Diablo III

 PC
User Score
4.2

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 10199 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,918 out of 10199
  2. Mixed: 1,570 out of 10199
  3. Negative: 5,711 out of 10199
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  1. MadMarty
    May 15, 2012
    4
    Ill try to point out what bothers my, cause we all know the things that this game does correctly. We've been told by journalists, ads, developers etc.
    1/ No connection. Seriously? The biggest MMO company and i cannot play single player at all (even if it was achievmentless, or limited, or just a class try-out). They had 2 000 000 preorders so they had to see this coming. As I was logging    Ill try to point out what bothers my, cause we all know the things that this game does correctly. We've been told by journalists, ads, developers etc.
    1/ No connection. Seriously? The biggest MMO company and i cannot play single player at all (even if it was achievmentless, or limited, or just a class try-out). They had 2 000 000 preorders so they had to see this coming. As I was logging in I saw D3 ad sayin "available now". Trust me, its not.
    2/ Graphic style. A bit to WoW-y for me. Of course we all saw the game videos before the premiere, still i have this feeling that Diablo's atmosphere is fading away with every minute i play ( if log in is possible of course). If I wanted Torchlight I'd wait for Torchlight 2. 3/ Tech. It's old. textures suck. And the graphics aren't biggest issue for me. Have You tried Drakensang online? It's a BROWSER GAME that looks pretty similar to this 15GB monster. And I'm saying this as a big SC2 fan - the graphics should serve the gameplay, and in this case they're not helping and i still can see all the slips. Oh, a game 12 years in making and some weapons look like copied from WOW. 4/ Voice acting. I'm in act 2 and it's not event close to deep, charismatic voices from D2. I can still remember characters from Diablo 2, and i cannot enumerate even one char from act1 except for Cain.
    5/ It just doesnt feel Diablo that much...    … Expand
  2. coop667
    May 17, 2012
    4
    I was against buying this game for all the stupid crap blizzard has done like the always online drm and the real money auction house but bought it at the last minute. What a huge joke the game is down for maintenance most of the time. Why would blizzard not put pvp in the game but they sure are able to tell you when they are adding in the stupid real money auction house. Shows whereI was against buying this game for all the stupid crap blizzard has done like the always online drm and the real money auction house but bought it at the last minute. What a huge joke the game is down for maintenance most of the time. Why would blizzard not put pvp in the game but they sure are able to tell you when they are adding in the stupid real money auction house. Shows where blizzards priorities are with developing this game.… Expand
  3. Bossk-Office
    Jun 11, 2012
    4
    Diablo III is cheesy, soulless and seems to be made for ten-year-olds. Still, it's an okay game gameplay-wise -- on harder difficulties. However, and this is a big however, you have to start the game on Normal, play through the entire game on Normal, before you get there. And Normal is way to easy. It presents no challenge -- just keep clicking on the screen around your character and youDiablo III is cheesy, soulless and seems to be made for ten-year-olds. Still, it's an okay game gameplay-wise -- on harder difficulties. However, and this is a big however, you have to start the game on Normal, play through the entire game on Normal, before you get there. And Normal is way to easy. It presents no challenge -- just keep clicking on the screen around your character and you win every encounter. This is truly boring, and it's a 40-hour introduction to the game that you're forced to take. Not really worth it in my opinion.… Expand
  4. Bootador
    May 25, 2012
    4
    More than a week on and I'm still rather disappointed. Game feels rather shallow compared to previous iterations and is selling on name alone.

    Decent, but nothing more.
  5. KHAAANNN
    May 18, 2012
    4
    Diablo 3 would have been acceptable years ago, but games and their players have advanced since the last update in this series. Seems odd that it took so long for a game that seems essentially a higher-resolution version of D2 to become reality. Perhaps I set my expectations too high, but I've seen better versions of this genre from smaller developers, at a lower price, and without theDiablo 3 would have been acceptable years ago, but games and their players have advanced since the last update in this series. Seems odd that it took so long for a game that seems essentially a higher-resolution version of D2 to become reality. Perhaps I set my expectations too high, but I've seen better versions of this genre from smaller developers, at a lower price, and without the always-connected limitations.… Expand
  6. SirAwesome
    May 15, 2012
    4
    Never played it. And now thanks to all of your reviews i will never buy it and play it. Thanks for saving my money. I don't usually follow what people say but the majority is overwhelming.
  7. TravisRedux
    May 15, 2012
    4
    +Decent graphics. -Always online DRM, -Lack of skill diversity, -Connection errors, -Play to win, -Short story. This game is a step back from Diablo 2, so I recommend avoiding it.
  8. Ragegoat
    Jul 10, 2014
    4
    When I played, Diablo 3 was a greedy auction house fest, with loot algorithms designed to force people to buy items from each other while giving Blizzard a cut of the money spend. Considering the price of the game and the impact it had one quality of game play, this was extremely unacceptable.

    They supposedly fixed these issues and removed the auction house in the mean time, so my    When I played, Diablo 3 was a greedy auction house fest, with loot algorithms designed to force people to buy items from each other while giving Blizzard a cut of the money spend. Considering the price of the game and the impact it had one quality of game play, this was extremely unacceptable.

    They supposedly fixed these issues and removed the auction house in the mean time, so my review from back then is no longer valid. Not gonna waste more money or time on the game though, so I'll just set my score as close as possible to the average player score and then clearly state that I have no idea if the game still sucks in the current version.    … Expand
  9. SafeguardNDA
    May 15, 2012
    4
    After having spent the better part of a day playing Diablo 3, I am disappointed to say that it has not lived up to the promise we would expect from a company of Blizzard's eminence. The visual style is, I can say it no more gently, generic. The uniqueness of design that once made Blizzard iconic has been aped and copied so often that its impact here has been diluted. The audio design isAfter having spent the better part of a day playing Diablo 3, I am disappointed to say that it has not lived up to the promise we would expect from a company of Blizzard's eminence. The visual style is, I can say it no more gently, generic. The uniqueness of design that once made Blizzard iconic has been aped and copied so often that its impact here has been diluted. The audio design is pretty standard fare. The music isn't bad, but at no point is it riveting. The gameplay is hack-and-slash--and really, that's about it. You kill things, you loot things, you upgrade your character. Somehow they have managed to take what was most memorable about this game's predecessors and turn it into a chore. The harder modes are difficult, yes--in the same way that driving with a blindfold on is difficult. Rather than legitimately increasing the difficulty, they just stat-pad the enemies and buff all their attacks. This is the kind of cheap trickery I expect from arcade fighting games, not action-RPGs. One "feature" that I find a horrible detriment is requiring a constant connection to Blizzard's servers. Though I haven't had much difficulty logging in, others have consistently seen "Error 37", indicating an inability to connect to said servers. If Blizzard wishes to enact Draconian DRM, so be it; but if they make it a prerequisite to playing the game, they are damn well obligated to ensure that it works, and that it works all the time. Ubisoft tried this, and it didn't work for them. The multiplayer portion of the game is basically the single player, but with other people added. This can be great if you know them and want to talk to them. Otherwise, it's really not much different than playing with bots. I can honestly say that Gauntlet Legends was more entertaining from a multiplayer perspective than Diablo 3. There is a measure of expectation gamers have created for this title. They have built it up in their minds to being something it could never hope to be; this isn't the Second Coming of action-RPGs. That's what's even more disappointing. To measure this game strictly by its own merits, it is still severely lacking. The inability to consistently play, the mediocrity of its design, all of this add up to a game which is really quite...standard. The only thing bringing the score down is this ridiculous DRM. In the coming weeks, I'm sure someone will find a way to break it.

    And do you know what that means?

    That means the only people playing the game without enduring "Error 37" are the people who didn't even pay for it. That's just bad service, and THAT is unforgivable.    … Expand
  10. Girlik
    May 15, 2012
    4
    The 15th may used to be a good day, it was my birthday.. From now and forever it will remain as the day of the blunder ! I wont cry for stat's disappearance, i will let the game a chance to prove that there's good in the new skill system. 2 years ago i was playing titan quest, and it was good. last Summer, i've dig up Diablo 2 with friends and enjoyed this summer. But i don't know why, itThe 15th may used to be a good day, it was my birthday.. From now and forever it will remain as the day of the blunder ! I wont cry for stat's disappearance, i will let the game a chance to prove that there's good in the new skill system. 2 years ago i was playing titan quest, and it was good. last Summer, i've dig up Diablo 2 with friends and enjoyed this summer. But i don't know why, it does not feel the same with D3. Maybe it's me, or maybe it's the mechanics, but the combat gameplay feels blank.

    I put a 6, minus 2 because of the **** drm and the auction house, so it's 4 .... :'(    … Expand
  11. theworstpossibl
    May 15, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. it's now an industry standard that just what your game's objectives are constantly shoved down a player's throat. as is that developers seem to think everything that might require a bit of thought needs to be streamlined, and that human beings can't recognize simple patterns, and things need to be much more "cinematically focused". and anything beyond this is "entitlement."
    and while this should not be suprising, it has happened to blizzard's diablo 3. how, you ask? how hasn't it been?

    players click and click as per usual. it's how the game works. as players level, they use runes to help with skill customization, and attribute points are distributed automatically like many a jrpg. these changes from diablo 2 are worth mentioning in a positive note, but unfortunately there is absolutley no influencing what skills are learned and what points are gained, a luxury those same jrpgs will usually grant. this system did need some fixing from diablo 2, granted, but not an entire revamp. essentially, 2 seperate player's witchdocters will be exactly the same, sans wargear. a standard melee attack damaging GROUPS of enemies is cheap and console-gameplay-esque (wonder why). the health drops that you simply walk over coupled with the low, low chance of an enemy actually hurting you means that besides where bosses are concerned, health is rarely an issue. something new to the environments are the red barrel kills - the scripted segments that, frankly, are so out of place for the series, and usually result in the KILL-STREAK +25XP! PROMOTION TO SERGENT MAN! messages, very Call Of Duty. the classes skills are extremely overpowered from the get-go, and they like to talk, a lot - but do players need 3 ways of the game telling them that they don't have enough mana for a spell they try to use?
    then there is the wow-like art style. it completely betrays the Gothic scenery of it's predecessors, and it looks like it was made to run on a machine from 2005.
    a glaring issue is the DRM. it is absolutely deplorable that players are forced to connect to a server constantly for single player just to make sure you are the only person playing with that copy of the game. you're even at risk of being kicked for simply idling. the possibility of lag in single player is a joke and as one final laugh, the real money auction house is just legalizing Chinese item farmers. i laughed quite heartily when i was in my EB games store and saw the posters saying that the game was avaliable for purchase after 9 am, but the servers would not be up until 4:30 pm.
    like many a "AAA title" these days, a single player playthrough will generally see 6-10 hours, depending on how many side quests are squeezed out. another low point, considering the first two go for MUCH longer.
    concerning the story, it is not terrible - predictable and unpolished, not to mention blizzard still has not grown tired of old tropes, and has brought a "kerrigan" into this franchise. but passable, in all meaning of the word.

    did you love the first two games?
    do you want a worthy sequel?

    go soak your head in a bucket of ice water and wake up. this is selling purely on it's name, not the game.

    are you looking for a flavour of the month game?
    an mmo with a focus on single player experience (TOR dead yet)?
    a calladooty with a fantasy feel?

    go for it. buy it. just remember. you paid for it.    … Expand
  12. Galo_Sengen
    May 15, 2012
    4
    This game really gets my jimmies in rustle. The characters in it move way too slow. How can anyone enjoy a game where nobody can into fast? What a joke. You can't fight the power and pierce the heavens if you're moving at turtle-pace speeds. Blizzard, I am disappointing. But enough with this - I'm off to sit on my throne in Bel-Air.
  13. NovacVII
    May 15, 2012
    4
    Game had a bery bad launch. The graphics looks like they took WoW and turned it into an isometric game and slapped the name Diablo 3 on it. Very disappointing.
  14. BullGirlHenk
    May 15, 2012
    4
    So after having played this game for around about 3 - 4 hours, I can confidently say that staring at a screen saying 'error 37' is not fun. would not recommend if you like fun things.
  15. ohforf
    May 15, 2012
    4
    I expected more after so long in development. With maxed out graphics @ 1920x1080 this game still looks kinda old and ugly in my opinion. Graphics are from 2007-2008 or so I'd say. It's moderately entertaining for a while although honestly I'm tiring of it already after 1 day. It might have gotten 5/10 instead of 4/10 but the price is too high. Also, I haven't taken into consideration theI expected more after so long in development. With maxed out graphics @ 1920x1080 this game still looks kinda old and ugly in my opinion. Graphics are from 2007-2008 or so I'd say. It's moderately entertaining for a while although honestly I'm tiring of it already after 1 day. It might have gotten 5/10 instead of 4/10 but the price is too high. Also, I haven't taken into consideration the login problems alot of people have or it would have been 2/10. So don't believe the hype about D3, it's an ok game nothing more (except for grapics wich suck). If you consider getting it atleast wait until the price drops and they've fixed the problems so you can actually log in and play.… Expand
  16. tritan123
    May 15, 2012
    4
    Apart from the awful launch and connection issues, the game is really nothing special. Graphically average, and clickfest gameplay. It does nothing better than Diablo 2 (they even removed all character customization while levelling). Very repetitive and generally disappointing.
  17. Crazyskulll
    May 15, 2012
    4
    It is a very good game, VERY GOOD!!!!
    It even comes with a challenge, beat the login server, error 37 is the prime evil, if you beat it, all will obey your orders.
    Now seriously, if you don't mind spending 3 hours to get in, you should totally buy, if not, don't waste your money.
  18. Rallbash
    May 15, 2012
    4
    First off, whoever says Blizzard couldn't have anticipated this, they are WRONG. Battle.net was the only digital distributor, and they would have known how many of the ones sold would roughly be online. Between Error 37 to Error 3005 there hasn't been much here to review. The game works, while you're connected. Even once in game its hard to enjoy the lag and disconnections bringing youFirst off, whoever says Blizzard couldn't have anticipated this, they are WRONG. Battle.net was the only digital distributor, and they would have known how many of the ones sold would roughly be online. Between Error 37 to Error 3005 there hasn't been much here to review. The game works, while you're connected. Even once in game its hard to enjoy the lag and disconnections bringing you back to the dreaded login screen. Having to always be online to play a game by myself is ridiculous. Oh its because of hackers you say? So the people who play only offline single player might hack, and then go just for the fun of it? Fail Blizzard, fail.… Expand
  19. Valist
    May 15, 2012
    4
    I have suspected for months now that fans would have this reaction. I would like to say I disagree but I can't. My biggest gripe is the mediocre "one style fits all" design. Making a game more mainstream in its art and content is the last thing diablo needed. I would have loved to see a similar kind of bold steps that the witcher 2 took in their game to appeal to a more mature audience.I have suspected for months now that fans would have this reaction. I would like to say I disagree but I can't. My biggest gripe is the mediocre "one style fits all" design. Making a game more mainstream in its art and content is the last thing diablo needed. I would have loved to see a similar kind of bold steps that the witcher 2 took in their game to appeal to a more mature audience. The moderate amount of complexity that d2 had is what distracted from the fact that the story was not what drove players through to the end of the game. Selling out to mass appeal is what caused a giant to have what some would call its first big mistake.… Expand
  20. Knighter
    May 15, 2012
    4
    After development for more than a decade, this game is a complete downgrade from Diablo 2. Personally the biggest disappointment of the year. It's basically a simplified, toned down version of the highly successful D2. It's playable and fun for a while, but has nearly zero replayability due to no skilltrees, customization and overly scripted gameplay. A graphically updated D2 would beAfter development for more than a decade, this game is a complete downgrade from Diablo 2. Personally the biggest disappointment of the year. It's basically a simplified, toned down version of the highly successful D2. It's playable and fun for a while, but has nearly zero replayability due to no skilltrees, customization and overly scripted gameplay. A graphically updated D2 would be miles better than this.… Expand
  21. UberGoat
    May 15, 2012
    4
    Considering Blizzard had nearly a decade to develop this game, it really does not show. The graphics are a bit disappointing for a game released in 2012, but I'll give them the appreciation for trying to be compatible with as many computers as possible while maintaining decent aesthetics. The game has been made way too easy for continuing players of the series (no stat allocation, youConsidering Blizzard had nearly a decade to develop this game, it really does not show. The graphics are a bit disappointing for a game released in 2012, but I'll give them the appreciation for trying to be compatible with as many computers as possible while maintaining decent aesthetics. The game has been made way too easy for continuing players of the series (no stat allocation, you receive every skill, etc.). Blizzard's biggest mistake was creating a real-money auction house. Given the fact that items have many random power-ups and bonuses, a Windforce say might sell for about $20 but then another one with just +1% extra damage would sell for probably 5x that amount. Who is benefiting from this? Blizzard is benefiting by taking significant percentages of each real money transaction. I understand companies are in this business to make money, but this is a pretty bad move by a company trying to take advantage of their fans. If another game company without a great fan base were to do this, lots of gamers would be trying to boycott it for trying to pull this off.… Expand
  22. B2BigAl
    May 15, 2012
    4
    Score the game based on it's gameplay folks, not a temper tantrum. I'm giving it a 4, because they gutted so much of what I loved about D1/2, the graphics are pretty weak, and the online DRM is inconvenient to say the least. It would pass as an iOS game or a $10 indie title, but as a follow up to one of the best games of all time, it is a disgrace.
  23. richsamford
    May 15, 2012
    4
    All the build up for release, planned, calculated. EPIC Fail on release with DRM Servers keeping everyone from logging in. There should be an offline mode, and furtharmore DRM needs to be throttled back a bit.
  24. i20
    May 16, 2012
    4
    Decent game, huge production value, repetitive but deep gameplay. Yet deeply flawed because of the DRM. I feel like I don't own the game. I payed 60$ for 15gig of game data. I OWN them and I want to play them WHEN I WANT TO. So there: Blizzard fished up.
  25. fatehasfans
    May 15, 2012
    4
    Played 1 and 2, and waited and waded through the hype for a game that feels mechanical, stale and sadly offers less than the previous games. Graphically lovely, it just doesn't grab me by the balls. Something is badly lacking. If anyone has experienced WoW pug PvP, it kinda feels like that. I'll explain, I started playing earlier and joined a few parties, not one person spoke and it feltPlayed 1 and 2, and waited and waded through the hype for a game that feels mechanical, stale and sadly offers less than the previous games. Graphically lovely, it just doesn't grab me by the balls. Something is badly lacking. If anyone has experienced WoW pug PvP, it kinda feels like that. I'll explain, I started playing earlier and joined a few parties, not one person spoke and it felt as though I was being simply carried along. No one picked up anything (gold/items) or even stopped to fart! I couldn't help but feel like a low level vacuum cleaner running behind Dysons. Overall, I think the game is average (esp after the wait) and it is further spoiled by the sad fact that modern gamers seem too eager to pursue end game glory and have forgotten, or better yet (given their ages), never known the pleasures and satisfaction of the in-between. Everyone's in a hurry to be no.1 and the game suffers as a consequence. 4/10 - By today's expectations/standards, and in view of what had gone before it, a real let-down.… Expand
  26. NemesisR3
    May 15, 2012
    4
    Negatives: online DRM and online singleplayer, cartoon graphics and wow style graphics(its like a wow mod), nothing new in gameplay and high price; only positive thing is sounds and musics are from diablo 1-2.

    its a big disappointment, i was expecting something different.
  27. Xyster
    May 15, 2012
    4
    Can't play a single player campaign without the servers up. Inexcusable. The graphics are average, but the game play is fun...if you can play it. There is no customization with your characters, which is also a minus.
  28. dcsra
    May 15, 2012
    4
    The game in itself isn't bad, but Blizzard is clearly using this as a quick cash grab, a game that hardly feels like it's predecessors, and taking few steps backwards in terms of creativity and innovation. The lore has been butchered completely and most boss fights are people you have already fought previously in Diablo 1 and II (Skeleton King, Butcher, Izual, and of course Diablo who hasThe game in itself isn't bad, but Blizzard is clearly using this as a quick cash grab, a game that hardly feels like it's predecessors, and taking few steps backwards in terms of creativity and innovation. The lore has been butchered completely and most boss fights are people you have already fought previously in Diablo 1 and II (Skeleton King, Butcher, Izual, and of course Diablo who has the same exact skill set from D2 even though he has absorbed all the other prime evils). Incredibly lazy on Blizzard's part. Not to mention requiring an online connection for single-player and real money auction house.… Expand
  29. Euscrops
    May 16, 2012
    4
    Most of this has already been said, but I thought I'd throw in my own two cents. As a big fan of Diablo 1 and 2, I was greatly disappointed by Diablo 3. I played the open beta back in April with my brother and friend and found myself too bored an hour in to even finish it. Here's what I took issue with: 1. Atmosphere and writing - I had great expectations for this end, and these did NOTMost of this has already been said, but I thought I'd throw in my own two cents. As a big fan of Diablo 1 and 2, I was greatly disappointed by Diablo 3. I played the open beta back in April with my brother and friend and found myself too bored an hour in to even finish it. Here's what I took issue with: 1. Atmosphere and writing - I had great expectations for this end, and these did NOT include short, meaningless dialogue delivered with mediocre voice acting; bright, cartoonish colors and particle effects; the ability to jump down giant holes and wells, be skull-bashed with a chandelier, buried under a pile of rubble, etc. without injury. 2. Graphics - not too bad, but definitely not nearly as good as many other games of recent years. I downloaded a low-texture pack to play skyrim and some of those textures still look better than some diablo 3 textures (which I have set to high). Also, in general the graphics and movements look pretty unrealistic, which definitely eats into the atmosphere score. 3. Character leveling - It seems like they tried to get rid of the issues of diablo 2's somewhat unbalanced skill system while keeping the dynamics of different character builds, and to an extent they succeeded, but they also removed one of the core aspects of gameplay, specialization. Diablo 2's skill sets, while certainly not perfectly balanced, allowed the player to take pride in the things he specifically had done to make his own unique character build, and to play a unique role in his party that no one else could fill. D3 character builds are much more simplified, which means every person's lvl 50 monk is going to be exactly the same, only with slightly different flashy effects. It has its pros to be sure, like not getting bored with only a few combos used the whole game, but hits the immersion aspect in the process for people trying to get more into their character. 4. Difficulty level - why on earth didn't they put in a difficulty level setting, besides the one where you have to beat the whole thing just to play it all again? playing co-op was so boring, most of the monsters weren't ever scary or dangerous more than the were just objects we couldn't run past until we clicked on them. 5. And worst of all, the auction house. what the crap were they thinking, allowing real-world money into item trading? Pay-to-win isn't a new concept, I don't know how they missed that one. I wonder how they're going to reconcile that when pvp rolls out. Whatever. Anyway, in the end casual gamers may like this game because, let's face it, it's a solid enough hack-and-slash game if you don't care much about the franchise. For me however, having wondered for years what sort of pants-wetting nightmarish world with optimized skill/combat system would await me only to find this flashy, lame excuse for a sequel, I feel nothing but disappointment.… Expand
  30. GuardianOS
    May 15, 2012
    4
    This game is only really popular because of the Diablo title and world. By itself it doesn't stand up. They changed major portions of the established lore, changed the art style and feel of the game, and crammed always online DRM in.

    The level design is taken straight out of Torchlight (made by those who made Diablo 1 & 2) and doesn't add anything new to the series that is a positive    This game is only really popular because of the Diablo title and world. By itself it doesn't stand up. They changed major portions of the established lore, changed the art style and feel of the game, and crammed always online DRM in.

    The level design is taken straight out of Torchlight (made by those who made Diablo 1 & 2) and doesn't add anything new to the series that is a positive other than perhaps crafting. In fact, they have dumbed down many of the elements from the two previous games including character customization. The presentation, though an improvement is dated by today's standards and even the standards set in WarCraft III and StarCraft II set by Blizzard themselves. It is a shame. Taken with the horrific Americas region launch, it's Blizzard's weakest game and the only fun that can really be taken from it is that its in the Diablo world; strip that away and this game is nothing special.    … Expand
  31. Jaynetics
    May 16, 2012
    4
    This is another serious review.
    Regarding the gameplay, D3 is better than D2 in some respects and worse in others. Most of all, the fights are a bit more diverse and dynamic and require mixing more skills, which makes them less repetitive. However, many of the decisions you had to make in D2 (e.g. invest in strength to be able to wear this new armor you found, or in intelligence to be able    This is another serious review.
    Regarding the gameplay, D3 is better than D2 in some respects and worse in others. Most of all, the fights are a bit more diverse and dynamic and require mixing more skills, which makes them less repetitive. However, many of the decisions you had to make in D2 (e.g. invest in strength to be able to wear this new armor you found, or in intelligence to be able to use more skills) were taken out of the game to make it more accessible. Thus, you dont look forward to new levels that much anymore.
    The "casual" design also causes the player's focus to shift from the characters development to the storyline, which isn't exactly a good thing. While the dialogues aren't quite as bad as in D2, they are still rather dumb most of the time. A blacksmith who just killed his wife in front of your eyes, so that she wont turn into a zombie, will talk on about your next quest as if he had nothing else on his mind. Where is the intensity, where is despair and the grit that the characters in D1 conveyed? And what with the silly, officious accolades your character gets all the time? It is hard to imagine that anyone who is old enough to buy the game will feel engrossed by the story and its often superficial wording.
    That's a shame, because the soundtrack is truly excellent. If they could have left out the dialogues, the music alone would go a long way in creating an immersive atmosphere.
    Finally, having no single player mode would be bad, but still somewhat acceptable, if only the servers were ready for the amount of users. After millions of preorders, the demand cant have come as a huge surprise to Blizzard. And I am somewhat sceptical whether the situation will improve, as it doesn't seem very likely that less and less people will try to play the game in the coming days. All in all, I am considering returning the game, an idea that never crossed my mind when I compared D2 to its predecessor.    … Expand
  32. MetalJacx
    May 16, 2012
    4
    I would give it a higher rank except the game is at the mercy of whether Blizzards servers will be stable. Higher ranking if there was an offline/lan mode.
  33. Gothic90
    Jul 25, 2013
    4
    Among all three (four if you count Drakensang) diablo-ish games, Diablo III, supposedly the 'original title', has to place 3rd or 4th overall. You can argue Drakensang is the worst of the four because of its insane pay to win cash grab, but Diablo 3 is not better by a lot.

    The only advantage Diablo III has over TL2 and PoE are: 1) Diablo III has better graphics than TL2 2) Diablo    Among all three (four if you count Drakensang) diablo-ish games, Diablo III, supposedly the 'original title', has to place 3rd or 4th overall. You can argue Drakensang is the worst of the four because of its insane pay to win cash grab, but Diablo 3 is not better by a lot.

    The only advantage Diablo III has over TL2 and PoE are:

    1) Diablo III has better graphics than TL2
    2) Diablo III has better physics effect than PoE

    and that's it. TL2 and PoE does better in almost, if not all grounds, and they are much cheaper games.    … Expand
  34. b91104023
    May 16, 2012
    4
    No skill tree means you can't really customize your character. Cool down time of portion and town portal means it's not as fast paced and also too WoW like. Animations of monsters are not as good. It lacks the essence of what makes the first two Diablo great. Sorry, it may be not be a bad game, but it's not Diablo.
  35. Jabbernec
    May 17, 2012
    4
    Voice actor for Cain sounds like a badly done cartoon goat

    Almost all other voice actors throw on some stupid Irish-Scottish-Welsh sounding twangs and roll with their pitiful poorly written scripts Throw back stereotyped African accent for witch doctor Check points, no custom skills, spend real money for loot, no pvp, meaningless plot-line What a gut punch this steaming pile is    Voice actor for Cain sounds like a badly done cartoon goat

    Almost all other voice actors throw on some stupid Irish-Scottish-Welsh sounding twangs and roll with their pitiful poorly written scripts

    Throw back stereotyped African accent for witch doctor Check points, no custom skills, spend real money for loot, no pvp, meaningless plot-line

    What a gut punch this steaming pile is considering it is f**king DIABLO!!, seriously WTF were you thinking Blizzard? Your corporate desk jockeys ran this project into the ground, and I serious hope they are standing in the unemployment line right now

    Yet the multiplayer coop is fun, mindless fun, but still fun, hence it gets a 4/10    … Expand
  36. Timber
    May 16, 2012
    4
    huge disappointment, and an unworthy sequel.. no more skill points to distribute, no more attribute points to distribute, skills unlock automatically as you level up.
    Legalized gold selling, pay-to-win, WoW inspired skills, cheesy text, cliché, uninspired dialog, story and scenes.
    DRM that requires you to be constanly online LEVEL 60 CAP Surely to be raised to 70,80,90 and so    huge disappointment, and an unworthy sequel.. no more skill points to distribute, no more attribute points to distribute, skills unlock automatically as you level up.
    Legalized gold selling, pay-to-win, WoW inspired skills, cheesy text, cliché, uninspired dialog, story and scenes.
    DRM that requires you to be constanly online LEVEL 60 CAP Surely to be raised to 70,80,90 and so on with yearly expansions that consists of cut content for only another $60.

    Also I know for a fact blizzard datamines WoW players, so I probably was too with D3. Now just what do they feel so entitled to take from players?...    … Expand
  37. Darmog
    May 16, 2012
    4
    This is a highly anticipated sequel with a premium pricetag that is in no way justified.

    The graphics are fair at best and already feel somewhat dated on release. The stat skill assigning has been replaced by az system that allows for far less customization and which feels completely dumbed down. No more assigning stat points, they game does it for you every level. Skill trees have    This is a highly anticipated sequel with a premium pricetag that is in no way justified.

    The graphics are fair at best and already feel somewhat dated on release. The stat skill assigning has been replaced by az system that allows for far less customization and which feels completely dumbed down. No more assigning stat points, they game does it for you every level. Skill trees have beenreplaced by a runes system that is completely uninteresting.

    The game itself doesn't do nearly the job of drawing you into the game as Diablo 2 did. The game is also ridiculously short for an RPG - 7-10 hours for a playthrough is not uncommon. It's so short that it feels like a long overdue 2nd expansion for Diablo 3 with a graphics overhaul at a full game's price. The always-on DRM even for a single player playthrough means that you MUST log in to Blizzard's servers to play. If you can't log in for whatever reason or your connection drops out, you are not permitted to play the game you bought and paid for.

    Blizzard has dropped the ball on this game big time. Do not buy until it hits the bargain bin. At least that way you're not paying a premium game's price for less content than is in some expansion packs.    … Expand
  38. nb013
    May 16, 2012
    4
    Single Player fans beware. If you're one of the many who wish to enjoy a game away from everyone else, and on a system you've proudly built to trounce any system requirements out there, this game just isn't for you. Blizzard, a company that exists as a mainly server-based gaming entity, cannot handle the network traffic of its own online-only game. This might be partially forgivable wereSingle Player fans beware. If you're one of the many who wish to enjoy a game away from everyone else, and on a system you've proudly built to trounce any system requirements out there, this game just isn't for you. Blizzard, a company that exists as a mainly server-based gaming entity, cannot handle the network traffic of its own online-only game. This might be partially forgivable were it not for the sub-par graphics (low res texture, low poly count, and poorly animated game that looks like it's straight out of 2006), re-hashed gameplay, lack of a solid character customization system, and connection bugs that will completely stop you from playing altogether. This all adds up to be an unrefundable $60 waste of drive space. Do not buy.… Expand
  39. Krenny
    May 16, 2012
    4
    For the amount of time this game took in development and the amount of hype given to it, I expected more. Your first view of what's to come is the character creation screen. If Blizzard was shooting for a D1 or D2 look and feel then they did pretty well. The screen layout, font, graphics, they all felt old. At a minimum I would have expected to be greeted with a polished look and feelFor the amount of time this game took in development and the amount of hype given to it, I expected more. Your first view of what's to come is the character creation screen. If Blizzard was shooting for a D1 or D2 look and feel then they did pretty well. The screen layout, font, graphics, they all felt old. At a minimum I would have expected to be greeted with a polished look and feel like you get with WoW. The actual game play/graphics, they're just OK. At this point, Blizzard should be having a serious look at D3's implementation and making some changes before Torchlight 2 comes out this summer.… Expand
  40. Norseman
    May 16, 2012
    4
    A very sad continuation of the Diablo franchise. The visual design evokes thoughts of a better game, Torchlight. In the Diablo verse though, that just doesn't work. The game becomes a visual parody of its previous installments and setting. The cartoonish style only serves to ruin any of the oppressive feelings it tries to conjure in deep dungeons and completely removes any feeling ofA very sad continuation of the Diablo franchise. The visual design evokes thoughts of a better game, Torchlight. In the Diablo verse though, that just doesn't work. The game becomes a visual parody of its previous installments and setting. The cartoonish style only serves to ruin any of the oppressive feelings it tries to conjure in deep dungeons and completely removes any feeling of threat when you face those cute little giant demon bosses. What could have been a visceral experience is now a slightly gory children's show. I'll give the animations a nod, though. They seem to be top notch and indicative of the quality we could have gotten elsewhere too.

    I won't speak much about the sound. It's quite good and holds its own.

    The gameplay however... oh dear the gameplay. I don't know how to say this without my brain trying to herniate itself. They managed to dumb down Diablo. I didn't know it was even possible. One of the simplest and most straightforwards games in the world got dumbed down to anancephalic levels. They have completely removed stat allocation and skilltrees. You don't make a single choice throughout the entire game. Every skill, every rune, every slot and everything is handed to you as you level up. No choices to make, nothing. They try to make it seem to matter by restricting you to only using six at a time but when you can exchange the skills and runes in seconds it becomes completely worthless. A level 30 Wizard will be exactly the same as every last level 30 wizard out there. Every Barbarian is the same as all other Barbarians and nothing will distinguish you from the rest except how much money you've spent on the auction house. Blizzard once set the standard for Hack n Slash. Now they lowered the bar until it was just discarded entirely in favor of a pillow on the ground. The game is now too easy, too short, too dumbed down and frankly too bright and fluffy. This is not Diablo. Blizzard has failed us.

    Pay 2 Win. Insane always-on DRM. Completely dumbed down gameplay. Cartoonish style. A hideous game.    … Expand
  41. evilegg370
    May 16, 2012
    4
    After a decade of waiting, Diablo III finally crawled out of the hell and invade our beloved Sanctuary again. I gave up the PC gaming long time ago since I owned three consoles at the same time and was pretty occupied by work. However, the good old memory of Diablo II still drives me order the sequel. Installation looks decent and reminds me lots of good old days. However, the messageAfter a decade of waiting, Diablo III finally crawled out of the hell and invade our beloved Sanctuary again. I gave up the PC gaming long time ago since I owned three consoles at the same time and was pretty occupied by work. However, the good old memory of Diablo II still drives me order the sequel. Installation looks decent and reminds me lots of good old days. However, the message "Error 317002" haunted me for consecutive two night before I finally entered the world Sanctuary. "Big launch" they said, "It happens all the time", they said. "DRM is the trend", they said. Alright, I will just take what it is since I haven't played PC game for a while and Blizzard has taken my money. Surprising, I fell asleep twice during my first play in Act 1. The graph and character look great and the music is pleasing, but I just fell this is not the same game I played a decade ago. Skill trees are taken away and skill slots are overly simplified. Even though Blizzard moved several ideas from WoW to this sequel, I am just not inspired or excited. I removed the game from my computer on the 3rd day after launch without second thought. I wonder if I am too old to appreciate the new concepts or maybe I am too picky. Who knows. Anyways, if you look forward to finding old good time from this game, you might be disappointed but if you are WoW addicted and have lots of money, purchase it right away to enjoy similar entertainment.… Expand
  42. Morb
    May 16, 2012
    4
    Been a Diablo fan from the original, and franchise setting aside, this is just a sub-average game. I can forgive the server load problems, but the way they raped the game system is a different story. Removing things from Diablo that made it what it is, and simplifying it(character customisation, skill tree...) to the bare minimum is just wrong.
    Blizzard probably won't give 2 sh**ts about    Been a Diablo fan from the original, and franchise setting aside, this is just a sub-average game. I can forgive the server load problems, but the way they raped the game system is a different story. Removing things from Diablo that made it what it is, and simplifying it(character customisation, skill tree...) to the bare minimum is just wrong.
    Blizzard probably won't give 2 sh**ts about reviews like this, when Critics scores are in the 90's (what a shocker...a mainstream game with high scores...), but maby we can help the next guy buying this game to know what do expect. And if you expect painfully simplified Diablo 2 that you can't play offline or in Lan, with features that are just useless(auction house in a non MMORPG game like this is like putting McDonalds onto Greenland...sure, you CAN do it, but why the F** would you?).
    Oh and, did I mention that they reduced the numbes of coop players to 4?
    Oh and there is no PvP arena(yet).
    It seems that Blizzard's definiton of evolution is way off. Diablo to Diablo 2 was actual, no BS progress, and the players recognised it. Diablo 2 to Diablo 3 is a missfire wich will(in this world full of unfairness) still bring Blizzard a billion dollars, so they can make Diablo 4, a first true "no player input game"...    … Expand
  43. pxoxyx
    May 17, 2012
    4
    Diablo 3 is a huge disappointment into Blizzard latest franchise. Due to the fact that skills are now unlocked with each level and there isn't any customization and builds for any classes. The skills of each classes seems blend on the rune upgrades with higher damage. Due to it's tight "jail - like" system, maps seems similar with different colours there isn't any exploring value. TheDiablo 3 is a huge disappointment into Blizzard latest franchise. Due to the fact that skills are now unlocked with each level and there isn't any customization and builds for any classes. The skills of each classes seems blend on the rune upgrades with higher damage. Due to it's tight "jail - like" system, maps seems similar with different colours there isn't any exploring value. The quests in the game turn me off as the dialogue are very fake and boring. Party is limited to only 4 people, I have friends that I have to reject which is a huge factor for me as friends playing together make the game more enjoyable. The graphics in this game looks like an improvement from WoW. Overall, the game had very little re-playable value after the last boss. There isn't any motivation to continue after you had completed the story. It felt like a single player game with the need of having constant internet connect.… Expand
  44. Nodacrux
    May 17, 2012
    4
    Diablo 3 used to be step forward.It actually was before it did ten steps back.

    Storytelling:Awfull.Recycled zones and partly characters aswell. Voiceacting:Awfull.Even D2 have better voiceact then D3. Graphics:Too much old.Dawn of War II which was released 2009 had better graphics Then This game. Soundtrack:quite good Enviroment and terrain:Absolute debacle,bad try to ressurect Tristam    Diablo 3 used to be step forward.It actually was before it did ten steps back.

    Storytelling:Awfull.Recycled zones and partly characters aswell.
    Voiceacting:Awfull.Even D2 have better voiceact then D3.
    Graphics:Too much old.Dawn of War II which was released 2009 had better graphics Then This game.
    Soundtrack:quite good
    Enviroment and terrain:Absolute debacle,bad try to ressurect Tristam and his surroundings.
    DRM:no comment
    PvP:no day one PvP,just by the time.

    Sumary:I do Not understand what was been Blizzard doing that past 10 years.13,5 Hours on normal,nightmare 20 hours and I just started Hell and im in 1/4 part of game.Graphics are too much old,particles are dissapearing and textures are total catastrophe.Story is over used **** cannot spend your atribute points,game is Too much easy.

    As it seems,We live in times of marketing **** and lies.I never thought that any game will surpass Mass Effect 3 Debacle.I thought ME3 will be only of its kind.Diablo actually Does Not surpass ME3,but can stand by its side.

    Diablo 3 is a shadow of former glory of This series.Hardcore fans will hate This game as a whole.New gamers which never played D1 and D2 will find it full of fun.

    I am giving This game 4,because its still a chill out hack-and-slash game when I am angry.So I played it a lot when Diablo 3 came out.....    … Expand
  45. jbartelme
    May 22, 2012
    4
    89, critics? Really? So much for the wisdom of the crowds. Diablo III may be the least inspired, least groundbreaking, least interesting and least addictive game that Blizzard has ever rolled out. Let's compare it to Diablo 2.
    Ways it is a step backwards:
    1. Characters aren't customizable 2. Runes removed (maybe they're coming back in an expansion but a sequel should be a step 3. Sets    89, critics? Really? So much for the wisdom of the crowds. Diablo III may be the least inspired, least groundbreaking, least interesting and least addictive game that Blizzard has ever rolled out. Let's compare it to Diablo 2.
    Ways it is a step backwards:
    1. Characters aren't customizable
    2. Runes removed (maybe they're coming back in an expansion but a sequel should be a step 3. Sets removed
    FORWARD from the expansion, not backward).
    Ways it is unimproved:
    1. Storyline (still boring)
    2. Dungeons (feels the same as DII)
    3. Interface/fighting system
    4. Henchmen
    Ways it is a step forward:
    *crickets*

    So in short, if you don't mind paying $60 for another expansion of Diablo 2, you won't be disappointed. But given that its 10 years in the making, Blizzard should have been able to do better than that.    … Expand
  46. hamiltonia
    May 17, 2012
    4
    Seems more like Diablo 2.5 then a new game. Graphics aren't all that great (they seem very muted to me - no contrast) and the game play is mostly the same as Diablo 2. Not sure why this took 10 years to come out.
  47. HarpDarpReviews
    May 17, 2012
    4
    hmmm 88/100 critic and 3.7 user, this is obviously because of the servers. BUT, Diablo 3 is actually a sub-par game. It didn't go through as what it was meant to be, if it takes a game company 11 years to develop they obviously had no passion for making the game, and it shows
  48. Freyar
    May 17, 2012
    4
    Diablo III is a game people have been waiting for for over a decade. During the final hours up to the launch of the thing we were greeted with a teaser, "The fire still falls." Too bad the fire in the sky seemed to hit the servers too. With the Blizzard's decision to hold on to the online component so dearly, it has inherently caused major issues with stability.||||

    After having    Diablo III is a game people have been waiting for for over a decade. During the final hours up to the launch of the thing we were greeted with a teaser, "The fire still falls." Too bad the fire in the sky seemed to hit the servers too. With the Blizzard's decision to hold on to the online component so dearly, it has inherently caused major issues with stability.||||

    After having slaughtered my way to ACT I's first boss, and as he stands up, I get disconnected with my Hardcore Monk being killed in the process due to the delayed logout. These problems and the nature of online requirements for Diablo III practically makes it impossible to participate in the Hardcore side of things. Get disconnected (admittedly a few times were due to my ISP), your Hardcore Character is guaranteed dead. Diablo III is another plain-as-day instance where despite how good the core game is, the always-online component forces players to content with disconnects and even literal lag spikes (not framerate, but lag) even when playing solo. Playing my own private game I was watching my ping jump from 250ms (which is absurd in it's own right) to over 400ms resulting in getting hit from distances.||||
    I love Blizzard, and while Diablo III in itself has simplified mechanics (as in no stat point spending, no skill tree investments or character designs) in a number of areas, it's still a fun game to play when it works. The bottom line is that it doesn't work well enough for a game with $60 attached to it. Torchlight II comes out next month and hopefully will allow me to enjoy a Hardcore mode where MY stupidity is what causes character death, not technical issues.    … Expand
  49. MrShmoove
    May 17, 2012
    4
    Never played Diablo 1 or 2. They were far too ugly by the time I got into PC gaming. However I have played similar titles and I see no difference between this game and others like Torchlight for example (yes I know Diablo came first though). The no offline mode is inexcusable. I don't want to play with others 95% of the time, I shouldn't be required to be online and hooked up throughNever played Diablo 1 or 2. They were far too ugly by the time I got into PC gaming. However I have played similar titles and I see no difference between this game and others like Torchlight for example (yes I know Diablo came first though). The no offline mode is inexcusable. I don't want to play with others 95% of the time, I shouldn't be required to be online and hooked up through battle.net. If they were worried about hacking and duping then making two seperate modes online and offline and the online component needs connection. The graphics are much improved over 1 and 2 but still meh especially when you zoom in. Controls are weird. I'm using to WASD, clicking constantly hurts my pointer finger after a while. This game would be ideal for a control...but alas the option is not there. Don't get me wrong, it's an ok game, but only ok. 4/10… Expand
  50. Hypah321
    May 17, 2012
    4
    *Serious Gamers Only* IF YOU DONT LIKE THIS TRY PATH OF EXILE you'll find all the complexity diablo 2 had and alot more together with a darker and more mature graphic, plus it is F2P (atm is in closed beta with a beta key buyable for 10 dollars) and will always be f2p apart from COSMETIC ONLY extra features that you will be able to buy in item shop for example extra gore etc. that wont*Serious Gamers Only* IF YOU DONT LIKE THIS TRY PATH OF EXILE you'll find all the complexity diablo 2 had and alot more together with a darker and more mature graphic, plus it is F2P (atm is in closed beta with a beta key buyable for 10 dollars) and will always be f2p apart from COSMETIC ONLY extra features that you will be able to buy in item shop for example extra gore etc. that wont unbalance the game at all**
    Now onto diablo 3, i'm an avid player of the first mentioned game but i bought diablo 3 anyway knowing i didnt have to expect alot because i was in the beta. Finished normal difficulty so far and i find the game quite enjoyable and fun, good for casual games and good for waiting for the open beta of the first mentioned game.
    This shouldnt be called diablo 3, more like WORLD OF DIABLOCRAFT, if it had a different name people would not be raging atm, but calling it the successor of the great games that were diablo and diablo 2 is really arrogant towards real fans of the complex aspects of the former 2 games that made them great.
    Diablo for kids and casual gamers, good for wasting time, probably still worth an 8 because it's quite a decent game on its own, but boy if you insist in calling it diablo 3 it deserves a 4/10 score max.

    p.s. i'm not affiliated in any way to the company of the first game mentioned, i'm jst an enthusiastic fan of it which, like many and many others, donated real money willingly and without acquiring any advantage in game to such company just because it is worth that much    … Expand
  51. pikamatt
    May 17, 2012
    4
    From a former diehard D2 fan, D3 is severely lacking in a lot of ways. Most notably, the lack of skill tree. Also, from a gamer standpoint, the fact that we have to play on Battle.Net (even for single player) is really frustrating (sorry, you can't play your game because our computer is broken). Finally, there does seem to be a real lack of expansion or improvements, and I'm severelyFrom a former diehard D2 fan, D3 is severely lacking in a lot of ways. Most notably, the lack of skill tree. Also, from a gamer standpoint, the fact that we have to play on Battle.Net (even for single player) is really frustrating (sorry, you can't play your game because our computer is broken). Finally, there does seem to be a real lack of expansion or improvements, and I'm severely disappointed at only having 5 class choices.

    On the other hand, from a general enthusiast and casual gamer's perspective, it's a lot of fun! My wife loves to play and getting her to play video games is almost as hard as performing brain surgery with knitting needles. But she digs it, so I'm happy it's simple (enjoyable?) enough for her to want to play, and that gives me a good reason not to rate it a Zero.    … Expand
  52. dazdaryl
    May 18, 2012
    4
    THERE IS NO CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION!!!! NO SKILL SELECTION, NO ATTRIBUTE SELECTION!

    What more do I need to say? This is not Diablo, this game is hack and slash reduced to such simplicity that it aught be played in a web browser. Honestly you'll probably get 30 hours of game play, maybe even 100 hours if you play as all the characters, but this is not Diablo, if you want to play diablo,    THERE IS NO CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION!!!! NO SKILL SELECTION, NO ATTRIBUTE SELECTION!

    What more do I need to say? This is not Diablo, this game is hack and slash reduced to such simplicity that it aught be played in a web browser.

    Honestly you'll probably get 30 hours of game play, maybe even 100 hours if you play as all the characters, but this is not Diablo, if you want to play diablo, go buy diablo 2, not this game, this is an insult to the diablo series, I dont know why blizzard would do this to its fans.    … Expand
  53. Bibi67
    May 18, 2012
    4
    Game is nice and I love it. But I will probably never buy again a game wich needs a permanent internet connection. It's not userfriendly and I would like to know how I can play D3 in a house without internet in the middle of nowhere ?
  54. Capzero
    May 18, 2012
    4
    I was never a huge fan of the Diablo series. I was usually bored of the click-fest by Act 2. I loved the loot and the character development was not bad if not a tad simple. Replay value was poor due to repetitiveness. Diablo 3 is more-of-the-same. The graphics and animation seem dated. The story-line is sub standard in my opinion but hey we can't all be Bioware. They have removed characterI was never a huge fan of the Diablo series. I was usually bored of the click-fest by Act 2. I loved the loot and the character development was not bad if not a tad simple. Replay value was poor due to repetitiveness. Diablo 3 is more-of-the-same. The graphics and animation seem dated. The story-line is sub standard in my opinion but hey we can't all be Bioware. They have removed character development, no, automated it. The loot and crafting is as awesome as expected. If you are a fan of repetitive hack and slash for slot machine loot then this game will exceed your expectations as it trims down anything that might get in the way of that goal. I am glad I let my kids buy it first before I wasted $60.

    NB - Get used to DRM and launch day server issues they are a part of the gamer's life now.    … Expand
  55. Toolootool
    Jun 9, 2012
    4
    First let me say I like many of you have been waiting for this game to come out for 12 years. It saddens me to give this a 6. But I feel its well deserved and fair. After waiting patiently for them to fix their server issues (completely expect this from blizz) I was playing and suddenly had my license revoked with no explanation given... After waiting 2 hours in a call queue that I hadFirst let me say I like many of you have been waiting for this game to come out for 12 years. It saddens me to give this a 6. But I feel its well deserved and fair. After waiting patiently for them to fix their server issues (completely expect this from blizz) I was playing and suddenly had my license revoked with no explanation given... After waiting 2 hours in a call queue that I had to call repeatedly to get into I was told this issue was related to the annual pass and my credit card info changing (lost my credit card, had it canceled and they were unable to charge me). They did not have an option to pay up and resume your account on their site or easily have your D3 license reinstated. Even after signing up again for month-to-month wow AND buying a digital copy of d3 my characters were completely gone. All of the time I invested in the game wiped out because of a measly 15$ payment was missed. I have sent thousands of dollars their way over the years when you take wow subscriptions, character transfers, games, etc.. And they dont even have the decency to send an email to notify me that d3 was at risk of being terminated. And they require you to call and wait for hours to even find out what the issue was because they are supremely understaffed.

    The blizz support guy told me I could either sign up for another 1 year contract of WoW that i'll never play or buy the game again digitally and possibly have my characters restored but I'd have to call back next week to see if the issue has been resolved they link characters to the license and not your battle.net account... for whatever reason and they wont just give you your old account back and mark it as paid even if you shell out the 60$ They have decided that its too much work to make WoW compelling again so they are resorting to slight of hand tricks to get you to pay for a game you no longer play and decide the tween crowd might find the game interesting so they make a silly kung fu panda class as the only major change to the next expansion... Maybe this is a profitable choice as most adults who have been playing the game for years are completely burned out on the stale content and 5 more levels of the same crap isn't going to keep us interested. The "Annual Pass" can only be paid on a month-to-month basis which to me is incredibly misleading, apparently they are hoping people forget about cancelling their account after the 1 year is up.

    The game isn't that bad when its working but those times are few and far between and its not that good either. The campaign gets stale fast, the items aren't compelling and melee characters are currently broken in a2 inferno and beyond. I'm so disgusted with this experience that I don't even want to play it anymore. Blizzard only cares about milking every penny out of you. They have lost their soul    … Expand
  56. MarcEric
    May 19, 2012
    4
    Graphic design is neat, storyline is awesome. That's it for the rejoicing. The no stats (or one stat) and one size fits all armor and weapons will make this game a short lived venture. No need to pick strength to get that awesome plate anymore. Unrestricted gear. No skills level either, spell damage based on weapon damage (get that dual axe wizard! that's where the power comes from now)Graphic design is neat, storyline is awesome. That's it for the rejoicing. The no stats (or one stat) and one size fits all armor and weapons will make this game a short lived venture. No need to pick strength to get that awesome plate anymore. Unrestricted gear. No skills level either, spell damage based on weapon damage (get that dual axe wizard! that's where the power comes from now) Add in the Auction House and you'll lose all reason of playing after you visited the story line.… Expand
  57. kbreck
    May 19, 2012
    4
    To start out I have been a Diablo fan sense day one but to be honest this game just did not meet my expectations. The story line is ok bordering on good and the graphs could of been much better. I feel like they are just a souped up version of wow. But, the real problem I have is with this single player having to be online. This makes the game glitch and stuttery which is a real pain inTo start out I have been a Diablo fan sense day one but to be honest this game just did not meet my expectations. The story line is ok bordering on good and the graphs could of been much better. I feel like they are just a souped up version of wow. But, the real problem I have is with this single player having to be online. This makes the game glitch and stuttery which is a real pain in the *** if you are playing a class like the Barb or Monk. For example with my Barb sometimes I will try to use the charge or leap ability see my character move forward hit a lag spick and end up right where is was. The last thing I have a problem with is the battle mechanics. To be honest they suck horribly, there is some class customization but nothing like it was for D2. To me it feels like Blizzard just dumbed them down some anyone could play it easily. Remember this has an M rating so I was expecting this game to be geared more at the adult players which in my mind means making it a challenging game and one of the best ways to do this is to make the battle mechanics challenging which they are not.

