If you loved Diablo 2, and I guess that doesn’t necessarily have to be past-tense, then there is absolutely no reason you wouldn’t love Titan Quest. It is, in essence, exactly the same game. The inventory even looks the same. They may have juggled the skill tree around a bit, but they’re the same at heart. I love Diablo 2.
The game takes place throughout three mythological settings: Ancient Greece, Egypt, and the Silk Road. Characters start out “fob” (fresh off the boat, literally) in a Greek suburb and must fight their way to Leonidas and the spartans, finishing primary and side quests in search of an oracle. This game is so much like Diablo 2 that I can’t tell whether it’s awesome or weird. At the very least, it’s uncomfortable. The graphics, of course, are up-to-date with today’s games, but still give the isometric perspective of Diablo 2. The lighting is brilliant, the gameplay is relatively linear with a few wide-open areas to explore, and the combat is point and click in the same fashion as the Diablos. So, if I love Diablo 2 and Titan Quest is Diablo 2, then why the title?
Well, the game is fun, the plot fairly interesting and, from what I can tell, fairly accurate compared to what I remember from high school ancient history. Also, the stuff about the Spartans seems accurate compared to what I remember from the parts of “300″ that I wasn’t screaming or hiding. What’s nice about it though, is that the game pretty much delivers itself to you on a silver platter. While you can’t always see the edge of the map without a little wandering, the landscape is constrictive enough that you won’t go wandering in places you shouldn’t and miss parts of the plot. It’s also very hard to miss the primary quest NPCs. The primary quest line (and we all know how much I love those) is hard to miss throughout the game. The quest NPCs are marked very well throughout the cityscapes, and even the side-quest NPCs are relatively easy to spot (either that or I’ve missed a ton of side-quests, which doesn’t seem likely since I’m a map-exploring whore).
The battles themselves, like Diablo 2, are largely point-and-click. At the levels and for the amount of time I’ve played, success seems pretty proportional to player level and gear, although there have been several opportunities to advance simply with skill. I recall a certain ogre battle during which the enemy could be kited. The game, however, is balanced enough to provide you with the experience needed to gain the levels and beat the bosses. Not too much extraneous grinding required, at least not in first difficulty setting of the game.
I can’t really vouch for the multiplayer, as I have never played with another person (and probably won’t), but the single-player campaign is an almost relaxing cruise through history. I haven’t played the game all the way through (that’s the story of my life), but what I’ve done so far has definitely tickled my taste buds for an engaging single-player RPG in the traditional flavor. I’m excited to see what the game has to offer in the later levels, as well as what the expansion and its extra act.
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