Diablo III Review
Game Emblems
The Good
Diablo III is a devilishly captivating and addictive action role-playing game.
The Good
- Powerful abilities and tight controls make combat enjoyable
- Flexible, customizable character classes
- Endless, alluring loot
- Varied locations that cry out to be explored
- Harder difficulty levels change up the game significantly.
The Bad
- Online connection requirement can cause some serious frustrations
- Weapon system flies in the face of traditional RPG logic.
Once upon a time, the Diablo series defined the hack-and-slash action role-playing game, setting the standard by which all games in the genre were measured. Now, Diablo III feels more familiar than genre-defining, relying on refining the same hooks that have always made this series so compelling. But what a refinement it is. The controls are responsive and pleasurable; the diversity of character classes and skill customization options is impressive; and the constant stream of gold and treasure you earn is irresistible. Blizzard has the recipe for crafting a habit-forming loot-driven action RPG down to a science, and in Diablo III, the results of that recipe are more exciting and more addictive than they've ever been.
You begin your quest just after what appears to be a flaming star falls from the heavens and crashes into the cathedral in Tristram, the doomed town where the events of Diablo took place. This cosmic occurrence has the unfortunate side effect of reanimating the dead, and the people of New Tristram find themselves besieged by corpses long ago put to rest. Diablo III's story is unremarkable, but it weaves in plenty of references to and appearances by characters from earlier games and enriches the established lore of the series. Fans of Diablo and Diablo II will immediately feel drawn into this world.
You certainly don't need any familiarity with the series to jump right into Diablo III, however. If you've played earlier games, you'll likely get even more out of Diablo III--the music that plays in the New Tristram area may send nostalgic shivers down your spine--but the gameplay is welcoming and easy to grasp for vets and newcomers alike. You choose one of five character classes, and though they become quite distinct at later levels, they all start with nothing but basic offensive skills that are performed with clicks of the mouse.
That may sound dull, but in fact the rate at which you acquire new skills is part of what makes Diablo III so hard to pull yourself away from. You very quickly open up slots for new types of abilities; if you're playing as a demon hunter, for instance, you begin with a basic archery attack, but you can soon supplement this with resource-draining skills like a rapid fire ability, enemy-slowing caltrops, acrobatic somersaults that can get you away from enemies, and other techniques.
These skills are divided into distinct categories--primary, secondary, defensive, and so on--and by default, you can have only one skill from each category equipped at a time. This is a sensible restriction if you're a novice player, because it helps ensure that your character is well rounded, with a complementary assortment of abilities. However, if you prefer a greater level of character customization, you can turn on what's called elective mode. With this on, you can opt to equip whichever skills you want in your available slots, rather than being limited to choosing one from each category. But if you do this, be mindful of your character's resource pool. If you select two monk skills that cost spirit (the monk's resource) and no skills that generate spirit, you're going to have some trouble slaughtering the legions of hell spawn you encounter.
Choosing one skill always means not choosing another, since your number of available key bindings is always equal to the number of active skill categories you've unlocked. (Once you've unlocked all six skill categories for your class, for instance, you have just six bindings to which you can link skills.) But you can change your selected skills at any time, giving you free rein to tinker with your abilities until you find a combination you're happy with.
You never sink points into skills to make them more effective, so you never have to worry that you're not making the best choices. Rather, as you level up, you unlock both new skills and new runes you can apply to existing skills. From level 13 on, for instance, witch doctors can apply the numbing dart rune to their poison dart attack, which adds a slowing effect to this offensive ability. You can eventually unlock a total of six runes for each active ability, though you can have only one rune at a time activated on any ability. This system prevents you from squandering your character's growth by sinking points into skills that leave you ill-equipped for challenges to come, and lets you customize your abilities on the fly to better tackle the challenges you're currently facing.
By
Carolyn Petit, Editor
Carolyn Petit has been reading GameSpot since 2000 and writing for it since 2008. She has a particular fondness for games of the 1980s, and intends to leave the field of games journalism as soon as she hears that her local Ghostbusters franchise is hiring.
1443 comments
I don't know why everyone is saying that this game sucks or is a turd or what not... I actually like it very much. Why? Because: the gameplay is good, the story is not that short (keeping in mind that it has 4 difficulties), bosses are not that easy to beat and the ability of making money out of selling items is always appealing.
