RipTen Review: Torchlight (XBLA)

When I first played Torchlight for the first time on my computer last year I was very much impressed. Runic Games had taken the Diablo-style genre of grinding through dungeons and refreshed it, making it both appealing to new players but nostalgic to the players of old, like myself.

Fast forward from 2009 to 2011 and Runic Games is bringing their cult hit game to the Xbox LIVE Arcade to a whole new audience that generally isn’t familiar with the PC feel of Diablo or Torchlight. As with the PC version, Torchlight is set in the town of… Torchlight. Gameplay revolves around you entering a set of mines to determine what strange happenings are going on down there.

Torchlight has next to no story, and any story that it does have is presented through scrolling text windows. Let me make this clear though, if you’re coming into Torchlight with the expectations that it will contain a story deeper then Inception, well find another game. However, if you’re looking for one of the best dungeon experiences, one of the best loot hoarding games, one of the best RPG games, well Torchlight definitely has you covered.

You see the gameplay in Torchlight revolves heavily around loot and gold. You’ll always want that extra set of armor, the better jewels and you always feel like you’re that much closer to getting it. Torchlight plays so well on the MMO-esque feeling of; “Only one more level!” or “I’ll try for the armor once more”. It’s a deeply rewarding and engrossing system that is made even better by the fact you know there’s always better gear out there.

Players have access to three types of characters, whether it be someone who favors swords, magic or staffs. Not only do you get your character but you also get a pet that can be decked out with spells and rings itself. Your cute and loving wolf will soon turn into an extension of your fighting self, allowing you a friend you can rely on in the dungeons.

And on the topic of dungeons, the environments in Torchlight look fantastic. That being said the Xbox 360 definitely can’t keep up with the on-screen action – but I will bring that up shortly. The lighting and mood of the dungeons in Torchlight was something I picked up on as soon as I started playing on both PC and Xbox 360. The level design is a tad bland at times and some of the levels feel heavily repetitive of environments that you’ve covered before.

As I mentioned in the last paragraph, the Xbox 360 has trouble keeping up with the intense flashes and bursts of light that occur at frequent intervals, specially during heavy combat. As you level up more you unlock more spells and your weapons will unleash more power, which is fun because it allows you to destroy your enemies and smite your foes, but the downside is that it slows the console down and really makes you aware of the aging hardware.

The controls from PC to Xbox 360 have converted extremely well and it only took a few minutes before I had adapted to the controller. Potions are bound to the left and right bumpers, standard attacks are controlled with the X button, and every other face button and trigger are usable as hotkeys for spells and abilities. Managing your in-game inventory has also been heavily refined and whilst it’s still clunky on the Xbox, it doesn’t interrupt the general gameplay.

In summary Torchlight has been successfully ported to the Xbox 360, albeit with poor framerate issues at times and a still stark non-existance of co-operative play (Thank the lord for Torchlight II). If you can put these issues aside and see Torchlight for the awesome dungeon experience that it is – well you might just have a new favorite game.

The Rundown:

+ Great PC to Xbox 360 translation
+ Controls work and gameplay is still fun
- Poor framerate at times
- Interface is difficult at first

Torchlight XBLA was released March 9th on the Xbox LIVE Arcade for 1200 MSP ($14.99). Our copy was provided for review by Runic Games. Singleplayer was played for 15 hours over all three character classes.