N-Philes

PC REVIEW – Torchlight

Posted November 19th 2009 by Adam Glasgow.

As a cynical twenty-something who was born when Ronald Reagan was in office, it sometimes seems difficult to find things to not hate. Typically, budget priced games that are easily classified as clones of a previously successful game fall squarely on the "hatred" side of my existence. Luckily for the video game industry, my sanity, and the delicate balance of the universe, Torchlight kicks enough ass to not only avoid falling into the "hatred" category, it also manages to slide right past "indifference" and "passable" and right onto the short list of "things that I think are awesome," right next to ice cream and sleeping past noon.

The first thing any seasoned nerd will notice about Torchlight is that it's kind of like Diablo. And when I say kind of, I of course mean that the game should practically be part of the Diablo franchise. Normally playing a game that so clearly emulates another game would annoy me, but this one is a little different. The studio that developed Torchlight was founded by a handful of guys who practically built Blizzard North, and who developed Diablo and its sequel. So it's really less of a rip off and more like a cousin to the series, at points even feeling like an identical twin. The town portals, scrolls of identification, mana potions, and many of the sound effects will make you feel like you're playing a long lost installment of the absurdly addictive franchise.

Typically getting things going in these types of games is the worst part. Your character is a total wimp, you're dying all the time - constantly having to run back and forth to town to get healed up, and you're trying to fight off imps and demons with some crappy twig or butter knife that the game claims is a sword. Torchlight skips this laborious phase and allows you to kick some serious ass right away. This could very well have been a bad move - it's easy to imagine this causing you to feel little progress. If your character is immediately powerful, where is there to go, after all? Luckily this bullet is dodged; you simply begin the game as a capable character and end up being insanely powerful instead of fighting like a four year old at first and ending up being insanely powerful.

Another example is the addition of a pet for your character. When you choose your class at the start of the game you also pick what kind of pet you want; either a wolf-like dog or lion-like cat. After naming your ferocious friend a vicious name, he becomes your constant companion. Take for example, my pet dog. Fluffles fights with me, can be taught spells, has his own inventory, and can even wear some types of equipment to make him more powerful. If I'm in the midst of a dungeon but have acquired too much loot, I can load him up and send him to town. I will have to fight alone for a brief amount of time, but before long he will return with an empty inventory and a nice sum of gold. This seemingly simple idea practically eliminates the worst part of dungeon crawlers – constant trips to town.

One more of the many things that makes me want to fellate the hell out of the game is the music. Matt Uelmen, the musician who scored both Diablo games, Starcraft, and the World of Warcraft expansion pack has put together my favorite soundtrack of his since the original Diablo. Coming from me this is saying something, since thirteen years after its release the music from Diablo is still running around in my mind.

I imagine by this point it should be pretty clear that I like this game, but there are a few things to be aware of before you drop your twenty bucks on it. Brace yourself for this one. There is no multi-player in Torchlight, at least not yet. The master plan from Runic Games is to take the profits from the reasonably priced game and put them towards a free Torchlight MMO due out some time in the future. So while it sucks that for now the game has to be played alone, it's a problem that will end up being remedied.

The art style is on the cartoony side, which will be cool for some but may irk others. In particular, it's easy to imagine it annoying the same types of people who think Diablo III isn't grey enough. There are no burning crosses, no pentagrams drawn in blood, no topless succubi. If these are the types of things that you require to enjoy a game, you'll probably want to skip this one and go back to sneaking off with your mom's black eyeliner.

Final Thoughts

At this point there should be no question about my feelings for Torchlight. It's fun, has style, and is addictive in a way that makes me feel like I can relate to seasoned heroin users. Log onto Steam, Direct2Drive, or the official website and give Runic Games a measly twenty bucks. If you enjoy things that don't suck, you will enjoy Torchlight.

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Tags: Torchlight, diablo

Posted in: Reviews, Gaming

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