However, it also has some pretty bad aspects like PvP. But i am sure is going to get better in time :)
I would totally recommend this game :) Trust me. I have spent whole nights playing it and also made a pretty big amount of money from selling items :)
User Score vs Metacritic Score, let the battle begin!
Seriously though, I think 'the critics' didn't play long enough to see the flaws of D3.
For me the game was ok. It could always be a lot worse.
2 Like How the hell can the editor here post "Flexible Customizable character classes" as being a good point in Diablo 3???? There is no customization or flexibility, No uniqueness at all... Either Carolyn Petit is on Crack or she didn't actually play the game.. Or perhaps she was completely new to the genre and never played any of the Diablo clones or Previous Diablo Games that were 1000 times better than this nonsense... Yeah like Blackfrog says... Go play Torchlight 2 instead.. Never tried Path of exile but I may give it a shot, it sure as hell has to be better than D3
1 Like @PsiKoticKillerI laughed when I read that as well. "flexible" my arse. It is a really bad and unrealistic review. Honestly I don't believe she played the game from reading the review! After playing it, 4-5 is all i would give it. A 'great ' game? NO, poor to mediocre at best.
2 Like guys check out torchlight 2 or path of exile, way better than diablo 3.....
and you guys should review this game again, many bad things got noticed later....its just a rip off, nothing else. a strategy money simulation (rmah) and the exterior is a mediocre APRG
1 Like How this garbage got 88/100?
amazon rating 2/5
gamespot 7.2
gamefaqs 6.9
This game fucking sucks!
I'm sure most of you guys (or gals) know this by now, but just in case you don't; If you're upset with Diablo 3, then check out Torchlight 2. It's only 20 bucks and it's made by a few of the same people behind the first two Diablo's. It's more robust in every way, the only thing that might turn off some is the graphics don't look gritty like Diablo. It's more of a World of Warcraft type style. Still looks fantastic in my opinion, I just noticed some people complaining about the art style so I thought I'd address it. Anybody else playing T2? Thoughts?
I haven't been on D3 in forever, mostly cause the game is terrible. But i decided to go online just to see how many people where still playing, i checked my friends list which was massive, couldn't even count how many friends ( anyone I played with or traded with I added as a friend so naturally my list was pretty big) so I figured most of them were still paying right!?!?.... wrong, not a single person was play that steaming pile of crap. this just shows that 90% of the people that D3 after purchasing the game and playing it realized how terrible the game really was......
It's amazing what people will do to try and make some money off of trending topics... even more amazing how many people fall for them (cough cough... content locker on the keygen crap)
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people keep saying its not an online game, but as long as you have to be online to play it is.
2 Like I've been a fan ever since the first Diablo came out and I can see where the hate for this game might come from (dumbed down, too colorful, levels don't get randomized as much as in previous games, atmosphere is not as creepy anymore as in previous games, real money in auction house yadda yadda), but all this doesn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying Diablo 3 nonetheless. I mostly play it with my life partner in co-op and we have a lot of fun killing demons together. :-)
2 Like @FreedomPrimeI will take your word for it; to make you happy I would rather play Torchlight II before this.
6 Like I'm not here to add to the seemingly unending lists of love/hate comments about Diablo III, I'm just here to say this: Blizzard, you had fans, and you had money, and you chose one, and not both.
4 Like Thank god diablo 3 sucks, not even close to d2.
This was made so that blizzard could earn as much money as possible, they dont give a shit if its good or not!
Shame on you!!
Well I would give only 6.0 score if I play in regular mode.But when I start to play in Hardcore Mode.......I realized that this is what I'm looking for Adenarine Rush 8.5 is not enough ^^
4 Like Diablo 3 is terrible. The always online requirement and itemization to make the real money auction house a money-maker for blizzard killed the game. All my friends I know who purchased the game on release day are now saying they greatly regret purchasing it. I strongly suggest people stay away from Diablo 3.
1 Like True Diablo fans who have liked Diablo from way back when will truly appreciate this game. Dont listen to as on poster put it below.."Ea Fanboys" who are talking trash about this game.
