Diablo 3, a gamer’s review
Players of the Diablo series of games from Blizzard have been waiting years for the third part, strangely I was not amongst them as I had never played the first two. However as so many of the folks in #DaGodz were planning to get it, and spend many an hour playing it, I decided I would join them and see what the excitement was all about.
That was a month ago.
Since then I have played a lot of Diablo 3, if the other two were similar then I can see where the enjoyment comes from. Randomising dungeons, monsters and the challenge of progressing through the storyline (which is itself very enjoyable) to increasing difficulty levels gives this game quite a bit of replay value. I did however hit a bit of a barrier when arriving at the final difficulty level which has one hell of a jump. Seems the classic Blizzard tactic is in play, you have to ‘grind’ for gear at the highest level.
The graphics and interface remind me a lot of World of Warcraft actually. Whilst you don’t use WASD to control your character there are a lot of elements of the game which a WoW player would instantly pick up, even if they played some time ago. That said everything is very clean, polished and well laid out to make it all very simple to use. There are a few quirks, quite a few things I’d like to see happen in the auction house for example, but undoubtedly future patches will address those most commented on by the fans.
As the interface is clean and very simple the game play is very smooth. The finesse is undoubtedly finding the right combination of gear and skills, but you can play through the entire storyline on Normal difficulty without any real problems at all. Having tried each class a little there is plenty variety to find something which you will enjoy, be that the Monk or Barbarian for close up melee combat or a Wizard, Witch Doctor or Demon Hunter for some more ranged attacking.
Co-operative mode really seems to be where it is at for me though, helping each other and having that shared experience of playing the game and having fun. The social element adds a nice extra to the game, and hopefully makes it easier to play through when you find yourself stuck somewhere.
If you enjoy a game which has a rich storyline (so more than a little bit of pre and post mission debriefing ala Modern Warfare), with plenty of nooks and corners to investigate as well as a bit of classic Fantasy hack’n’slash play then this will probably give you plenty play time for your money. It took me a good 60-70 hours to get my first character up to the maximum level, playing through Normal / Nightmare / Hell modes. Which considering I paid £30 for the title is about £0.50 per hour entertainment, you can’t really argue with that compared to things like the cinema, bowling or beer!
More posts to come in the future about this no doubt!
