Torchlight Xbox 360 Reviews

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Written by Brother None on March 17th, 2011

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Technically (a few frame-rate dips aside) the game has survived the transition from the PC to the 360 without issue but, unfortunately, the usual PC-game-on-console menu issues attempt to ruin the party. The menus are incredibly wordy and layered with tab upon tab which makes navigation using the analogue stick somewhat clunky and awkward.

The number of tabs is a result of the enormous number of armour slots, weapon slots, '˜socket-able' gems, stats and upgradable skills. It's nice that Runic have refused to dumb this part of the game down but it does take quite a while to familiarise yourself with the menus to the extent that you memorise the '˜two flicks left for this tab' and '˜three flicks right for that one'.

The biggest drawback to the game is the simple fact that it comes off as repetitious. No matter which skills you unlock and map to your triggers and spare buttons, when you're fighting through a pack of bad guys it always seems to look like an explosion of various colors. And no matter how much loot you grab, only the most detail oriented will look beyond the stat boosts and the simple green up arrow and red down arrow, which indicates if it's better or worse than what you currently have equipped.

To augment the repetition, you'll find maps and side-quests that will throw you into random dungeons in order to tackle additional quests. You'll be able to beef up your pet with magical spells which becomes an invaluable resource down the line. Utilizing the ability to socket chunks of the mystical element Ember that you find below the city, you can really help customize how your hero fares. And with on-the-fly appearance changes, it's fun to watch yourself look more and more epic.

Torchlight looks beautiful. The cartoon-style graphics mix well with brilliant lighting effects and well designed, expansive dungeons, and the diverse and catchy music score ties it altogether nicely. There isn't much that's particularly original and hasn't been seen many times before in PC games but it's great to have this kind of RPG working so well on consoles. It's a shame that there isn't any multiplayer but then you'd have to share your loot.

This game is all about loot, which makes it interesting when it comes down to how you want to play, allowing for a flexible experience regardless of class or character, and the leveling system reflects that as well. Loot is tiered in the same familiar color schemes used in Blizzard's titles, so you are always able to spot the good stuff as soon as it is dropped from your defeated enemies. When you run out of room, you can always load your pet up and send them back to town to sell all the useless stuff, which is very nice! Torchlight handles magnificently, something that isn't wholly expected, no delay and a beautiful in game menu tailored to the 360 controller. Abilities map to individual buttons as well, allowing easy ability access. The game looks like it did on my gaming PC as well, which says a lot, since most ports always appear to be watered down.

The best feature about the game, one would argue, is the shared loot box. Find something that's great but unusable for your class? Toss it in the box. Stumble upon a piece of a dedicated armor set that's way below your level? In the box it goes. By having multiple characters played in tandem, Torchlight eschews the traditional concept of a New Game+ in that, by having your stronger characters filling the shared loot box with powerful low-level gear, they are making a super-powered second character (or third, or so on) after only a few levels. Retiring the old characters after the main quest is over and continuously passing on loot to new characters keeps the ball rolling. In theory, and if you're really into min/maxing your characters, this can make Torchlight last forever, even without the infinite dungeon.

The developers are not trying to hide anything here. This is basically (Diablo 2.5 Light), and is probably an attempt to keep players eager for Diablo III's release satisfied in the meantime. If you're a Diablo fan, you want more, and aren't afraid to play the game solo, then this would be a must-buy. If you've never played Diablo before, give the Torchlight demo a try at the very least. It won't take long to decide whether you might enjoy this type of game.

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