Console owners it’s time to grab your swords, ready your arrows and hone your magical powers. Diablo 3 is coming, courtesy of Blizzard, the brains behind the World of Warcraft series.
Since the release of Diablo 2, way, way, way back in 2000, fans were left waiting for the announcement of a further title in the series. Then in 2008 that time came, although it did take another 4 years for the game to be released, on May 15th 2012. So you ask why I am reviewing it more than a year later. The not so secret fact is that Diablo 3 is now available on Xbox360 and Playstation 3 a bold move for a game open solely to the PC and Mac user.
The reason behind this move? Too add to the best-selling PC title of 2012, or to simply welcome consoles into this fantasy hack and slash RPG that Diablo 3 is. Whatever the answer is, it’s a good move in my opinion.
For those of you who may not know about Diablo’s base of gameplay, let’s have a quick rundown. In the never ending battle of heaven and hell, you step up to the plate to ward off the forces of evil. Without too many spoilers the player is set along a mighty quest to inevitably defeat the dark lord, recruit followers to aid in your mission, collect loot, weapons and generally kicking evil’s butt. There are 4 acts to play through, all with a final boss level at the end. With some amazing cut scenes and side missions because. . . well, just because.
The interface and interaction were to me some of the main points I wanted to see accomplished with the transition and hasn’t let me down. The easy to navigate inventory and skills menus can be accessed and used with ease and at with haste.
Controls are simple, your skills & attacks are all in the palm of your hand to the right with movement & targeting on the left. An evade movement has been added to the right thumbstick, which isn’t available on the PC/ Mac version. All updates that were patched out to PC users are already pre-loaded onto the game also, bonus.
New character classes add variety into the selection making for numerous approaches in tactics. This is especially fun if you are in a party as it really increases the playability of the game. Sticking with the multi-player you not only have online and local play you also have the joy of LAN; yes LAN (Local Area Connection). So if you want to go old school and hook a few systems together you can, hazzar.
Another factor that stood out was the visuals and presentation of Diablo 3, with the shiny finish to end graphics and detail put into the console version really drew me in to slay down as many foes as possible until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. The paragon based level up system also encourages you to continue play and max out to unlock all the skills and class essentials to rid the world of the evil that invades its lands.
Diablo 3 is definitely holding the stakes in my game time and will continue to do so with the different playable options and difficulties at hand.
Blizzard’s done a great job with the leap back onto consoles given the 16 year gap they have taken to do it and seems fitting even for people who have no experience of the game before to pick up a controller and join in. Whether you decide to get the click happy PC version or the 360 and PS3 release, be noted Diablo 3 has been announced for next gen on the PS4 & there is no official word from Microsoft or Blizzard to state an appearance on Xbox One, yet…
Publisher/ Developer: Blizzard
Platforms: PC/ Mac, Xbox360, PS3, PS4 (Future release)
Console release date: 03/09/2013
For more info visit www.blizzard.com