Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

******************* UPDATED (6/1/2012) ******************* UPDATED (5/20/2012) ******************* UPDATED (5/18/2012) ******************* I'll keep this review short given that there are 800+ reviews for this game already. (I have the collector's edition which is why I don't show up as a 'verified purchase') THE GOOD: ========= 1. Fun to play It's still fun to play, although it is still the same mindless, hack and slash, quasi-RPG game that the previous two are. 2. Decent presentation Graphics and sound (music/sound effects/etc) are pretty solid, if uninspired. 3. Isometric view I am really glad that they did not turn this game into a first person view game, like Bethesda did with Fallout 3. THE BAD ======= 1. Server "issues" 'Nuff said. Surprising given that it took Blizzard 12 years to come out with this game. 2. Quasi-RPG, with NO CHARACTER BUILDS/CUSTOMIZATION (i.e. LITTLE REPLAY VALUE) Nothing is permanent, including character 'development'. By choosing to not allow players to increase specific character attributes (dexterity, strenth, etc.), Blizzard really took out the "quasi" in "quasi-RPG". It's actually a straight up action game, with skills automatically unlocked automatically based on XP the SAME FOR EVERYONE. So absolutely ZERO character customizations. Forget about agonizing over how to develop your character, because Blizzard has decided to dumb it down for you and make everything possible at any time. Don't like your current skills? Well, just choose another one, they're all available after all! Ridiculous decision and quite possibly the worst thing about this game. 3. Complete Re-hash of Diablo II (i.e. NOT VERY INTERESTING TO PLAY THE FIRST TIME) This game is basically D2 with updated graphics and worse voice acting and absolutely zero atmostphere. The maps seem so familiar that you could probably do the entire game from memory even if you have never played it before, as long as you have played D2. Specifically... 4. Lack of Randomized dungeons (i.e. LOW REPLAY VALUE) Everything is in the same location, or so it seems at least. The continental maps are the same, so everytime you play a game online you join the mad rush of players all running towards destinations like rats who have mastered a maze. The 'dungeons' (there are actually few dungeons), or locations, all seem to be minimally varied at all game to game. This makes the game lose a lot of its REPLAY VALUE. Let's say that this game has very low replay value unless you want to play all the characters through all the difficulty levels and get them all up to level 60 or whatever the highest level is. No point in ever playing the same class twice, since there is no 'build' anymore for characters. 5. Lack of Atmosphere It really looks like WoW in an isometric view. Completely gone is the claustrophobic, disturbing, and foreboding atmosphere of D1. Everything looks cartoonish, which is exacerbated by the veritable fireworks display of all colors everytime you use just about any skill. Not to mention that many weapons have a neon glow to them even when not in use. Don't be surprised to see a barbarian running around with bright neon orange and green axes in his hands. And a coop battle looks like you're at some kind of a rave or Phish concert. 6. Miscellaneous Bad writing, distracting attempts at humor, very poor voice acting (especially Leah), and tedious intro/cutscenes. OVERALL: ======== 3/5 for mindless fun 2/5 for overall quality of the game ++ ******************** (UPDATED (5/18/2012) ******************** So, I finished the game on 'normal' difficulty and got up to level 31 with my Demon Hunter. Add a few new "goods" and "bads" for this game... GOOD ==== 1. Better Cutscenes The ones at the end are better than the earlier ones (e.g. it's possible to watch it through without hitting ESC). 2. Still Fun (for now...) Yes, it is still fun to play, despite the numerous deficiencies mentioned previously. Once I finish the game on the hardest difficulty, I cannot imagine playing it again until the inevitable expansion pack(s) comes out. I will play all the difficulty levels though and the expansion packs, which should say something about the casual playability of this game. Despite the limitations on and simplification of character development, it is still fun to 'unlock' new skills to use. Much of the fun does derive from leveling (read: grinding) and item collection (who doesn't still love to collect rare, unique, and now legendary items?). BAD === 1. Too SHORT!!! (i.e. LOW REPLAY VALUE) Maybe 15-20 hours and I finished the game in normal difficulty, and I cannot believe how SHORT THIS GAME IS. It's shocking actually, and it does not help that the acts are so similar to D2. For some reason I expected this game to be much longer and expansive compared with D2, similar to how D2 was much more immense in scope compared with D1. But no, there are still just 4 (I think) acts that are fairly short and easy to complete. 