Diablo II – Lord of Destruction Expansion Pack (Mac/PC CD)

Not content to merely add on additional levels, the Diablo II: Lord of Destruction expansion pack improves the entire Diablo II game experience and concludes the story. The expansion has been described as both an “add-in” and an “add-on”, and it truly is a must-have for Diablo II players.

The add-on is the new act, which tells the story of Baal’s destructive trek through the Barbarian Highlands. You must stop him before he corrupts the magical Worldstone and opens Hell. The add-in is all the improvements to the core game. The most obvious improvement is with graphics. Lord of Destruction lets gamers ratchet up Diablo II‘s graphics resolution to 800 x 600. This means both prettier graphics and the ability to see more of the battlefield at once, which effectively increases the range of spells and missile weapons.

The graphics boost is nice, but hardcore players will really appreciate the gameplay enhancements. It’s hard to pick the single best element from a long list of substantial improvements that includes a larger character stash, more socketable items, more unique items, new classes of weapons and new Horadric Cube recipes.

Entirely new features include the ability to craft unique magic items, runes (which function like gems but can be combined to form powerful runeword combinations), totems (which add ability, combat or resistance bonuses but take up space in inventory) and hireling inventory (hand down your old equipment to your hireling). All these improvements are applied to both the new act and the four acts in Diablo II.

Even experienced Diablo II players get to appreciate the improvements to acts 1-4 because the two new character classes (Assassin and Druid) must complete all four acts in Diablo II before they can be used in the expansion. The Assassin is a stealthy warrior and wizard slayer who uses martial arts, traps and mental discipline to defeat Hell’s minions. The conclusion to one of the best-loved and most-played games of all time is satisfying and well worth the hours of sleepless nights and the blurry-eyed mornings. —Mike Fehlauer