As good as Diablo was, however, Diablo II was even better, expanding on all that was great about the original. What about Diablo III? Well, it was OK, but it wasn’t Diablo. Maybe someday, Blizzard Entertainment will announce that it’s porting Diablo II to iOS, but until that happens, here are eight games that can soothe the longing. Bastion was originally released for Xbox 360 and Windows. The iOS port redesigned the game controls to work better with a touch screen, and the designers scored a home run in this department. Bastion is fun. It provides plenty of challenges and captures the fast-paced thrill of Diablo. Titan Quest also has a fun multiclassing system. The ability to combine two of the 30 available classes means that you can get a lot of play out of the game. If you can get beyond the combat pace, you’ll find a beautiful game with depth and a great sense of humor. In particular, Battleheart Legacy offers many options and freedom that most other RPGs don’t offer. If you haven’t played a Zelda game, think of them as one part action RPG, one part platform game, and one part puzzle-solving. It may not have the deeper role-playing elements, but Oceanhorn is fun to play, beautifully crafted, and offers a huge chunk of gameplay for the price. As an added bonus, it’s available for Apple TV. The iOS version of The Bard’s Take was a dramatic change from The Bard’s Tale series from the 1980s, which were turn-based dungeon crawlers. And, this brings us to the special reward for old-school gamers: The original trilogy is included with the game, so if you want to go back to Skara Brae, you can do just that. Although Dungeon Hunter 5 is a great game, it mixes in the worst aspects of freemium games. After a while, it feels like the designers are offering the promise of a carrot if you spend a little bit more, and then a little bit more, in the in-app store. Plenty of freemium games have been done right, and it’s hard not to notice when greed takes over.
