Gamestar Movie Analysis

Anyone who remembers the earlier Gamestar Movie (click here for its analysis) will remember the quality of these movies, to which the latest addition is no exception.  Like all of its kind, the movie begins with the Gamestar logo atop a flaming Diablo II logo.  The movie opens on a scene from the E3 Cinematic where the Hero stands amidst flames.  From there, scenes from the E3 Cinematic fly past rapidly, a teaser to anyone who hasn´t seen the cinematic yet.

We begin with the Amazon traipsing around the Rogue Encampment, past a rather large tent and then around to go behind it.  After a few steps she comes to a Waypoint, which activates with the sound of the old Town Portal spell.  Unfortunately there are no set destinations for this Waypoint so the Amazon walks off to explore the rest of the town.

A transition brings us to the desert vastness of Act II, where a fully-armored Paladin stands resolute.  After a moment, a small pack of Huntresses approach the Paladin, who gives a warning kick.  The Huntress, not heeding the warning, advances anyway, only to be booted back by another swift kick.  The Paladin gives another kick, but the pack begins to surround him, so he runs off to get some distance between him and his enemies.  As he runs a Sand Maggot emerges from the sand, pincers reaching for him.  The Sand Maggot gives chase, stopping only for a moment to lay on of its eggs.  The Paladin uses the moment to finish the Sand Maggot off.

Right as the Sand Maggot dies, her egg hatches and one of the voracious Sand Maggot Young appears.  The Paladin gets more distance, this time to access his skill menu and select one of the shield bash skills (possibly Smite).  Armed with the Smite skill, the Paladin approaches the Sand Maggot Young, whose numbers have increased, and attacks with the skill.  It proves ineffectual, so again the Paladin runs to get some more distance.

With the fluttering sounds of bats we join the Sorceress in a never-before-seen area of Act II which looks suspiciously like a cave.  She is using her Firebolt spell to attack a creature that identifies itself as a "Sabre Cat", probably a more powerful version of the Hunter/Huntress.  It only takes 3 Firebolts to kill these creature, so the Sorceress either has a high level in the spell or the Sabre Cat is weak against fire-based magic.  After killing the Sabre Cat, the Sorceress clicks the floating Quest Log button and brings up the Quest listing, which shows two.  They were hard to read, but I think one was "Tainted Sun" and the other "Find the Sun..." and the last word is too blurry for me to see.

The transition that follows this part still bring us to the Sorceress in the caves, but this time she uses her Blaze spells and begins to run through the long tunnel she is in.  She runs out of the tunnel´s yawning mouth and around the open area outside it, looking for monsters to kill no doubt.  She happens upon a small green pool of slime, but runs past it without inspecting it.  Probably a blood stain from a monster she has slayed.

We come to the Sorceress again, this time in the lower depths of Act I.  A large, looming door seems oppressive in the darkness, and then it opens and reveals... Andariel.  The Maiden of Anguish, Andariel, launches into the fray with her poison spray attack, firing it twice before closing in on the Sorceress.  Then Andariel attacks with her four claw-like tenticles, all of them diving down to attack the Sorceress at once.  Being attacked and under pressure, the Sorceress retaliates with the casting of a Meteor, calling it down on Andariel.  The Meteor is of sufficient power to kill the demoness, and Sorceress gains a level for her troubles.  Andariel perishes with a haunting, but satisfying, scream.

Still in the lowermost crypts of Act I, still with the Sorceress, she encounters a lone Red Fallen.  She attacks it once with her staff, then her mana recharges to a point where she can cast a Fireball.  She kills the Fallen with a second staff swing then turns and launches the Fireball at a trio of Zombies, who surprisingly live through the blast.  The Sorceress takes to her heels, eventually reaching her Town Portal, which identifies itself as leading the way to the Rogue Camp.  She dunks into the portal emerges safely into the camp.

No we join the Necromancer, down in the dungeons of Act II.  Two of the giant creatures once called "Reapers", now known as Guardians, appear before him.  The Guardians appear to be possessed of a poison projectile attack, with which they attack the Necromancer.  The Necromancer summons a Golem (since this is an older build, the Golem appears as a Gargantuan Beast) and it commences to attack the Guardians.  The Golem doesn´t last long, though, and three unidentified creatures ambush the Necromancer while the Guardians draw closer. 

The Necromancer summons another Golem, but the two Guardians turn on it and manage to kill it with their blade-like arms.  Having killed the other little beasts, and apparently fed up with getting hit, the Necromancer selects his Teeth skill (the icons are also not correct, due to the older build) and begins to attack the Guardians with it.  This particular Teeth spell is low level, since only three of the teeth appear, and it doesn´t look all that threatening.  A Gray creature (a Carver) wanders up and the Necromancer swipes and kills it with his scythe.  The creature drops an item identified as a Carver Heart. 

The Necromancer, now in trouble, changes skills, this time to Corpse Explosion.  Using the dead corpse of his Golem, the Necromancer casts the spell and the body explodes in a flurry of gore, fortunately taking the Guardian with it.  Undisturbed by the death of its fellow, the other Guardian continues to attack, and the Necromancer takes this as his cue to leave.

Strangely, for the Barbarian footage the camera is shaky and wild, and we can see the borders of the monitor the build of Diablo II is running on.  The Barbarian is in Act III, running along the shore of a river as it rains.  He comes to a locked chest, which has near in a small pile of gold.  The the Barbarian runs on past both, and into the dense jungles of Act III.

The scenes after this come from other gameplay movies, as we have the Sorceress using Ice Storm on some Dried Corpses, the Sorceress casting several Firewall spells, and the Sorcerss using Inferno on a trio of Burning Dead.  There is also a clip of the Paladin kicking a Fallen around before stabbing him with a spear, culminating with the Sorcess using Nova to kill three two of the Burning Dead.

- Darkk (WebMaster)