PC- Torchlight Review

Torchlight- created by Runic Games- is like the bastard child of World of Warcraft’s style and Diablo’s action-RPG gameplay. As you probably tell; it sounds pretty good already. The thing that makes this more of an enjoyable dungeon crawling-loot-collecting romp is the fact that the guys that worked and slaved away at Blizzard’s cult RPG put their uses towards this new adventure and it doesn’t disappoint.
The story may not be grade A stuff, and could have been a lot thicker, suits its need. It directs you towards the next place to clear out of goblins and zombies. The plot consists of an ex-master betraying the apprentice and the character is caught up in the mess. Something about ember, the equivalent to say, coal, corrupting people and an evil master. It’s pretty generic and doesn’t set out to draw you into the world. The characters that litter the town of Torchlight are- again stupidly generic- quest giving and merchant NPCs. Alas that is all you are here for and Runic delivers.
The whole system has had a manicure and is much more fluid than Diablo. For those that don’t know what I’m on about here is a quick rundown of the little solution they have added:
In Diablo, you would collect an excessive amount of loot. You would then have to find a waypoint or use a town portal scroll to exit the area and return back to town to sell off whatever you might have discovered. This was a little bit of a pain- not a great one, but still. Now with the additions of the pet- either a dog or cat- and dungeon merchants, you can sell the loot at any point in time without having to waste those precious town portal scrolls. Torchlight as I see it is Diablo’s cousin with common sense.
The combat and gameplay hasn’t really changed much since 2000. Run around, kill everything in sight, loot and repeat. Sounds boring don’t it? Not so. You’ll find yourself in epic battles against hordes of dragons and spiders, clusters of trolls and zombies and then a boss fight every five or so floors to mix things up a bit. The choice of characters you can take the role of ranges from the Destroyer, a melee focused attacker, The Vanquisher, a ranged expert who can use the many guns and crossbows that litter the areas or the Alchemist, the magician. To expert players of Diablo from the past, you will find this adventure incredibly easy on a normal difficulty. But to those that enjoy a challenge you have the option of hardcore mode to go along with those more difficult selections. Hardcore mode involves a permanent death and increasingly tough enemies. Death in this game isn’t a huge worry, as you have 3 options. Spawn at that place but lose experience and fame, spawn at the start of the floor, but lose gold, or spawn in Torchlight Town. These selections make the game easier on new comers but more like a guilty choice for avid fans of this acquired taste. The dog and cat add even more help. As well as them being equipped with their own pack for items, they can learn spells and wear rings and necklaces to improve on their abilities. Oh and they cannot die; they flee to a corner and regain health there. You can also catch fish to either sell or transform your pet into a killing machine from the opposite faction. I also feel that the Destroyer- much like the Barbarian- is the way to go. The Vanquisher seems sluggish and the Alchemist is for those with patience and expertise in that sort of magic skills. The Destroyer runs in and slaughters all with his mighty melee attacks. I found it to be most enjoyable, but it really is up to the player’s choice as to which way he or she wants to go forth and adventure.
The graphics have the same effect as World of Warcraft- they will never age entirely. With the cartoony effect, it has an advantage over a more realistic looking game- like Uncharted. As a more realistic game ages, more and more improvements arrive on the scene making it look old and outdated. Battlefield is a prime example. But with World of Warcraft and Torchlight, the exaggerated looks and vivid colours will make it look perfectly fine in five or ten years in the future. (WoW in fact has proved this as it turned five the other week.) The particle effects and characters look fun, menacing and overall a joy to look at. Even on a lower setting of graphics etc, it looks near enough identical. Just a little less sharp.
Overall, the game is a lot of fun and levelling up and adding new skills to your character is still as much fun as it can be. It’s an acquired taste and if you don’t like seeing numbers, and continually searching for new armour and trekking through dungeon after dungeon, you won’t much fun here. The game still needed a stronger story line than what it has, but it isn’t bothersome. I also feel that the Destroyer- much like the Barbarian- is the way to go. The Vanquisher seems sluggish and the Alchemist is for those with patience and expertise in that sort of magic skills. The Destroyer runs in and slaughters all with his mighty melee attacks. I found it to be most enjoyable, but it really is up to the player’s choice as to which way he or she wants to go forth and adventure. It was really enjoyable and with the short main quest leaving much more time to have with the deep side-quests and secret dungeons, I think you and I will be playing for a long time.