is a fantasy Action
Role-Playing Game (RPG). Only the third major release in
what is considered by many gamers as the most iconic RPG
franchise of all time,
continues the land
of Sanctuary's battle against a reoccurring demonic evil, and
provides players around the world with the opportunity to create the
ultimate hero to quest against it with friends online, or
on their own. Features include: classic dungeon crawling
gameplay, a new batch of character classes, multiplayer
options with friends and single player support with the
help of AI companions, a new take on character skill
assignment and health, online item auctioning, and compatibility
with Windows and Mac operating systems.
expansion pack, in which the demonic lords, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal,
set out across the world of Sanctuary on a vicious rampage, twisting
humanity to their unholy will. Yet for those who battled the Prime
Evils, the memory fades slowly. When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins
of Tristram Cathedral seeking clues to defeat new stirrings of evil, a
fiery harbinger of doom falls from the heavens, striking the very ground
where Diablo once entered the world. This fire from the sky reawakens
ancient evils, but also calls the heroes of Sanctuary to defend the
mortal world against the rising powers of the Burning Hells once again.
I played DII for a long time, on and off, and eventually raised a
sorceress up to level 80 something after about two years. Like any
game, it grew stale and I moved on to other things. I think I would
have given the game a four star out of five (with the expansion). It
was innovative for the time, I enjoyed leveling up my toon, and it was
fun. It wasn't the type of game that could keep me glued to the screen
for hours and hours, but an hour here, a level there, and for what it
was I enjoyed it.
Then comes this game. I guess I was expecting
something.. more? I refused to play the beta, since I think it can
detract from the fun of launch and trying a new game. I anticipated a
similar type of experience to DII, however I thought they would
obviously refine and update the experience. I have leveled my main toon
up to mid 20s, and here is how I feel the game stacks up:
1)
Its the same game fundamentally as DII. The graphics vastly better, but
you are still locked in to an overhead view with high resolutions
surroundings. I was looking for options to change the camera, zoom out,
do anything... but they never added any of that. The environments look
good, but its the same as DII - you go out into a randomly generated
plane, scattered with the odd monster lair, groups of mobs, fog of war,
and teleporters back to town. You have acts and bosses and lots of loot
to choose from. Its primarily the same thing.
2) They did away
with the talent trees and replaced them with abilities you get as you
level. You assign an attack per button on your mouse and then get
others you can use on 1-4 on your keyboard. The good thing is you get
access eventually to all the abilities and can choose on the fly which
ones you want. No more placing points into trees where you get 2% more
damage for frost spells or getting stuck picking abilities that you
later regretted. You also don't place any ability points - its all on
autolevel. The thing is... I liked the old system. My build was mine,
and I looked forward to that level to place a point, or in three levels
will get this ability, etc. I could map out how I wanted to make my
toon. Now its all automatic and the only choice I have on my dude is
whether its a she or a he, the name, and what ability I want to use for
whatever fight. Its much more like a common action game with very
watered down RPG elements than an action RPG.
3) Same old grind
with your attacks. I tend to use the same attacks... over and over and
over and over. For me it has gotten stale much faster than I thought it
would. I think that is because its basically DII with enhanced
graphics and a crappy leveling system and DII came out 10 years ago. I
played that game to death, and I guess I just expected something more.
The story is very low key and there really isn't much else there. Its
fun to smash mobs over and over or blow them up or what not, but thats
all this game really is. It was more enjoyable 10 years ago because it
was relatively new then. Now it seems almost a step backwards.
4)
The Server. Holy smokes I was blown away by this and is the sole
reason why this game gets 2 stars instead of 3 for being just OK. You
have to log onto a server to play this game. I understand blizz wants
to data mine whatever you do online, and obviously protect their product
from piracy, but I honestly don't understand why they went this route.
Some people say they wanted to go the multiplayer route more with DIII.
The problem with that is the multiplayer is going into public games
and pressing two buttons with a 1-2 other people. Its ok I guess for
about 3 minutes... but then I just left and played my own game. Others
say they wanted to use the online auction house. A decent idea, but I
really don't know how many people will find that all that attractive.
You get loot so fast, and level up, and get better loot that before you
know it that rare item you got two days ago is now junk. Why spend
money on those items when in a day or two you will not need it? But it
still boils down to having to log on. And I still have to wait
sometimes to get on because the server is full. For what in my book is a
single player game. Then I get on... and you get the server restart in
15 minutes BS.. or the game is laggy as heck and your toon jumps all
over and it glitches out. If your like me and just want to turn it on
and blast the snot outa baddies for about ~ 30 minutes (until it gets
boring), then the whole server thing is just an incredibly over the top
DRM system. I thought maybe the chat thing was something that would
make it worthwhile and was treated to Superbubbaz and Cooldoodz23
performing 12 year old wow like trade chat - that was definitely not a
positive addition. I don't see anything they added here thats a bonus
and not a detractor. If a DRM subtracts from the pleasure you get out
of the product they put out - that god awful mess for HofMM6 is a good
example, then the DRM is a failure. This isn't as bad as that, but its
close.
So overall its a two star game for me. Logged on
tonight... went about 5 minutes and just logged out and wrote this
review. Its only a few days old and I feel like I've been playing it
for 4 months. Too bad I guess, I was hoping they would do much more
with this game.
Winner of CES 2009 Best of Innovations Award