2. Lame Bosses/Lairs (i.e. Zzzzzz...) Most of the bosses in D3 are pretty lame. Half of them are just gigantic, bulbous and obese monstrosities that are barely distinguishable from one another. Only Diablo himself appears significantly unique. The lairs are similarly boring... most are just gigantic square rooms that you run around endlessly trying to avoid getting injured. The boss action, of course, is pure 'grinding' at its finest. In the later acts, the bosses are almost back to back to back, which to be quite honest got tired really fast, especially when they all seemed the same. 3. Horrible Skill Interface/System (i.e. FORGET ABOUT SWITCHING THEM IN A BATTLE!) Yes, the way that you switch between skills is very cumbersome and involves opening up a skills window and then clicking on various tabs to select different skills and their runes (which are not physical items either) that was not intuitive at all at the beginning, and even when you get used to it still prevents easy switching of skills. Fine, let there be a 'cool off' time for switching skills, but requiring the skills window to open up in order to change skills is beyond annoying and really means you're not likely to do it in a battle. So, that means that essentially you're stuck with a half dozen skills, max, at any given time. This feels very limited and boring, especially when you have all these skills that you unlocked and would like to use with some variety to keep things fun. 4. Linear Gameplay (i.e. GO FROM A > B > C > D...) More so than D1 or even D2, D3 is super linear. There is very little exploration you can do except for on the world maps, and even then there are blockades that need to be unlocked as part of some quest or another, limited your ability to explore. OVERALL ======= It is still a fun game but very disappointing in many ways. Primarily the lack of character attribute/skill customization (e.g. no 'builds'), the sense of deja vu that you get when you play due to the game being so similar in design to Diablo 2, and the small scope of the game. I couldn't believe that Diablo came so soon, and when he died I was wondering if there would be another act or something, but alas, it just ended with a whimper and yet another cutscene. 3/5 for mindless fun 2/5 for overall quality of the game ******************** (UPDATED (5/20/2012) ******************** BOTTOM LINE =========== So, I got my character up to level 50 and finished D3 on nightmare difficulty and... I just uninstalled it. The truth is, the more you play, the higher level you achieve, the less you want to continue playing. This mostly is a result of the lack of character development/customization (and by that, I mean inability to assign attribute points or selectively develop/specialize skills as in D2) and the overall similarity to D2. The over-simplication (and let's not forget that D2 was a pretty simple game to begin with... hardly real RPG type character development or gameplay) really is the downfall of this otherwise serviceable game. The bottom line is -- it's just not that fun to play over and over again. It's also laughable that Blizzard is trying to squeeze even more money out of their fans pockets with the Auction House, which no normal person would (or could) actually use to try to make money off of the game. I remember selling various items from D2 on ebay (remember the 'grandfather sword' anyone?) but it's hard to imagine that anyone would do the same with this game. In the end, I have to say that while fun for awhile, D3 is ultimately a massive disappointment to fans of the series. For me, it provided less than a week of gameplay, unlike D2 that I played for months and months. It is not the kind of Blizzard product that the company built its reputation on during the 1990s and 2000s, and is clearly showing the unfortunate influence of big company marketing in the development of one of its most popular franchises. Unless the direction that Blizzard takes with their games (e.g. dumbing down and simplifying their games to achieve more widespread appeal) changes, I will NOT be buying another Blizzard product ever. Thank God for Kickstart, which has brought back the possibility of independent game development back from the dead (Wasteland 2!!!)... Final (downgrade) Rating: 2/5 for brief, mindless fun 1/5 for overall quality of the game ******************* UPDATED (6/1/2012) ******************* Yes, I know I said the last update would be the last but I had a few things to add. So, I have the collector's edition (completely worth the $100 given all the goodies it comes with), which includes D2/LOD on a USB flash drive. After uninstalling D3 (after 6 days of gameplay getting my Demon Hunter up to lvl 50 and finishing on nightmare difficulty), I decided to see how D2 looked and played (haven't played it since 2001, after getting the LOD expansion pack) after all these years. Well, D2/LOD is still great! I've been playing for about two weeks (more than twice the time I played D3 for), building a Werebear Druid, and I am amazed with the superiority of this game over the follow-up that took 12 years to be released but feels like a cheap imitation of the real deal. MORE BAD THINGS ABOUT DIABLO 3 ============================== 1. HAND-HOLDING AND DUMBED DOWN GAMEPLAY (e.g. D3 NEEDS TO APPEAL TO THE TABLET GAMER CROWD!!) Yes, the geniuses at Blizzard decided that D3 had to be super noob friendly to help ensure the most widespread adoption by casual gamers. So, LOOT that drops from monsters for each player in a multiplayer game INDIVIDUALLY, which other players cannot see let alone pickup. I mean, how stupid is that? It makes no sense for this to happen