Diablo II Unveiled

Date: May 13th

Blizzard Entertainment is previewing Diablo II, the much-anticipated sequel to 1997's acclaimed action role-playing game. The game's developers for the first time are showing all five of Diablo II's character classes: the Amazon, the Paladin, the Necromancer, the Sorceress and the Barbarian. Blizzard has completed design and animation for the Barbarian, a male warrior armed with supernormal strengths and combat abilities. The Barbarian, as with each character class, can develop 30 unique, class-specific abilities and spells, including Crushing Blow, Howl and Stun.

Additionally, Act III is now finished, meaning the PC version of the game nearly 70 percent complete. In all, Diablo II will encompass three Acts and a finale. Act I is set in and around the Monastery of the Sisters of the Sightless Eye, and Act II is set in and around the desert-trading center of Lut Gholein. In Act III, characters will explore Kurast, an ancient civilization overgrown by the surrounding tropical jungle.

Blizzard also unveiled Diablo II's perspective scaling and parallax, a new 3D-accelerator feature, which also includes support for Glide 3 and OpenGL. Scaling and parallax effects add a near-perfect perspective to the 3D-accelerated isometric view. Diablo II is one of the most significant games to combine 2D elements such as sprite-based characters with 3D elements such as colored lighting and atmospheric effects. Tailored to be an added feature for computers with 3D hardware, Diablo II's 3D support improves the game's frame rate as well as the general quality of lighting and other visual effects.

In Diablo II, players return to a shattered world plagued by evil forces. After possessing the body of the hero who defeated him, Diablo resumes his nefarious scheme to imprison humanity into unholy slavery by joining forces with the other Prime Evils, Mephisto and Baal. Players face a new series of quests to rid the world of Diablo and his vile brethren forever. Features include: