Diablo 3 is fiendishly addictive
GAMES
DIABLO 3
Cert: 15 | By Steve Dinneen
****
Ten years is a long time for a computer game. They age in dog years, which makes the Diablo franchise 112 years old. And it has been a particularly long wait for Diablo 3 – the most hotly-anticipated PC game of the year. The franchise has won die-hard fans through its incredibly simple but impossibly addictive formula: click enemy, kill enemy, pick up loot. The question is: how will this translate to a generation of gamers used to more complex titles?
IS IT ANY GOOD?
For those who were worried Blizzard might have ruined their beloved franchise, you can relax: Diablo 3 is an excellent game. You’re thrown into a familiar world peopled with a vast array of monsters and villains to hack to pieces in your desired manner (you can choose to play as either a Barbarian, Monk, Wizard, Demon Hunter or, most bizarrely, Witch Doctor). The simple gameplay is, appropriately, satisfying as all hell. For those familiar with the earier titles, there are plenty of trips down memory lane (“Hmmm… Fresh meat!”) but it certainly doesn’t rely on nostalgia. The landscapes are now expansive and luciously coloured – a big departure from the sometimes-repetitive corridors of the previous iterations.
THE REAL MONEY AUCTION HOUSE
One of the biggest developments from the previous games is the introduction of an Auction House, which allows you to flog the loot you pick up to other players for in-game gold or (soon to go live) actual money. Watching as the exchange-rate between in-game and real cash tries to stabilize will be fascinating – both in the context of the game itself and as an indication of how digital economies might work in the future. The value of items is currently fluctuating wildly, with people trying to figure out what represents a worthwhile investment – an axe that went for 7,000 a few days ago might end up unsold today, even if it’s listed for a third of the price. In terms of game-play, the Auction House has its ups and downs. Serious players – those bleary-eyed people who will invest months of their lives in the game – will benefit: it makes it very difficult for third parties to siphon off the best items and sell them on the black market, thereby skewing the game’s balance. For more casual players, like me, it makes the loot you find yourself markedly less valuable – whatever you pick up, someone else will be selling a better version. At low levels it also means your character is ridiculously over-powered. In around 20-hours of gameplay I’ve died exactly once. Conversely, later in the game, you won’t get anywhere without sourcing the best gear, again making the stuff you find seem a bit worthless.
THE TECHNICALITIES
Blizzard has simplified the customisation aspect of the game. Kill enough monsters and you will go up a level, unlocking extra skills, which you can opt in and out of whenever you feel like it. In the earlier levels you can happily switch between skills, radically changing your playing style. Later on, you’ll have worked out your strategy and you’ll bloody-well stick to it. You’ll be too busy trying not to die to get bored.
THE ALWAYS ONLINE DEBACLE
The most controversial element of Diablo 3 is that you always need an internet connection to play – even if you’re playing solo. The servers crashed in quite spectacular fashion in the first few days, meaning lots of extremely irate fans were unable to access the game. My copy arrived three days after launch and I’ve not experienced any issues, though, even on a copper-wire broadband connection. Multi-player with four of five others, which can be pretty intensive in terms of things exploding all over the screen, worked fine too.
SO SHOULD I BUY IT?
Diablo 3 is a time-killer of the highest order. An hour becomes three, becomes a whole night. It wraps its tentacles around you and refuses to let go. Click, smash, slash, grab: it’s a winning formula.