Those hungry for a new hack and slash RPG that found the new “D & D: Daggerfall†a disappointment will absolutely fall in love with the trial version of “Torchlight.â€
Created by the makers of “Diablo,†easily one of the most influential hack and slash titles of all time, “Torchlight†is simple and straightforward in approach. It uses just one button to attack enemies and has an easy inventory system to keep track of all of your items. Because of that, it’s easy to jump right into the game and start killing enemies and exploring.
At the same time, the game is best played on a high definition television, as the text dialogue used to start each chapter and to chat with enemies and allies [very little actual sound is used for conversation] is entirely too small to read on a standard definition TV set. Nevertheless, this shouldn’t stop from getting the most out of the killer gameplay as both your player and on-screen enemies are large enough to be seen.
Graphically, the game looks similarly to another fun and well-put together Live Arcade title, “Deathspank,†minus the comedic touches. Instead, with a darker palette and less interactivity with the environment [not all boxes can be broken with your weapons] the game is much more traditional in approach.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t fun to be had.
A decently sized demo, Torchlight’s trial allows you at least an hour of gameplay, enough to advance a level or two and plenty of time to get the gist of what the title offers.
Between that, the solid story, differences in gameplay in the three selectable character classes and pinpoint control, “Torchlight†is a title that belongs on your 360 hard drive.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
Those hungry for a new hack and slash RPG that found the new “D & D: Daggerfall†a disappointment will absolutely fall in love with the trial version of “Torchlight.â€
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