Since its release in 2006, Iron Lore's Titan Quest has been one of the best - if not the best - Diablo clones available on the market. Combining rapid gameplay and ancient Greek mythology, Titan Quest quickly gained a significant number of devoted followers. Considering the updated graphics and the wisdom that comes from the experience available to the games industry since the release of Diablo, it's arguably a better game overall - no small feat for a genre that has rapidly expanded in the last year or two, with a number of strong players coming onto the field. Titan Quest: Immortal Throne is the expansion to the original that we always expected would come sooner or later - but has Iron Lore given us an offering worthy of the gods, or is this little more than a way to trick you into offering up more of your cash as a sacrifice?

The original game focused on the hero's journey through ancient mythological lands in a glorious quest to kill a mighty titan. Immortal Throne tacks onto the end of the original, adding a new act, where the journey continues into the bowels of the underworld, as you seek to free the trapped souls of the dead from their terrible imprisonment. This new act brings you face to face with some of the mightiest foes of Greek mythology, such as Cerberus, the guardian of the dead, and Hades, the brother of Zeus and lord of the underworld.

Whilst of course the graphics engine (and thus graphical quality) of the game remains unchanged for the expansion, the journey into the underworld provides inspiration and opportunity for some beautifully rendered enemies and scenes. Overall the game has a much darker feel than the original, in large part because of its foreboding visuals. Titan Quest was always strong in the visual department and Immortal Throne proves a worthy successor here. Beautifully smooth character animation remains a top priority for Iron Lore too, which aids in immersing you in the believability of the world through which you quest. The music and sound are generally well integrated too, although there's little that particularly stands out. Some of the boss battles could have benefited from epic battle music to help set the mood, but it's hardly a crippling problem considering most players will be too busy banging away on the keyboard trying to stay alive to wonder which musical movement by Beethoven suits an iceball-throwing king-lich the best!

One of the more impressive changes brought in by this expansion is the increase in enemy AI. Whilst not a huge jump, Immortal Throne's new baddies now use some limited tactical abilities to provide more of a challenge. For example, archer type enemies support their melee counterparts by attacking from afar, but wisely flee once you break through the front line. Most enemy types now engage in tactics better suited to their type, instead of the usual head on kamikaze attacks that we've come to expect from most action RPGs. The developers have done an admirable job of balancing difficulty and playability here, and the game should give most players enough of a tactical challenge, using suitable skills and items against improved enemies, without causing frustration.

The new Dream skill set is the biggest change to the game engine itself, giving you access to skills that can be used to drain attributes from the enemy and cause damage with otherworldly energies. Whilst by its nature it probably goes best with spirit skills, it can be doubled with any of the other available skill sets, which increases the number of available class combinations by eight.

Arcane formulae was an interesting but ultimately unrealised addition that appears to have been included for some of the more hardcore gamers who like to play through the game again at higher difficulty levels. By collecting artefacts, you can create a mighty relic, giving access to special skills such as summoning undead warriors to your side or adding bleeding damage to all attacks. This sounds great in theory, but it doesn't pan out as you might expect. Many of the parts required to create something useful aren't available at lower levels, which forces you to replay the game to complete full sets. It's a move that will be highly rewarding for some and encourages multiple plays on one character, but does serve to punish the casual 'once-through' gamer somewhat. To be reasonable though, if you're buying an expansion then you probably like the game enough to replay it a couple of times.

Inventory features are one of the bigger improvements added by Immortal Throne that will appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers. Firstly is the caravan; working in a similar way to the player's stash chest in Diablo II, the caravan allows the player to store items at a town to keep valuable inventory space free. However, it also acts as a transfer point, allowing you to send items to other players and any alternative characters you might have. Whilst this should have been something included in the original Titan Quest, it's better late than never and it's especially useful if you have two characters and want to cheat a little by sending high level items and money to the weaker one. Likewise, an auto-management feature has been added to help you keep your inventory tidy, something that also should have featured in the original.

Although the story sounds like it has the potential to be epic, I must admit to being a little disappointed with the way the plot unfolds. Considering the amazing depth and breadth of Greek mythology and the incredibly intricate characters and events written for it, Immortal Throne comes off feeling like a B-grade movie in the plot department. Some may argue that an action computer game doesn't have the capacity to engage the player in such depth, but when considering the job done with Age of Mythology for example, it's clear that the genre is growing up and that there is room for more engaging plots.

Titan Quest: Immortal Throne is more of an evolution than a revolution - as you would expect from an expansion - adding more play time and utility to the existing game experience rather than redesigning the core game elements. As an expansion pack it fulfils the role beautifully, bringing in features and elements that were sorely lacking from the original in terms of character management. You won't be disappointed by the amount of the added content either, which adds roughly half as much again to the total play time. For those who enjoyed the original and are ready for more, Immortal Throne is a worthy addition and a credit to the development team at Iron Lore.

Reviewed by Steve Rosenthal for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).