In June 2008, Blizzard Entertainment announced their third installment of the Diablo series. It has been twelve years after the release of Diablo 2 and four years of anticipation and finally, Diablo 3 has been reborn. The battle between the high heavens and the burning hells rages forward. However, can it live up to the mass amount of hype the game has been given or does it fall flat and become another generic isometric hack-n-slash RPG title? Well, after many hours logged, here’s the good and bad of Blizzard Entertainments Diablo 3.
Creativity- 2/2.5
To get a greater understanding of the overall story, you should read either Diablo: The Book Of Cain or Diablo: The Order. These books really help flesh out the story and give plenty of insight to those interested in getting caught up in the series. It does a good job clearing up the unknowns after playing Diablo 3. For those that don’t want to read the books, we provided you with a summary. Be careful, there are spoilers in the summary.
The direction of the story and the creativity expressed is close to brilliant. The voice acting is very well done and the story plot is deep. While some people think the ending ends weakly, it does leave things open for future expansions. This should meet any gamer’s expectations or standards of great storytelling. Except, when you take into consideration the fact that the team at Blizzard are masters of storytelling, a weak ending hurts the overall presentation. If this game was released by anyone other than Blizzard, the ending would have been more forgivable.
Graphics/Mechanics- 2.5/2.5
Diablo 3 is an isometric hack-n-slash RPG. You’re mainly using your mouse to attack while using your keyboard number keys to use skills and potions that you can switch out anytime you want (with the penalty of a 30 second cool down, so no quick switching). The character attack movements feel fluid, and your attacks are executed flawlessly without any input lag whatsoever. Graphically, it’s not eye candy, but it’s not meant to be, since this is what the Diablo franchise traditionally looked like. The enemy mechanics don’t really become a problem until the later difficulty modes. The strength of enemies depend on the difficulty chosen, so on the higher settings these enemies can very easily kill you if you’re not careful. Overall, the design team did a great job putting everything together to make it a painless experience (until you hit hell difficulty, but that’s another story).
Features/Length- 2.5/2.5
This game has tons of features and is one of the most feature-rich games in the franchise. While the game can be played via single player, you can play with friends in multiplayer. This game gives players is the ability to jump in and out of games via the public game system. The game also supplies you with an auction house where you can buy and sell items you need or want to sell. Blizzard plans to release their “Real Money Auction House” next week, so all those Diablo millionaires will have to wait for now. Remember difficulty/reward systems? Well, as you go through the game and beat it, you unlock difficulty systems, which lets you replay the game to continue your leveling process and get better loot in the process. Difficulty levels include normal, nightmare, hell and inferno. Another little addition is the banner customization which allows you to make your own coat-of-arms to plant on the corpse of your enemies, or gloat to your friends of how awesome your banner looks. All this in a single game is exactly what’s deserving of a perfect score.
Fun Factor- 2.5/2.5
Having fun with a game that takes a while to become challenging is something some people may find difficult. However, there is such a solid game structure that this should be seen as something that must be conquered. There is a certain level of satisfaction when you beat an enemy on a high level of difficulty and if you don’t give the game a chance to give that to you, you are definitely missing out. You are always rewarded for your efforts with rare items, but some items are class specific, which is another point of frustration. Even with the odd pairing of rare items on occasion, playing this game with a friend and taking on the dungeons is a feeling that few games can evoke.
Overall Verdict- 9.5/10
Though it may seem that Diablo 3 deserves a perfect score, there was no way the ending would justify it. Even with the weakness of the ending, it’s an elite game and it should be experienced by all. With more content coming down the line like PvP Arenas, Expansions and more, you can be sure that this isn’t the end of Diablo 3. It’s just the beginning.
Rating: 
This review is based off a retail copy of the PC version of Diablo III by Blizzard Entertainment
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