Torchlight review: Dungeon crawl my console any day

[Reckoner]

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Get out your keyboard and mou– wait a second- that’s right; Runic Games have made Torchlight an Xbox 360 game. It was only a matter of time, but can the game live up to it PC core gameplay?

 

The game starts off by letting you select your potential hero. Your choices consist of a melee powerhouse, a ranged femme fatale and a wise, yet young wizard. Fear not for your fateful hero as they shall not be traveling alone. After picking your character, you get to choose a pet to accompany them; a wolf, a bobcat and a birdlike Yoshi await your adoption.

 

As the game begins, you find yourself wandering around the quaint, little town of Torchlight. A bit of narrative sets the mood for you as soon as you enter your first dungeon. There isn’t much of a story, but that doesn’t mean it’s a total let down. The gist of the game is to essentially fight your way through dungeons and caves whilst leveling up and gathering materials to transform your meager adventurer into a seasoned champion. There are quite a handful of weapons, spells, rings, potions, armor, etc. at your disposal to accomplish this task.. You may even find a few fishing spots under the caves of Torchlight. Catch a few fish at these locations and feed them to your pet to make them as mighty as you.

 

Any fan of Dungeon Crawler type games like Diablo or Baldur's Gate would feel right at home with the core gamepaly and controls. While those particular games require quite a bit of getting used to, Torchlight is simple, but still greatly structured.

 

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Once you open your menu, you’ll find yourself staring at a typical character sheet with information regarding level, XP, HP, MP and so forth. The inventory menu will contain the goodies you and your pet have acquired throughout your journey. Once you fill up on junk, your pet can travel back to town for you and sell so you can continue your adventure uninterrupted. Pressing the left or right trigger will shift you on over to the skill, quest and stats page. Leveling up allows you to allocate stat points into your character and even learn and upgrade new skills via a talent tree.

 

The actual gameplay mechanics actually feels well-structured. The X button controls your main attack while the other buttons are free to be mapped to skills and abilities. Not only does this allow you easily configure a comfortable layout, it also adds an element of strategy as you choose the right skill for the right job.

 

As a typical dungeon crawler, you can expect to travel great distances through vast caverns and ruins, right? That isn't the case here as Torchlight gives the player access to a simple, yet effective travel system. Whether you’re deep in a dungeon or lost in the mines, you can instantly travel back to town by use of a scroll. Let's hope you don't die while adventuring as you face a challenging choice if and when you do. Upon death, you can resurrect at your current position, the entrance to the level you are on or back in town. Your first two choices result in a loss of exp and gold respectively. If you respawn in town, you don't lose anything.

 

When it comes to the overhead camera, it will sometimes get stuck in places or objects that will impair your vision for a moment. More often than not, these little glitches will happen when you're exploring areas of the map. When it comes to the heat of battle, Torchlight’s camera is user friendly. The adjustable zoom lets you pinpoint key areas and locations as well as yourself. The mini-map is well designed to actually co-exist along with the camera.

 

The graphics and audio leave a bit to be desired, but don't let that ruin your experience with the title. It still looks nice, but the overall performance of the game is more than enough to make up for it. There are a few moments in the game where explosions and magic are actually really cool to look at.

 

My only gripe with the game was the complete and utter lack of co-op. I understand the PC version was a single player trek as well, but Torchlight could have been a great single player experience and an even better multiplayer . I hear the sequel is adding multiplayer to the game so here's hopin' for another XBLA release. Either way, you are all alone on this one, but your pet will keep you smiling and laughing if you turn him into a creature than makes loud, annoying mating calls.

 

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Torchlight is a great addition to the Xbox Live Arcade list. Besides the fact that there will probably never be cooperative play, it still makes a very fun and addicting game. Once you start leveling up and getting gear, you won’t want to put the controller down. As you progress through the game rockin' the best armor and weapons around, you’ll definitely want to keep destroying anything that gets in your way.

 

If you have the 1200 MSP ($15) and are a fan of dungeon crawlers or if you just enjoy fun and simple singer player games, do yourself a favor and pick this game up because you will not be disappointed. If you're not sure this is your type of game, give the trial version a try. It might surprise you.

 

 

Score

8.5/10

[Theos Sairin]

So it's pretty much like every other RPG and dungeon crawling game? Hurr.

[Apollo]

The game is made by the creators of diablo so you are going to see similar items/concepts in this game as well but the game gets repetitive as fuck... so it is only entertaining for a couple of days. Wait for diablo 3 or invest in other games unless you are really desperate.

[Johnnydillinger]

Maybe I'll try it after Magicka...