt completely natural after about an hour of playtime.
Lets break Torchlight down. You chose between a ranged fighter, warrior, or mage and are dropped into the town of, err…Torchlight. Like the first Diablo (damn, mentioned it again!), you’ll transverse through a single dungeon and hang out in a hub town instead of exploring a world. Don’t let that scare you off. You’ll be fighting through jungles, ice caverns, volcanoes, and castles, despite technically being in the same location. Torchlight’s biggest plus is its diversity in environments.
Torchlight isn’t here to tell a story. The plot is next to nonexistent and most people probably won’t care for the little narrative that exists. This game was built in 9 months from the ground up, more important stuff like loot needed to be made. That’s what this game is all about, loot. Every encounter rewards you with new boots or gold, or…something. It’s rare I went 15 minutes without replacing a piece of my gear. There’s multiple tiers of loot that anyone coming from World of Warcraft will be familiar with. You got your greens, purples, oranges, and so on. Getting gear is super exciting and have many avenues for upgrading through gems.
Torchlight is an amazing game. It looks great, it’s addicting, and scratches that loot itch. The question is if it’s great on consoles. Chances are your computer can run this game. The PC version is the superior platform due to control and the console version’s framerate can dip in larger encounters. The novelty of playing this type of game on the couch is really cool. The console version is still very fun and enjoyable from start to finish. It’s a matter of preference. The real downer is the lack of co-op in both versions, but we’ll just have to wait for Torchlight II.
The quest for loot is as fun an addicting as it gets. It can be lonely. Torchlight is a great game to sit back, relax, and play. For those who don’t mind questing alone and haven’t already done it on the PC, this is a must buy. Or you can go play Too Human, if you want. Every fan of this genre won't regret checking this one out weither it's on the console or PC.
