If you have a desire to crawl through dark, countless dungeons – and also crave a pure role-playing experience – then look no further than Torchlight.
If you’re familiar with Diablo (who isn’t?) or have played any of the games in the series, you will feel right at home with this dungeon adventure. TorchLight has you raiding dungeons floor-by-floor. Each level/floor brings you deeper into the dungeon’s abyss, where creatures become harder to kill and rare items abound.
If you’re the type of gamer who seeks out wealth – or even the type who likes to collect rare items – Torchlight has you covered. The items you find range from your standard grays and greens (being more common), to blues and purples (rare items).
Besides collecting items and rare gear, you will also encounter traveling merchants that will supply you with rare items and gear. Keep in mind that all rare items come with a hefty price tag. Don’t worry about item storage either; there are storage chests in Torchlight that will store up to 50 items per container.
And if that is not enough, you can choose a pet during the character creation process that can also double as storage. There is also a feature to send your pet back to town to sell your unwanted items, so unless your faithful pet is being used for storage, you can send him to town on business.
One feature I really found interesting is the ability to fish; this is very helpful in a few ways. There must be over a dozen fish that can be caught inside dungeons and in the town of Torchlight.
There are other spots located in the world that will allow you to fish (i.e. quest areas). Some locations will have more rare fish than others. The fish you catch can either be sold for extra coin or fed to your pet to alter his abilities and stats.
Once you feed your pet, he can shape shift into stronger forms that have their own weakness and strengths. Just like in other role-playing games, you have full control over your character’s abilities, skills and spells. There are talent trees that offer three different skill sets.
The graphics in Torchlight are bright and vibrant with color. The art style makes you think of World of Warcraft with its simple, cartoon-like appearance..
Torchlight’s music is some of the best ever heard in an Xbox Live Arcade game. The harmony of the music is so peaceful, yet filled with such sorrow; it sets the mood for Torchlight perfectly. A beautiful world torn by the depths of evil, crying out for a savior.
One feature that really stands out is the online leader board. It keeps track of your kills, score and how much coin you have. This feature coukd very easily turn into an obsession for some gamers as they try to hold on to their rank.
Besides having the standard twelve achievements most Xbox Live Arcade games have by default, there are three avatar rewards that can be unlocked for your avatar to wear.
TorchLight is an action-based dungeon crawler that leaves you with a great role-playing experience. There’s no way to describe the excitement you feel from entering a dungeon that seems to have no end. The deeper you explore, the more rewarding things become for you. TorchLight is so addicting, it’s very difficult to stop once you start. I haven’t enjoyed a dungeon crawler this much in a very long time.
If you’re looking for a great role-playing experience on your Xbox 360, look no further than Torchlight. It has all the right elements and never disappoints.
James ‘ Daripp3r’ Pittaro
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Runic Games
Publisher: Runic games
ESRB: T (Teen)
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |  |
| The graphics in Torchlight are bright and vibrant with color. | |
| Sound | |
| Torchlight’s music is some of the best ever heard in an Xbox Live Arcade game. | |
| Gameplay | |
| TorchLight is an action-based dungeon crawler that leaves you with a great role-playing experience. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| TorchLight is a must-have title. | |
