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minilogo Torchlight

Review published 19th November 2009, 20:24 by DY357LX and last updated 24th November 2009, 19:45
This game got a score of 5 out of 10

Pete Reviews Torchlight And Then Ruins It For Himself.

It's not Diablo 2... it just looks A LOT like it.
article_main TORCHLIGHT REVIEW: This all looks oddly familiar...

OVERVIEW:
Torchlight is a top-down Role Playing Game that's developed by several
members of the team that brought us Diablo 2... and you can tell.
Torchlight is available on Steam and Direct2Drive now with a retail version
hitting in January 2010.
The similarities to Diablo 2 and Dungeon Siege are insane. I keep expecting
Torchlight to removed from Steam at any moment due to a Copyright Infringement
claims by Blizzard and/or Microsoft's' Gas Powered Games.

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You'll see lots of familiar items such as "Scroll of Town Portal" and "Scroll
of Identity" in Torchlight. And it's a real shame because this game could have
been a great one if it weren't for the blatant plagiarizing.

At the start of the game you're asked to choose between one of three classes.
The warrior-type, the caster-type and the hunter-type. You choose the one
that suits your play style, enter your name and then choose a pet.
The pet is nothing more than a gimmick. It's a GOOD gimmick but it's still a
gimmick! Your pet will fight in combat with you (you get to choose a cat or
a dog, this is purely a cosmetic option and doesn't affect the pets abilities
in combat) but the best part about having a pet is sending it back to town.
Your bags will fill up with various potions and other junk pretty quickly, so
you can put them in your pets bags and then click the "SEND TO TOWN" button.
Your pet will leave your side for a few minutes, sell all the crap to a vendor
and then return with your gold. Pretty handy! Weather the pet takes commission is
unclear.

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GAMEPLAY: 5/10
Same as Diablo 2 and Dungeon really. You right-click to attack or move to that
location. Left-click to use levers or doors or chests or whatever. You'll spend
your time gaming with your left hand over the 1 and 2 keys (Health and Mana potion
shortcuts) and your right-hand casting/attacking via the mouse buttons.
It's easy to master but mostly pretty dull.

GRAPHICS: 7/10
Once again, this is a slightly more souped up version of Diablo and Dungeon Siege. But
you'll spend a lot of time underground, in mines, caves and labyrinths.
The only time you'll see anything fancy is in the form of a new spell that takes up
half the room. Saying that, the bosses can be very big and imposing and they do look quite good.
Sadly, all sense of respect for them is lost when you realize just how easy they are to
kill using the same tactics as the last boss.

SOUND: 3/10
I started to hear music in this game that I was convinced I'd heard in Diablo 2.
I tried to ignore it but then the music got duller and ended up being pretty awful.
So I launched WinAmp in the background and set about killing to my own music instead.
Terrible.

LIFESPAN / VALUE FOR MONEY: 7/10
I thought this game would be pretty short, especially considering it's only 900meg
or so. But I eventually ruined it for myself 6 hours in when I realized I could mess
with the games memory and give myself unlimited stats and gold. (PIC 1 + PIC 2)
I want to say it's worth buying and supporting the developer... but I'd be encouraging
people to steal and rip-off other people's work. There really is no originality here.
There WAS plenty more to see and do, I simply didn't feel the urge to. The story had
been slow-paced and the characters didn't seem to care (or even know) what was going on.
Some multiplayer elements would have been nice but if the game is struggling to keep
one persons attention, I doubt it'll have much luck with two gamers.
I guess that sums up this game quite nicely, easy to pick up for 30 minutes... instantly forgettable.
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