Review: Diablo III [PS3]

Diablo III

Last year Blizzard released Diablo III on PC to great reviews and critical acclaim. Now months after the PC release, console gamers get a chance to play the superb dungeon crawler. I am among the people who got their hands on Diablo III late since I am exclusively a console gamer. This review will be more for console gamers who have never played Diablo III, since I can’t speak for the original PC version because I have never played it. I will however touch upon the differences between PC and the console ports.

What I hated:

There were not many things that I hated about Diablo III. About the only issue that I had with Diablo III was that the game didn’t have a manual save feature. The game only supports auto-saves. This may not be a problem to most people but for me I would rather be able to pop a save at any time and pick up where I left off when I continue my game. Even after the game auto-saves when you return to your game it drops you back at the home camp with the map re-fogged and forcing you to fight through the enemies again.

What I liked:

One of the greatest things about Diablo III is the replay value. The game features randomly generated environments meaning that every time that you play the game the terrain and enemy positions will be different. So don’t expect to plow through those dungeons on you second play through. The gameplay is simple enough for new players of Diablo to pick up and play. The game’s controls are straightforward and the menu system makes selecting your abilities and gear simple. Unlike other RPGs you won’t be spending a lot of time in menus allocating skill points and abilities. Instead abilities are assigned to the face buttons around the controller and can be changed at any time when you level up and unlock more skills. This was one of my favorite features that you are never stuck with ability once you select it like many other RPGs. Since this was my first Diablo experience I was pleasantly surprised of how easy and accessible it was.

PC Differences:

The few differences present in the console ports are the new dodge feature, which makes avoiding attacks easy and will save you when you are overwhelmed. The dodge feature worked so well I couldn’t imagine not having it. The other new feature is a new menu interface to equip your gear and skills. This cleans up the game screen and allows easier character customization.

Closing Comments:

Diablo III is a fun loot collecting dungeon crawler. Even for those new to the series will be able to pick up and play with the simple controls and menu interface. The game’s awesome replay value will keep you coming back to gain better loot and level up your character. Diablo III is well worth the buy with up to four-player co-op, which adds to the already great experience

Diablo III was developed/published by Blizzard Entertainment. The PS3 and 360 version of the game were released on September 3^rd, 2013. A PS3 copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes.