I know Diablo II was released ten years ago and even the expansion was released nine years ago but it is still worth another play through. Lets be honest when was the last time you played Diablo II? I would not be surprised if you played it sometime in the last year or at least the last two. With Diablo III coming out it some time in the future (knowing Blizzard far distant) it is worth a look back on this popular game.
Diablo II is a great go to game for LANs. Having played through it so many ways with so many charters you can get through the game pretty fast. Most people still seem to inexplicably have it on their computer. Even if no one already has it someone probably has it on CD and it does not take much space or time to get it on your computer. Now there are so many games out there and with protection so only one player can use the game on one PC that trying to get a game to play at a LAN can be a mess. Even if everyone has the game getting the right version can be a hassle and lets face it you never have a game everyone has. Diablo II seems to not have any of these problems.
Another great thing about Diablo II is the cheats. You will need a program to cheat but when you get it the sky is the limit on the kind of things you can do even from the begging of the game. Even my brother in law who never cheats has played through this so much he does not care and he will cheat. If we have a few hours before Thanksgiving and we use some helpful cheats my brother and brother in law and I can make it through the whole game before dinner.
I will admit there are some drawbacks to the game. I recently started playing it again after reminiscing after seeing the latest Diablo III trailer. To be honest I played it for about a couple weeks and got tired of it. If you do not cheat it takes to long to play and if you do then it is to fast and you cant limit your cheating its addicting to keep adding insanely overpowered items or improving stats. This is one reason why the game is great for LANs though, it’s OK to run through the game quickly at a LAN. With lots of new games being released and only having a short time to play together learning a new game is tough but Diablo II people already know how to play.
One other advantage that Diablo II has is that it has a nostalgia factor. Having video game night getting out the old school NES is lots of fun. Diablo II is the same way. There are lots of memories there. The best part of finishing the game is getting to play the cow level who could forget that? It is also a nice way to get yourself ready for Diablo III.
Overall I would not play this all the time but Diablo II still makes a great game to play with your friends every now and then. Even after a decade it makes a great LAN game.