Diablo III Review
Genre: Action RPG
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Systems: Windows, Mac OS X
Release Year: 2012
Well I’ve been blabbing about it for months, may as well spill my guts on this game. The long long wait was worth it, while it appears many were left disappointed with the return of Diablo after so many years. How does it stack up against the previous titles in the series? Well read on and I’ll tell you.
I notice a lot of complaints stem from the game differing in a lot of way from Diablo II. Honestly, that is what I feel is one of its greatest strengths. We didn’t wait all this time to play Diablo II all over again. While it definitely plays and feels like Diablo II in many ways, it has distinct differences that I feel were for the better. While distinguishing itself from Diablo II, it still plays very closely to the source material. Dire hard fans should feel right at home in terms of control and screen set up. People were expecting a carbon copy of Diablo II, and if that’s what you want, just go back and play Diablo II.
Another complaint I read about was graphics. The game looks dated and stale. While I can understand this argument, I am glad it retained an older look and feel. While a big improvement from the 2000 era graphics of its predecessor, it certainly could have had better graphics by today’s standards. However, part of the nostalgic feel of Diablo was the graphics not being first rate, but quaint in their own way. Again, this wasn’t meant to look like a new age graphical masterpiece, but a hack and slash adventure through the world of Sanctuary.
Building your character has changed greatly, much to the disappointment of many fans. No more will you need to have 5 different variations of a character. Each character will learn all their skills upon hitting the level 60 max, thus giving you a complete character. The “build” comes in by customizing and mix and matching skills differently. To me, this is a nice change, because you can still have a character that has focus on certain skills, and then giving the flexibility to change up the skills when you feel the need. Many don’t like this, but I feel it makes life easier and saves hours of needless gaming.
Finally, story. Here is where I was a little disappointed. While the game did have a lot of back story and developed upon the previous installments, the ending was a bit lacking for my taste. For the long wait I was expecting something more grand. However, maybe one day Diablo IV will rise up and continue the saga, if we live long enough to see it that is.
Overall, a solid game. Did it live up to the hype? Maybe not quite… yet that is. There are still many features we haven’t even seen yet, such as PvP mode which was scrapped to get the game out faster, but will arrive someday soon. And, as with Diablo II, we can be sure to expect many patches to enhance and add to the game. Don’t be too surprised if an expansion or two comes out sometime in the future, adding more classes and quests. This could merely be the beginning for Diablo III.
Game Play: 5/5
Story: 3/5
Visuals: 4/5
Sound: 4/5
Replay Value: 3/5
Overall: 19/25 – A Slight Odor (Good)
Loading ...