@Armedranger True fans!? lol if you were a true fan youd be playing torchlight considering most of the people that made that game also made the original diablo LOL. D3 is a joke and anyone who still plays that game deserves to get rip off.
@Armedranger True fans aren't like that, true fans don't blindly just like the game that has the same name as previous title in the series. True fans are the ones who give the best feedback because they really know what makes the game work and what does not. True fans are the ones who should really hate and criticize the game, because then company can learn what they really want.
5 Like True Diablo fans will be dissapointed with Diablo 3. Blizzard does not even employ the same people who worked on the first two Diablo titles. Diablo 3 was crafted specifically to suck as much money out of its players as possible with little regard for actually making a game which players would enjoy.
And I am not an EA fanboy. I actually dislike EA greatly. Blizzard has lost my respect with what they did to Diablo 3, I will not purchase another product from blizzard until they apologize to their customers and stop their blatently greedy business practices.
I honestly dont understand the deal with this Diablo 3 hate, i have played much worse games, such as borderlands ( waste of my life) but i've always been a die hard diablo fan. I think the rating is well deserved and that the expectations did fall short a bit, some peoples expectations were too high to begin with and others are just steamed that they game isn't tailored exactly to their extreme preference. If you like it, awesome... if not stfu.
5 Like ok, i signed up to gamespot just to say WTF to this review. seriously 8.5???? id say 4 if i were in the generous mood.
<Start rambling>
to be perfectly honest, yes i was really hyped up about this game, practically preordered the CE soon as it was available for preorder then waited roughly another 2 yrs for its release. was then disappointed a few days into playing the game but told myself to give it a fair go and not base opinion on the hype. finally into inferno only to realise i need to stack all res on every gear piece to survive (no to mention the main stat/vit and MF as well to make grind worth the effort, so imagine the demand for such items). then came the kick in the nuts, item drops were "mostly" lower lvl than the current game progression, making them useless. but thx to my stupidity and stubborness, i proceeded to farm gold to buy from the AH. finally wearing gear that can only drop from act 2 onwards, im able to kill butcher without it being a zerg fest. then onto act 2 and im one shotted regular mobs.........i mean WTF, i can take 5 hits from butcher and not even one from regular mob act 2
my point: the design team for this game is retarded, game is designed to regress rather than progress as u play.
ofc this was pre1.03, but the time 1.03 is out, most have alrdy quit. (if the number of player per quest is any indication then the game has lost over 99% of players. there were 2k+ players per quest at launch compared to a max of 10 now)
<Stop rambling>
in short waste of money, but more importantly a waste of time, if u need entertainment, try banging head against wall, i did and found it more entertaining
btw i gotta commend dwringer for his continued and solo effort to support this game, if u guys thing Carolyn was paid for this review, then dwringer has got to be a full time employee
2 Like nc try blizzard! HOW MUCH U PAID TO REVIEW THIS THING WITH AN 8.5 REALLY!u know u might think we are stupid BUT WE ARE NOT THAT STUPID REALLY!game sucks! the end!blizzard is going down!they failed at diablo they will fail at wows new expansion ...i just hope sc wont get fucked up too.Btw gj to the one who reviewed this game ....u should be ashamed of urlef....hope u ll spend the money grabbed to review this in a good way
1 Like @Forsakenstavro2 "BUT WE ARE NOT THAT STUPID REALLY!"
LOL sir, based solely on that I'm gonna have to say that yes, yes you are indeed stupid LOL
1 Like @Forsakenstavro2 "BUT WE ARE NOT THAT STUPID REALLY"
sorry to say but i am, i perservered to play after the first week hoping it would pan out
FML
7 Like Diablo III sucks! I don't know what Carolyn is talking about. She obviously didn't play very long cuz it will bore you to tears in no time. Cluncky, linear and mind numbingly BORING! Nothing like the first two. Wish I hadn't wasted my money. The auction house is a joke. Spending money for virtual items? Rather have something in hand, thanks. What a joke - 8.5!!! MAYBE a 4.
1 Like I guess this is why there is no Half-life 3 people tend to burn a game to the ground if it is not as legendary as its previous part. So Valve dont do this to Half-life leave it you cant win this even the mighty Blizzard is down
5 Like It is absolutely comical that this game got an 8.5 at launch. Now, after 1.0.4, this game might be a 6 or a 6.5. At launch, this game was a 4 or a 5.
