Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Total letdown"

Firstly i would like to declare that i prayed to god for this game to succeed!
Sadly, it fails in most aspects and i suggest people who haven't bought it yet to avoid it until it hits the bargain selves.

Graphics: They get the job done,but thats its.They seem a little outdated and there are only 2 zoom presets which are not very fuctionable.Maybe it is in my mind,but the game looks like a polished torchlight!!!Background design and lighting are good and manage to create a dark and bloody atmosphere.

Sound :Nothing special,but while thats ok for other games ,it is a minus for a diablo game.

Gameplay:...WTF...and I mean WTF!!How can you destroy the heritage of the most addictive action rpgs(D1+D2) and create something SO boring like this?Blizzard claims to develop a diablo game WITHOUT

1)Stat allocation!Stats grow automatically on lvlup depending on class.The official excuse is that people sometimes mess the stats up and have to reroll!!

2)Skill levelling!Oh yeah thats right!One may think that the lack of stat allocation means that char development leans toward skills..Well there is NO skill leveling,No skill trees.You just unlock skills and their subskills while you level up and thats it!Subskills(called runes if i remember correctly) adds a special bonus to their main skill and only one can be active at a time!You choose which main skill will be used and with which subskill will be accompanied!Its like choosing your weapon and then the type of ammo for it..Pretty lame for a supposed action crpg game.


3)Sprint...Thats right!Blizzard thought we might need the extra hand for coffee and smokes while killing that main boss.

4)tomes of town portal/tomes of intentification.I still wonder why having unidentified items ingame when the character has a self castable "identify item" spell which can be cast anywhere,anytime from lvl 1!!Seriously!!Town portal is a castable spell that you get when you hit about lvl5.

Simplicity in every aspect of gameplay is the word that best describes the situation.So much simplicity that if you are over 10 y.o you will probably categorize D3 to platform games genre.So much simplicity that leads fast to boredome..Its obvious that blizzard's target is the frenzy online item grinding/selling in end game and not the single player's fun.Adding the pvp arena to this i think that developers tried to produce a blizzard's LOL,eventually taking advantage of diablo legacy and playerbase..Their thought must be that "many many ppl will buy the game for the hype and legacy and pay those 60 euros and then some of them will stay and pay online real money transactions in order to prevail against others in pvp.We will milk the diablo cow to hell".

Scenario: The story is the only reason for me to play the game..Its not that much interesting comparing to D1 and D2,but it gets you hooked.I dont rush to judge the scenario since i have not yet finished it and i think its unfair to condemn it without knowing all its twists and turns.

It is beyond me why took blizzard 4 years to develop the game at its current state.D3 just reminded me of the good times i had while playing D1 and D2..Its weird for the new game to advertise the old ones,dont you think?
In my opinion all that blizzard had to do was to take the gameplay of D2 and the atmosphere of D1 and add some a flavor mix of new ideas and modern graphics(for nowadays lcd monitors).These features alongside a good scenario(which the game seems to have),would be an instant win.

Sadly D3 downgrades the diablo series name.I will probably get back to diablo 2 once i finish the story,for some end game diablo gameplay..I will not encourage anyone who is a diablo fun to spend money on D3,at its current price.Major disappointment apart from the scenario.