Torchlight thoughts

Torchlight is a Diablo clone. You should know this upfront. It's developed by the same guys that made Diablo, the music is written by the same man who wrote the music for Diablo, and the game kind of just is Diablo. That's not a bad thing, however; Diablo is still a great game, aged as it is, and loot-whoring never seems to get old.

The journey starts with a choice of one of three classes(mage, warrior, rogue), and either a cat or dog as a pet. The game opens in the only town you'll see, Torchlight(don't know what the name has to do with the title, but whatever). From there you progress through the paper-thin story and into the game's one and only dungeon. 1 dungeon may sound like you'll not be seeing much change in scenery, but the weirdly changing mine actually has a fair bit of variety; lava, jungle(complete with rain), and more.

The game's mechanics involve a lot of left clicking, but there's been a fair bit of streamlining from the Diablo of old. You can bind any skill to your right mouse, remove gems from gear to reuse the gear or gem (but not both), receive set bonuses from armour and weapons, and more. A big part of this streamlining is your pet, which is the only real innovation in the game; your little guy has an inventory, and will run back to the town to sell all the stuff you put in it, if you want him too.

He's also a fighter, though, and can be equipped with loot of his own. Spells are where it's at when it comes to your pet, for example giving him a buff, or a summon, which he will cast completely autonomously. When your pet is giving you rock armour and summoning skeletons, you're set.

Apart from that, there's not much more to say about Torchlight. It's a cheap ($20), purchase off Steam that I highly recommend if you're into loot, and don't find Borderlands appealing enough.

Let the epic journey begin!

I woke up at 5am this morning for a little game called Dragon Age: Origins. I probably wouldn't wake up at 5am for my own wedding day, so it shows you just how excited I am about this game. I'm currently installing the 1st day DLC that BioWare has released (you get most of it for free if you purchase a new copy of the game) and so far the interface and online account idea is working really well. Essentially to get your DLC you need to register on the BioWare Social Site and redeem your codes. But you can also log into this site from the game, and keep track of your friends and their characters through this new hybrid of facebook and a games website.

Dragon Age: Origins is a massive game, so it'll probably be a while until we review it properly, needless to say though, we'll be updating you frequently with the awesome adventures we experience in Ferelden.