Genre: RPG
Developer: Runic Games
Publisher: Encore, Inc.

Torchlight fairly successfully mimics almost every aspect of its spiritual predecessors, the Diablo titles. But in the one area in which its creators stray-- art direction-- they meet failure dead-on. Aside from the fact that the game is fantastically ugly, what with its directionless hodge-podge of colors and themes in virtually every scene, and its detail-less, almost un-textured game world, it was clear the game's designers were caught in two minds; pursue a dark, chilling world, ala Diablo, or a Bugs Bunny meets He-man cartoon-land, in the exact vein of "World of Warcraft"-- they wound up with neither, even though their creation leans somewhat towards the repugnant latter.

Runic's recruitment of Matt Uelmen to compose Torchlight's soundtrack caused more than a few members of the gaming media to wonder why Blizzard was unable or unwilling to retain Uelmen so he could work on the upcoming Diablo III-- the quality of Uelmen's Torchlight work gives evidence to support both those who think Blizzard's choice was sagacious or foolish; the work is very derivative of his previous creations on one hand, yet incredibly effectual on the other. The voice acting and sound effect work is of the same bizarre identiless domain as the art style-- confused and directionless.

Like the Diablo titles that came before it, and like those titles' subsequent clones Sacred and Titan Quest, Torchlight is most similar to early dungeon-crawlers, such as Dandy, Dark Chambers, and Gauntlet-- except that it adds new refinements to the Diablo formula: the user interface features an easy-to-use MMORPG-style skill bar, the entire menu system is colorful and easy to read, and gameplay additions, such as that of a pet that can be used to fight, and also to sell loot back at the town, do a little to compensate for humdrum dungeons that manage to feel much more random and uninspired than those in Diablo.

The biggest problem with Torchlight isn't its shoddy presentation, or its lack of stylistic identity-- its biggest problem is its complete lack of practical design: the game is a continual deluge of ridiculously underpowered enemies and a constant bombardment of equipment and the management of identify scrolls, all while lacking the chilling atmosphere of its spiritual predecessors. Inexplicably however, and almost in spite of itself, Torchlight is actually a reasonably enticing and enjoyable experience, although it's difficult to know on what attributes to credit that enticement.