Imagine a game sequel that fixes all the bad stuff in the first installment and makes improvements, but doesn't change or ruin all the things that made the game great initially. Basically, that's Diablo II in a nutshell. Graphics are actually not much changed, although level size and detail went up from the first Diablo. The environmental effects and lighting are great eye candy. Diablo was flat beyond the monsters, magic and level design. In Diablo II, you'll see pillars and rocks cast shadows, rainfall and lightning flashes outside, and the computer animation is much slicker.

Music didn't change much, and why should it? Diablo had tunes that set the mood but didn't grate nerves, and this music is in exactly the same vein.

Gameplay is something that didn't need tampering with, and Blizzard was wise enough to take the hint. One issue with Diablo was level design. Random dungeon generation aside, there wasn't much variety between dungeons in the first game. This time, the quests and gameplay are much more varied, mostly because the locations (while still random) are a mix of dungeons and outside adventure. The outdoor settings are nice, and even though the quests are still 'kill this' or 'get that,' I loved the scenery changes, cool monsters and improved strategy.

Some people complained when Diablo II came out that by taking away the 'save anywhere' feature of Diablo and setting up dungeons to repopulate, Blizzard was weighting gameplay toward multi-player. My take on this is, 'So What?' Part of the difference in gameplay comes from how difficulty is scaled in single player. Instead of choosing difficulty, you start on an easy setting. Without repopulating dungeons, the first go-through would be pretty boring. Also, without 'save anywhere,' you're forced to find a Waypoint. These are teleport pads to be discovered and stored for later use, a handy way to escape dungeons or move to a quest location in a hurry.

Character building improved greatly for Diablo II. The idea of distributing points hasn't changed much, but Blizzard added different 'evolutions' to characters. For instance, you can put 'skill points' into mastering different weapons and attacks, instead of just into general categories like Strength, Vitality, etc. The end result is a character that, if built right, uses certain weapons with more skill, and actually has a slant for different armor, accessories, magic and play styles. Some items are even slotted for gemstones, and can be upgraded. The full system is way too deep to go into here, but believe me when I say it's addictive.

Moving ahead is accomplished by gaining experience and completing quests, but very early in the game you can hire NPCs to fight alongside you. One character, the Necromancer, even has the ability to animate dead monsters as allies, which is a creepy skill. Multi-player jumped up several notches on Battle.net with Realms, something that wasn't present in the first Diablo. The concept is that instead of creating a game from the outside or bringing a character in, you play on a Blizzard server. This way, you never worry about cheats or hacked characters, and the only downside is that a character isn't transferable, even between other Realms. In any Realm, a character is either Normal or Hardcore. As the name sounds, Hardcore characters are not for the weak of heart. If a Hardcore character dies, she is totally gone. No resurrection, so just see how long you can last. Free-for-all Open Games are still available, along with TCP/IP, but 'spawning' CDs to play with your friends is gone because Diablo II is just too damn huge!

Difficulty is one category that approaches 'wish they hadn't changed that' territory for me. In Diablo, you chose the difficulty from the beginning, but in Diablo II it's chosen for you. This is nice for people who have never played the game before and need to get the hang of things, but for more seasoned players, the early stage may seem too easy. I think it's a smart move on Blizzard's part, considering how much character development was tweaked. They attempted to balance the difficulty by exchanging Waypoints for 'save anywhere,' repopulating dungeons and making it so that when you die, you have to go back to fetch your body. Even though I like being able to try different settings out of the box, earning the tough stuff increases replay value.

One thing that improves managing your character is the items system. Instead of just dropping items on the ground in town, Diablo II has a Stash Chest used to store gold or other trinkets. When buying items, the system is different, but better. Instead of just seeing the names, you get to pick and choose by looking at the weapons, armor or items. Buying is more of a drag-and-drop proposition this time around.

The items you find are about the same, although Blizzard improved the idea of 'Set Items.' This was present in Diablo, where you'd find 'Shield of Rom,' 'Hat of Rom,' etc., but there wasn't a direct link other than knowing that everything had similar powers or qualities. This time, if you find one Set Item, examining it in the Inventory Menu shows you the other items needed to complete the set. It's sort of a mini-quest thing... Menus work better now, thanks to a toolbar that lets you pull up various menus quickly. Also, along with mapping number-keys to small items like potions and scrolls, there's a belt with additional storage. It's these little touches that make Diablo II so much stronger than the first game, and show Blizzard's talent for design.

Building up character skills is done through a tree system. Sometimes one skill depends on another, but other times you can develop several skills at once, and build on them as you go. I don't think anyone recommends spreading points too thinly; like any good RPG, it's important to decide who you want to be and distribute points accordingly. Otherwise you end up with a well-rounded character that gets his ass kicked. Some skills are activated through special commands, but others are available all the time.

Control through the mouse and keyboard is handled much the same way as it was in Diablo. For Mac users, the right-click is managed through Control-Click, but it's not hard to get used to. One nice control addition is that when you left-click on an enemy to attack and you're using a character who doesn't know ranged attacks, all you have to do is hold down the button and your character will keep following the monster and attacking. This sort of worked in the first game, but you ended up clicking and clicking like a madman to chase down the fast monsters. No more...

Diablo II has everything you wished had been there in Diablo, but with all the new additions, nothing vital has been hacked away or lost. It's really great to see a company put such time into making a quality game, but do we expect anything less from Blizzard? Go buy Diablo II! You won't be disappointed.