Alternatives Thrive in Absence of Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3
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Torchlight and Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising have time to shine as Blizzard mastermind next epics.
If there’s one thing people hate about Blizzard, it’s that their games take forever to develop and finally get unleashed onto the market.
It’s been over two years since the first look videos of Starcraft 2 and still there is no word on when the game is due to be released.
It’s difficult to hate a company though that pride themselves on not rushing games and only releasing content when it’s good and ready. A quick look at the Starcraft 2 FAQ section tells you everything you need to know about Blizzard: “At this point, it’s too early to provide an estimate of the release date. As with all Blizzard games, we will take as much time as needed to ensure the game is as fun, balanced, and polished as possible.”
Even further drudged in the depths of development quagmire is Diablo 3, but in fairness to Blizzard, there is the small matter of the third World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm to worry about on the swords and sorcery fantasy front, so they can be forgiven for delaying Diablo 3 whilst WoW takes centre-stage.
So as the world eagerly awaits two of the most anticipated games ever made in Real Time Strategy (RTS) and role-playing hack and slash, what are the alternatives on the market? Released last week, Torchlight is the perfect holding game in between Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 to feed your lust for addictive fast-paced click-and-kill gaming.
Designed by Runic Games, the people behind the first two Diablo games, Torchlight gives you three familiar characters of the Destroyer (barbarian/fighter), Vanquisher (ranger/thief) and Alchemist (sorcerer/mage). There are no great surprises in Torchlight, you hit stuff, it explodes in gore, you hit more stuff, you level up; but hack and slash games glorify in their simplicity and Torchlight executes this with particular style.
RTS gamers waiting for Starcraft 2 can content themselves with the latest expansion of THQ and Relic’s glorious Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising. The Warhammer 40,000 universe was truly brought to life with Dawn of War, and the sequel went above and beyond the original to make a stunning RTS as the warriors of the Emperor battle the foul spawn of chaos.
Chaos Rising sees the planet of Aurelia under siege, and continues the story of the battle-hardened Blood Ravens space marines.
Although the campaigns have been bolstered for single player and co-op modes, RTS has always been about multiplayer action, and Chaos Rising will add new levels of complexity to the strategy with the introduction of more powerful wargear and items.
Take your time Blizzard – we can wait.
Have you played Torchlight? Let us know how it compares to Diablo below.
No Blizzard, we cannot wait!
Torchlight is my choice for RPG of the year. 20 bucks?! It can’t be beat in terms of bang for your buck!
I played Torchlight, compared to Diablo II the BIG difference is the graphics, the game play is about the same, it’s a Diablo clone. Torchlight is nice game but nothing original, to my opinion it’s worth more than it cost ($20).
If you like Diablo II, I’ll suggest to take a look.
It’s funny. I remember watching Blizzcon’s keynote online and one had a realtime poll running asking what game were you most anticipating news on. The options were SC2, WoW:C and D3… the results were overwhelmingly D3.
Shame that Blizzard’s priorities are not prioritized the same as the apparent interest of gamers.
Here’s my recent review of Torchlight if anyone is interested in a detailed look.
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IncomingPull/~3/rskJcJzDuGY/review-torchlight.html
To the guy who said “shame that Blizzard’s priorities are not prioritized the same as the apparent interest of gamers”:
did you even think about the amount of news released on each title thus far or at the time of the poll?
There has been a lot on SC2 and it’s been two years, there have already been WOW expansions and hardly talk and little gameplay footage of D3. I don’t even particularly enjoy D1 or D2 – too repetitive. I’m a die hard SC fan and I’d honestly like a look at D3, because it looks so much better than the first two. It’s almost like the most anticipated game is perpetually creating anticipation for itself, furthering the interest.
Wow, maybe they DO have it figured out!? Use your head, you are playing right into their hands. LMAO XD
Anonymous said:
“It’s funny. I remember watching Blizzcon’s keynote online and one had a realtime poll running asking what game were you most anticipating news on. The options were SC2, WoW:C, and D3… the results were overwhelmingly D3.
“Shame that Blizzard’s priorities are not prioritized the same as the apparent interest of gamers.”
Mate, anticipating news on is not the same as anticipating playing. Even people who were more excited about playing SC2 would’ve voted D3 in that poll because it’s what people knew the least about. And this poll was about what you most want NEWS for.
Additionally, they don’t share resources between the SC2 team, WoW:C team and the D3 team. This has been said in MANY interviews. So it’s not a matter of them prioritising any particular game. D3 just started a lot later than the others.
Do some research.
Torchlight was really awesome, and so I’m thinking about buying the actual game using Steam.
Why is Torchlight even compared to Diablo? It’s not even multiplayer… What’s the point?
Multiplayer is not the be-all and end-all of a good game. Diablo II was still awesome as a single player game, and Torchlight is no different. Well worth your money.