Where the Barbarian is a slow, hulking combat powerhouse, the Amazon is quick on her feet and just as fast with the blade. Her skills focus more on spears, javelins (a weapon that that can be used both close up and as a thrown attack) and bows, improving them with increased speed as well as enhanced damage through lightening and fire enchantment of her weapons. As befits her lithe movements she can also gain skills that let her dodge incoming attacks, adding a nice extra level of protection to a character who isn't necessarily as tough as the other combat oriented classes.

As in the original, the magic user of the game is arguably the most powerful, especially at higher levels. This time 'round, the only scrolls other characters can get (as far as we could tell anyway) are Scroll of Town Portal and Scroll of Identify, so the spells the Sorceress can cast are always now unique to her. Starting off with the mildly damaging Firebolt spell, the Sorceress can gradually build a collection of spells that includes Firewall (an old favourite from the original), Meteorite, Energy Shield, Teleport and Glacial Spike. Some of the higher level spells such as Frozen Orb, Hydra and Thunder Storm are capable of flattening enemies in a screen-filling show of fireworks. Players of the original may be disappointed to hear that we found no evidence of the all-powerful Armageddon spell, though. While she can't fight in combat for peanuts, the Sorceress quickly becomes a force to be reckoned with, destroying enemies from afar with a varied collection of spells. The first time you see a Sorceress turn a monster or six into a walking ice cube with a freeze spell only to shatter their icy form with a fireball, you're bound to agree with us.

While the Barbarian tends to keep himself alive by salvaging extra potions from enemy corpses, the Paladin uses a set of skills called Auras. Other classes have to hunt down rings and amulets to give them protection from cold, fire and lightning attacks, but not the Paladin. He just has to learn an Aura at each level to receive pretty high resistance to these forms of attack. Beyond these basic auras he can learn ones that reflect damage back at enemies, damages enemies with fire or even -- at higher levels of course-- converts enemies to your side for a moment or redeems their soul to gain you extra life and mana. Even better, most of them cost nothing and a number of these Auras even extend beyond the Paladin, benefiting other players if the Paladin is in a party with other adventurers. When his description says he is a natural party leader, that's the reason why – he can improve the effectiveness of the entire party, often at no cost.