and is an example of extent of the absurd hand-holding and 'noob-ification' of this game. Another example is the ELIMINATION of the use of TOWN PORTAL or IDENTIFY scrolls. What a hassle to use those items when Blizzard could just simplify the game to get rid of them, and instead allow players to press a button at any time to magically teleport themselves back to town (complete with a silly animation of the players crouching and white energy balls emanating from their hands), right? And identify scrolls, a RPG staple from the earliest days, well, why not get rid of that silly hassle too and allow players to identify any item just by right clicking on it? Frustrated by having to explore the square continental MAPS searching for important locations (well, the first time you play through that is, because those locations don't appear to ever change)? Well, no problem because the good folks at Blizzard have decided that exploration is a waste of time and so they make ARROWS and other indicators appear on the map that SHOW YOU WHERE TO GO, and if you are close to an important place. Yes D2 act 1 had a road that would lead you to adjacent maps, but nothing even close to this level of hand-holding. Can anyone really question the noob-ification and extreme linearness of this game? There's not even an option to turn those map 'hints'/guides off. Yet another example is the noob-ification of the GEAR REPAIR/durability system. In D3, items have a durability rating (e.g. 24/24) but that never seems to decrease (or at least, very slowly), despite using your weapons and taking damage. Even if an item does break you can simply get it FIXED by the blacksmith guy, so really what was the point? In D2 (and other RPGs), you fix your gear so that it doesn't break because typically you can't just weld a broken sword back together again! And of course, don't forget that monsters now drop HEALTH ORBS that raise your life instantly when you walk over them, instead of health potions that needed to be then be consumed in order to get healed. So, yes -- Diablo 3 has been SIMPLIFIED and DUMBED DOWN to the level of an arcade side shooter game. Hell, it's basically Sonic the Hedgehog with gear grinding! 2. ABSURD STORY By now most Diablo fans have heard about the absurd and cringe-inducing story of D3 (I won't 'spoil' it for those of you who haven't played it yet, but it involves a human and a certain demon mating and producing a very annoying NPC). D2, on the other hand, had a reasonably interesting and fairly well thought out (if not particularly original) story of the 'Dark Wanderer' (your character from D1), which provides the backdrop for D2. And don't even get me started on the most ridiculous NPC from the Diablo series, Leah... 3. 4-PLAYER CO-OP LIMIT Eight player co-op games in D2 are great -- too bad you're limited to only four players in D3. Just stupid. 4. OTHER BATTLE.NET ISSUES The game creation system for multiplayer co-op has also been simplified, in a bad way. You can't name your games or even play in a game with other players unless you are on the same exact quest. It's very limiting and substantially decreases the online replay value (which is not very high to begin with, unfortunately). 5. SILLY D1 'BOSS' CAMEO Yes, you've all heard the rumors/spoilers about the return of a Diablo 1 boss (arguably the most famous and well-liked boss from the Diablo series) in D3. No, it makes no sense why this character, who was killed in D1, would return (complete with memorable catchphrase), but apparently Blizzard thought this would be some sort of a 'treat' for Diablo fans. It's not. 6. DEMON HUNTER WEARS STILETTO HEELS Seriously? In hindsight, this probably should have tipped me off as to the quality of the game that I was so eagerly awaiting. CONCLUSION ========== Don't believe all those 'expert' reviews on the internet, like the mindboggling 100% rating (!!) from Joystiq. These online blogs are hardly objective to any degree, due to direct advertising revenue they receive from game companies and/or other perks they may receive (e.g. being invited to Blizzard headquarters for exclusive sneak peaks, etc.) that unduly influences their game reviews. In light of this, it is unsurprising that there are so many highly favorable reviews for D3. This does not obscure the fact that Diablo 3 is simply a mediocre game. Actually, it's below average. It gets a 1 star rating from me because of how much worse of a game in many ways (gameplay, battle.net, etc.) it is than its predecessor, the great Diablo 2 despite how long it took (12 years, holy smokes!) to finally come out, and because of Blizzard's thinly veiled primary objective of squeezing as much money out of players with the Real Money Auction House -- a feature that detracts from the item finding fun of the game to a significant degree. Bottom line? Diablo 3 is fun to play... for a few days. The problem is that it lacks much of the substance which made Diablo 2, and even Diablo 1, so much more engaging to play... and play again and again. Perhaps the most accurate description is that D3 is an uninventive and unoriginal reworking of a great game, with deal-breaking noob-ification and over simplifaction of gameplay dynamics and online play. I would recommend waiting for the inevitable, and likely imminent, price drop before picking this one up.