Diablo 3 Review

Stunning Sound Design
Diablo 3 features some of the best sound design that I have ever experienced in any game. The music is simply amazing. From the simple strum of a guitar that sounds off key you can tell that something is wrong. The music is haunting and always makes you check your surroundings, even in a safe place. The music of Diablo 3 will be stuck with you no matter where your go.

Sound design not only includes music, but it also includes both ambient sound and voice acting. Breaking pots and barrels looking for delicious loot has never sounded better. The sounds of battle are also exceptional, each spell has a different sound and they were all implemented in a great way. Your weapons also have unique sounds, as a barbarian’s axe colliding with an enemy is quite distinct.

The voice acting is also on par in Diablo 3. I can recall an interview where the game’s lead director, Jay Wilson, said that Diablo 3 features the most voice acting of any other previous Blizzard game. They worked hard to perfect the voice acting, and you can tell.

Cutscenes
Another one of Blizzard’s amazing talents is the ability to produce award winning cinematics. They are the best in this department. Leading up to the release of Diablo 3 they produced some great cinematics. That work is even translated to the game. Normally when I play a game, I like to skip cutscenes and just continue on with the action. This isn’t the case with Diablo 3 since the art in these brief scenes are crafted to perfection. It feels as if you are watching a Pixar short at times.

Replay Value
Diablo 3 features a great ton of retail value, mostly because the game is randomized in a lot of points. Also, when you add in the multiple difficulty levels, this game can be played a multitude of different times and still feel fresh in some areas. Each area that you visit is randomized in where the monsters are placed, what dungeons will be there, what events will take place and even some of the terrain may look different.

You may have an event where you have to save a farmer in one playthrough, but when you go back in another playthrough that farmer may not be there or he may not need to be saved. Each open area will also have about 2 to 3 dungeons place throughout it, and these dungeons are all randomized on the inside.

Co-Op
The co-op system in Diablo 3 brings more great elements to an already fun experience. You will want to play with a friend on the hardest difficulties, anyway. However, if you are lacking friends or your friends do not have Diablo 3, you can jump into any one of the thousands of games that are going on around the world thanks to Blizzard’s Global Play.

For those who are wary of playing with other people because you believe they may take your loot, do not worry. Blizzard has implemented a system that when a boss drops something all the players will see something different. So what drops for you will belong to you. Your co-op partners can not see what dropped for you, and you can not see what dropped for them.

NOT

DRM
So far, I have done nothing but praised Diablo 3. Even though it is a great game, it does have one negative thing about it. However, this is a really really big negative, and it may push a lot of people away from buying the game. Diablo 3 features always online DRM, which means that even though this is a single player game, you must be online to play it. It is understandable that Blizzard would want to protect their game from piracy, but DRM is not the way to go, and that has been proven over and over again. Starcraft 2, which is another Blizzard game with the same DRM technology, was cracked not long after launch. I will say that they may have fixed that problem because when Diablo 3 launched no one could play it.

Now Blizzard has said that they implemented  DRM to protect the Real Money Auction House, and that may be true. However, that strategy is stopping a lot of people from playing their game for now. It may only be a mater of time before the DRM on Diablo 3 is cracked. When that happens, what will they do?

Verdict

Blizzard has done an excellent job with Diablo 3 and it is a worthy successor to the Diablo franchise. It puts an enjoyable end to such a great franchise. However, Blizzard has said that this will not be the last time we see a game in the Diablo universe. We can only hope that a sequel won’t take 12 years to come. Knowing Blizzard though, I wouldn’t bet on it. There are a lot of new great additions to this third iteration and I’m glad to see so many older elements return. Even with all of the praise, I still can not get over the nasty DRM addition. That alone is what stops Diablo 3 from getting a perfect score. It may not matter to some people, but it does for many others. Overall, Diablo 3 is an enjoyable game and I would recommend it to everyone.