Torchlight Review

I have generally considered myself a "core gamer" - one who keeps up with the gaming industry and participates in the best of the best in gaming every year, or at least when I can afford the time and money. With more of my life shifting away from video games in favor of my job and other responsibilities, I find gaming to be a casual activity more often than not. The Wii hit the market at just the right time for me, as it allowed me to experience level of casual gaming that hit the mark for me.

Although I have strayed away a bit from my hardcore gaming roots, I sometimes stumble upon a game that really hits home and reminds me why I play games in the first place. Guitar Hero II is a classic example of this, with Rock Band 2 last year building on my new rhythm-game obsession. Two games this year so far have caught my eye in much the same way as Rock Band 2 has. The Witcher finally came into my life and has proved to be one of the best mature games I have played in years, but it is the second game that really grabbed my attention and refused to let go.

Torchlight.

Built by a team consisting of former Diablo designers, Torchlight's heritage was obvious from the moment I started playing it. Almost every aspect of the game oozes influence from the classic hack and slash and modern MMORPGs, particularly the ones designed by - you guessed it - Blizzard. Diablo-style story and dungeons, WoW-style item-types and skill trees, and loot out the ass. Lots of loot.

That is really what Torchlight is about: full-on, balls-out dungeon crawling and item collection. The action is paced well, the bosses are plentiful, and the loot is great. Leveling happens frequently and rare items are just plentiful enough to make all the monsters worth wading through.

With hundreds of spells, thousands of items to collect, armor and weapons to equip, and even a few unique wrinkles to the genre, Torchlight easily satifies the modern-day dungeon crawler twitch, and does so without breaking the bank at just a $20 purchase. A must buy for any point-and-click fan.

B3 out.