Who would have thought that a simple, point-and-click role-playing game could be so intense, or that slaying hordes of nightmarish creatures could be so addicting? Diablo quickly wins over its audience with polished gameplay, not intricate controls or a deep storyline. Blizzard's isometric-view RPG uses the most basic elements of a heroic adventure. A town is besieged by evil, a would-be savior comes to town, the hero enters a series of dungeons, and then proceeds to kick evil's scaly, bony butt. What makes Diablo work is its replay value. Drawing inspiration from early mainframe dungeon crawlers such as Rogue, the game features randomly generated layouts, monster groupings, and loot. You never know what lurks in the next area, which makes exploring the dark and deadly environments so exciting.

It also helps that the three available characters offer completely different play styles and customizable skills. Players decide which spells to learn, weapons to wield, and armor to equip, as they purchase or discover potential upgrades of varying quality. Once you've confronted armies of sword-wielding skeletons and acid-spitting beasts alone, you can take your character(s) online, as up to four players work as a team to bring down the titular demon on a choice of difficulty settings. The production values throughout the game are excellent, from the memorable voice acting and lighting effects to the creepy sound and M-rated subject matter. While the title's limited scope (there's only one town) and click-heavy combat might turn off some gamers, Diablo proves that you can sometimes reinvigorate a genre simply by going back to basics.

Graphics are not groundbreaking, but the overall design is excellent.

Music and voice acting match the game's atmosphere.

Point at the bad guy, kill the bad guy. Along the way, acquire randomly generated equipment and weapons.

While there are a limited number of dungeons to conquer, the layout changes every time, and the game supports online play as well.