6 Like Biggest waste of time and money I have ever had the displeasure to play. Poor story, bugs, bugs and more bugs, can't play offline so you have to deal with LAG on a single player game. You have to repeat the story 4 times per toon (which is mind numbing), omg I am rambling... cut a long rant short:
Don't buy this game, go to your friends house that was stupid enough to pay for this game and do the 8 hour normal mode there and you will experience everything Diablo 3 has to offer (which isn't much). I wouldn't even recommend this game if it were $20.
1 Like The number of people who can't seem to think rationally about this game makes me sad for the future of this country. I have made over 15 dollars so far, not spending a dime; I have a friend who has made over 100. In the news recently was someone who made over 10,000, but I presume he also had real capital to work with.
Also, being always-online and having an RMAH were both ADVERTISED features of the game. If you don't like it, you shouldn't have paid the 60 in the first place. I think you're all EA fanboys who've been brainwashed into hating any company owned by Activision, but that's neither here nor there, just my opinion.
@dwringer I honestly didn't know the real money auction house would make the loot system, which is the point of the game, silly.
4 Like they will never be able to trick as many people into buying diablo 4 should they chose to make it. blizzard burned a lot of people with their always online and real money auction house. you should never have to buy fake weapons for real money just to win a game you already paid for, considering the dvd isnt anything more then a $60 scenery dvd, because everything else in on their servers.
5 Like This game was an 8.5 in the beginning, and by inferno act 2 the game ends up a generous 2. Hours and hours and hours of just grinding to make some money to buy something in the Auction House, because drops are absolute crap. On top of that, the economy is inflated because of gold botting. Everything seems to feed the RMAH, where Blizzard can make additional money on the game. Advice? unless you like grinding and grinding and grinding and grinding some more without useful drops, then don't buy the game.
3 Like Blizzard have become a money-eater. We don't have to connect internet and join a server to play a single-player mode. What a surprise, at least they don't demand monthly payment for Diablo III. They will be one of the most hated companies soon, just like EA.
Account got hacked again. This time, they changed my email address and even changed the security question. Blizzard initially acts like I didn't exist. I have to put in a support ticket and include a scanned picture of an ID. If I didn't pay $60, I almost wouldn't care.
1 Like Account got hacked again. I didn't do anything for a few days and Blizzard threatened to close my account!!! I'm started to get concerned with all these online locked games and digital distribution. If I lost my account, I just lost a $60 game...not that I'm playing it, but I paid for it!!!
2 Like people are really starting to tick me off ok since D2 lets look at where gaming has went hmmm Ps3 Xbox360.... games are better these days so yes there is a lot of competition, but D3 is great game for anyone to play yeah it is a lot of grinding but i was amazing at d2 and all d2 was same thing over and over and over people never complained people have spoken about it not getting good till a couple years after it came out well thats true few years later came uber trist and things of that nature some of you people are ridiculous on a whole other level complaining about paying sixty bucks for a free online game lol are you poor as hell? or maybe its b/c you created the wrong character and cant get ledge weapons cry baby cry cry would you like a wamburger and some french cries your not even a good critic go in your room find a chair and some rope and have someone tie you up and kick the chair out from under you so you can fall and die and we wont get anymore useless post i am positive in knowing this game will be played for years to come we dont even have the expansion yet with everyones favorite character the paladin calm down give them time... keep your character up to date and never stop mfin you will get good loot and slowly this game will become your favorite Carolyn i think 8.5 was a very fair post any game you play for more than 100 hours can easily get and 8.5 on playability alone. they are going to be releasing two more expansion no one knows how long it will be but come on lets give blizzard a chance they keep people wanting all i say is Diablo 3 was way overhyped even for me ive only been waiting on this game forever and yes i did expect it to just take over but im not going to complain about 60 bucks lol i mean wtf anyone can spend 60 bucks on a game its fun and gold and item raids never get old to me i play all games and rate them equally this game is a gamers game get go for it and never give up unlike Skygrim fallout things of those nature that this so many times over and over get compared to those games will be put down this will keep going for all those that still love Diablo i say keep it up and never look back these haters will be the ones wishing they new what was going on when everyone is still playing 5 years later!!!!!
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