After years of development and month after month of media hype and buzz, Blizzard Entertainment bestowed upon their fans Diablo II, the sequel to 1998's Game of the Year and definitely the largest title that the company has ever taken on. With past blockbusters including WarCraft II, StarCraft and of course the original Diablo, Blizzard has issued a string of successes and does not let up with its latest endeavor. The selection of your character class plays a major role in determining how your game play out. This becomes immediately apparent by how the initial character attribution points that are distributed between Strength, Dexterity, Vitality and Energy. The result is a skill tree with several distinct areas for each character which sets apart each character class from the next.
Skills also insert a strategy element for the player when it comes to which to select.
The event of earning an additional level is followed by two very important decisions of where to improve your character's attributes and to which skill to improve as well. A panel across the bottom of the screen uses two large globes to show life and mana. A large, bright yellow status bar shows your stamina decrease as you run and fill as you stop, while the bar just above shows your current experience and the amount needed to reach the next level. A map which overlays the entire screen showing areas where you've already been can be toggled on and off using the Tab key. A party screen lets you easily invite other players in a multiplayer game to join your party or accept an offer as well as setting your level of hostily towards other players.