Metareview - Titan Quest

by Alan Rose { Jun 28th 2006 at 11:55AM }

When Blizzard introduced the seminal Diablo a decade ago, they single-handedly invented the hack and slash RPG (and, quite possibly, carpal tunnel syndrome). There have been many followers since -- Dungeon Siege on the PC, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath on consoles -- and while the graphics engines have evolved, the addictive gameplay has remained more or less the same. With Titan Quest, developer Iron Lore stuck to the principle formula, but in a setting that is more Age of Mythology than D&D.

Yahoo! Games (90/100) appreciates the attention to detail in level design: "Although there are no random levels, the later game opens up with enough side quests that you don't feel like you're playing Dungeon Siege, being shunted from one canned encounter to the next. The flip side of not having Diablo's tile-based random-level generator is that every nook and cranny is built by hand. And it looks it: Titan Quest is a gorgeous game on many different levels."
GameSpot (76/100) notes Titan Quest's potential longevity: "The gradual approach to character creation taken here is welcome, and the sheer scope of the single-player campaign, coupled with the cooperative play and tools to create your own campaign, means that players willing to commit to the experience will have a wealth of content to keep themselves busy with."
GameSpy (70/100) recommends a hefty system configuration: "One wart in Titan Quest is its performance -- specifically, the game tends to chug when the lighting and particle effects are full-blast. It never became unplayable, but during the worst moments, it was definitely annoying enough for me to hope that some imminent patches will be released to address the problem."

Tags: diablo, hack and slash, iron lore, metareview, rpg, thq, titan quest

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

PearOfAnguish @ Jun 28th 2006 12:18PM

This is a great looking game and there is tons to do but it's incredibly simplistic. Sacred had far more features (many characters, different storylines, horses, combos, buildings you could enter etc) and that was two years ago. This is a fun game if you like hack-n-slash RPG's but it's very shallow. Still enjoyed it anyway.

fragdeth167 @ Jun 28th 2006 12:48PM

I think its simplicity is a strength and not a weakness. Titan Quest has taken what's proven to work and polished it instead of making strange changes in the name of "innovation". It didn't set out to revolutionize the genre, but gave us more of the high quality-side that we've been wanting; we've been getting bombed with the poor quality-side for too long now. Excellent first game, Iron Lore Entertainment.

Garold @ Jun 28th 2006 12:57PM

"they single-handedly invented the hack and slash RPG"

What?? Diablo was basically just a dumbed-down, clickified version of NetHack, a game that has existed since the early eighties. Besides that, there had been dozens of other roguelikes and similar games.

Robespierre @ Jun 28th 2006 1:00PM

As much as I love Diablo, you can't say with a straight face that it invented the hack and slash RPG. I vaguely seem to recall playing Rogue, Nethack, and other ASCII graphics hack-n-slashers many years before Diablo came along.

hacker @ Jun 28th 2006 1:07PM

I disagree, 3 and 4. You can't compare DOS and ASCII adventures to Diablo. Regarding the sense of immersion that has become the prototype for todays action RPGs, Diablo was the originator in that regard. Why do you think all the game mags and portals compare every new hack and slash title to Diablo? Blizzard re-defined, if not defined, the genre, and set the standard for every hack and slash title to come.

Robespierre @ Jun 28th 2006 1:22PM

5: I'd agree that Diablo redefined the genre, and that it was in many ways a significant improvement over Nethack and Rogue. (I'm not sure about the immersion part, though--seeing a capital "D" in the corner of a room scared me as much as anything in Diablo.)

However, the article didn't say Diablo "redefined" the genre, it said that Diablo "single-handedly invented" hack and slash RPGs. That simply isn't true.

Nintendo DS for $99 @ Jun 28th 2006 1:31PM

Why did my post get deleted? All I did was state that there are better reviews on shacknews.com, and PALGN.com.au...and my post gets deleted??
I didn't slam anyone or anything.
What's up joystiq?

SpL @ Jun 28th 2006 1:39PM

I love this game.

If you liked Diablo 2 you will like this.
Just wait a bit till you buy it becouse it had random crashes every 10 to 15 min. Read there forums allot of ppl complaining. Can't wait for them to patch it.

Nintendo DS for $99 @ Jun 28th 2006 1:40PM

There some more indepth reviews out there if anyone is interested.
The editor is a huge trump card for Titan Quest IMO. Who hasn't wanted to make their own hack N slash levels?
Check out these articles at:
shacknews.com
http://www.shacknews.com/extras/2006/062606_titanquest_1.x

PALGN
an Australian site gave it a 9/10.
http://palgn.com.au/article.php?title=Titan+Quest+Review&id=4784

Bresson @ Jun 28th 2006 1:43PM

I played this game a little, I didn't find it very involving. I recommend Divine Divnity, it's a few years old but much better than the other Diablo clones that came out since like Dungeon Siege, Sacred and now this. It's open ended with an interesting story line.

John H. @ Jun 28th 2006 1:52PM

I disagree with #5, almost everything good about Diablo's gameplay other than multiplayer comes from Roguelikes. In fact, Diablo is an immeasurably weaker game because it didn't steal enough.

As for immersion... well, to hell with immersion, its overrated. I don't play computer games in order to pretend to be some generic world-saving fantasy person, and when it comes right down to it I don't think many other people do either.