Diablo III is similar to its predecessors in that the game doesn't feature much of a storyline. The game sets adventurers off after a few impressive cutscenes that set the stage for a long quest to free the land from the grips of an evil, demonic force. The game's characters and voice actors are more often a distraction from the gameplay and some of the scenes featured in the game are terribly cliché at this point, but most players won't be picking up Diablo III for its complex storyline. What the game does offer is a fun multiplayer experience and nearly endless replay value that includes an incredibly long campaign and unlockable difficulties that make the game even tougher and more entertaining the second time around.
The obvious major change in Diablo III for consoles is the game's control scheme. Rather than pointing and clicking through the game's environments and clicking to attack with precision, Diablo III on console allows gamers the ability to move more freely in any direction but at the sacrifice of the precision a mouse pointer gives to players. This will obviously please players that are used to playing games on consoles, but it will likely not convert many PC gamers. Keyboards obviously have more buttons than a gamepad, so some abilities and attack buttons have been rearranged or completely removed from the game. Diablo III plays and feels a lot different on consoles, and preference of the game will likely come down to preferences of the player in this ported title.
Much of Diablo III has remained untouched from the release on PC, and really, little has changed since the game series' debut back in 1996. Players choose a class and customize a character when first beginning a new game, and new skills and abilities are unlocked by defeating enemies, completing missions and progressing through the game. Diablo III does feature some new classes for the franchise including the necromancy of the Witch Doctor, the deadly Demon Hunter and the hard-hitting Barbarian. Rather than forcing players into a specific class and set of skills, characters unlock numerous skills and abilities and then choose which to equip to the character at any given time. This offers the flexibility for players to choose the loadout for their character and change it on a whim if so desired instead of being locked into decisions made earlier in the game.
Diablo III is a great looking game. The character models and enemies may not be the best looking in the industry, but the carefully crafted backgrounds offer some unique environments to explore throughout the game. Menus in the game are easier to navigate now, and some other minor tweaks have been made to the user interface for the better. One incredibly important feature in Diablo III is the game's multiplayer. While the game still allows players to head online with other players in up to four player cooperative sessions, players can now team up offline from the comfort of their own homes. Playing locally raises some problems such as ensuring you're only playing the game together with offline characters to ensure neither player is overmatched against the current enemies and deciding what to do when your partner is taking too long to equip loot and customize their character, but it's still a wonderful feature that the PC version does not include.
Diablo III isn't a must buy for gamers that have already experienced the game back in May 2012, and it isn't perfect enough to be considered the definitive version of the game, but anyone who is interested in picking up a copy of the game should definitely not hesitate to do so. Diablo III is incredibly entertaining and is a great value proposition that offers hundreds of hours of gameplay and fun multiplayer sessions online or locally. The Diablo series is one of the most well known gaming franchises for a reason, and Diablo III is the best version for the classic RPG genre. Grinding out levels, completing dungeons and gathering loot is the backbone of many games in today's gaming industry, but nearly all of them can trace their inspirations back to the Diablo series. Pick up a copy of Diablo III today and role play an adventure with a friend like it never gets old, because it doesn't!
Diablo III is now available from all major retailers for the MSRP of $59.99 and can be purchased for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC & Mac. Diablo III is rated M by the ESRB for Blood and Gore & Violence. For more information on the game, check out the official Diablo III website.
Game Features
Game Information
Developer & Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Platforms: PlayStation 3 (reviewed), Xbox 360, PC & Mac
Release Date: September 3, 2013
Score: 9.6 out of 10
Note: Please check out the 5 Reasons to Play Diablo III on Xbox 360 for our thoughts on the Xbox version.