    So to sum it up this game held my interest for not even a week the lag and stutter graphs piss me of to no end and worst of all I always have to be online to play this "single player game". So my recommendation is to save your money and to buy this game.    … Expand
  58. MustafaRasta
    May 19, 2012
    4
    This is my first time playing Diablo and my first impression was "Wow, this game is amazing"
    It's not though. You have a choice of 5 classes to choose from and then you can choose male or female...wow, superb. I mean 7 years of development for this? Truly horrible. I am certainly glad I didn't buy this trash, I got it free through the WOW annual pass. It stacks up decently against"    This is my first time playing Diablo and my first impression was "Wow, this game is amazing"
    It's not though. You have a choice of 5 classes to choose from and then you can choose male or female...wow, superb. I mean 7 years of development for this? Truly horrible. I am certainly glad I didn't buy this trash, I got it free through the WOW annual pass. It stacks up decently against" Marvel ultimate alliance" for console and people have spent 60 bucks on console games. The catch is you have to be online to play and many(not me) have had real bad server and lag issues. So in some ways it would be better if it was a console game. There is no reason for this to be on a PC...    … Expand
  59. Stavage
    May 20, 2012
    4
    The gameplay itself is good if you know what you're expecting. It is Diablo. There is hacking and slashing. Skill system is simple and linear. This is a good thing for people who just want no hassle levelling, a bit boring for people who like more customisation. Plot, script and voice acting is cheesy. But fun enough. It can be challenging. Looks a bit dated maybe but still nice to lookThe gameplay itself is good if you know what you're expecting. It is Diablo. There is hacking and slashing. Skill system is simple and linear. This is a good thing for people who just want no hassle levelling, a bit boring for people who like more customisation. Plot, script and voice acting is cheesy. But fun enough. It can be challenging. Looks a bit dated maybe but still nice to look at. I've had a lot of fun playing it...on the odd occasion.

    You can't play the game offline, even if you just want to play single player. I've been stuck in the same dungeon for hours because I keep getting disconnected and have to start back at a checkpoint. I can't save. I don't care if they fix their server problems, my network drops occasionally. I don't care that my network occasionally drops. That shouldn't be a problem for a single player game. But it is for this one. Don't get me wrong, the Blizzard servers aren't coping, but even if they were I'd feel ripped off. If they somehow patch this to allow for offline single player I'd give this game maybe 8/10? Maybe 8.5 (based on the few sessions where I've been able to play for a while without getting dropped).

    But as it is I feel 4/10 is generous. Really disappointed. Feel like I've been suckered into this purchase.    … Expand
  60. travisbickle86
    May 20, 2012
    4
    And Blizzard failed...
    Such a pity... it did have all for being such a nice game, but finally got nothing except wowish graphic style... Gamers are not stupid... begining with a poor story, flat characters, boring ingame cinematics that looks like pokemon, less options than diablo 2 on skill trees (there are no skill trees but skill lines) and automatic stats... dude Diablo II is such a    And Blizzard failed...
    Such a pity... it did have all for being such a nice game, but finally got nothing except wowish graphic style... Gamers are not stupid... begining with a poor story, flat characters, boring ingame cinematics that looks like pokemon, less options than diablo 2 on skill trees (there are no skill trees but skill lines) and automatic stats... dude Diablo II is such a better game... It's not a good game, it's not a good Diablo, and DEFINITLY IT'S NOT A GOOD BLIZZARD TITLE... Bad times for a company which once upon a time was pretty avantgarde... not anymore... they only care about money...    … Expand
  61. Scharnvirk
    May 20, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. As a new player to Diablo franchise or even to Blizzard games, I didn't really know what to expect. I only knew it is about fighting monsters, gathering loot and so on. The way gameplay is made is kinda... weird, to be honest. First you obtain an account on so-called battle.net, then you use it to log-in in game. After you do it, monster cards begin to appear, each in nice rectangular frame and labelled with name like "error 37" or so. They also have a nice flavor text. If they appear it means that you have logged too slow and the monster has won. There is quite a variety of enemies, varying in effects and how quickly they kill. The 37 is most common one. 10001 tends to spawn along with 3000008. 12 is a fun one, requires the player to change his "build" in options menu. If the player manages to kill the monster, they can create a character (which is werid, shouldn't it be done BEFORE the actual fight?), and they can take it to fight with other cards. I have yet to beat 3004 and 3006, those are nasty. Balance is weird. 33 is unbeatable. 37 is very common one, easy to beat with typing quick enough. 300008 is rare and weak. I would have nothing against the number indicating how powerful is the encountered mob. 33 is close to 37 and yet they are completely diffrent.

    Overall I am not sure if I like this novel approach to card-based gameplay, but hey, thats Blizzard. Those guys surely know how to make a good game. In the end, however, the point of a review is to tell how much reviewer likes the game and its particular aspects. Gameplay gets 2 big, bad 2 for me - unique for sure, but in the end boring. Quite time consuming, too, and I don't feel any sense of progress, though, beating a 10001 feels good for sure!

    Graphics are nice, there is an animated background. It does not fit the fighting errors theme, I think something more related to computers would be better. The same can be said about music. 6 for both - Nice, but not fitting.

    It is said that the game has some form of multiplayer - I don't really understand how to use it.

    So, in the end: unique card game which is quite hard to understand properly. Massive flaws in balance of particular cards, also gets boring after some time.    … Expand
  62. JJChris
    May 20, 2012
    4
    Disaster and embarrassment. The game created by a powerful company in years is worse than the beta of low-budget (and freeware) PoE. Tons of disadvantages:
    - building of character does not exist, skills are so similar, that you can pretty much pick them randomly, it is only the gear that matters,
    - graphics is disappointing, with four players,light effects spam causes that monsters and    Disaster and embarrassment. The game created by a powerful company in years is worse than the beta of low-budget (and freeware) PoE. Tons of disadvantages:
    - building of character does not exist, skills are so similar, that you can pretty much pick them randomly, it is only the gear that matters,
    - graphics is disappointing, with four players,light effects spam causes that monsters and cursor are hardly visible,
    - level of difficulty irritates with imbalance, normal monsters are too easy (except for annoying situations when they appear out of nowhere, or from behind), while the champion packs with an unfavorable configuration (eg, jailer / mortar for characters attacking from a distance, or vampiric / shielding for melee characters) are so annoying that discourage to the game - for me, running 15 minutes in a circle leaving traps to kill them is not the challenge, it's only a nuisance,
    - lack of a decent chat just embarrassing.
    - turning off servers on Sunday afternoon (and on premiere day) show clearly that Blizz doesn't care for customers at all.
    The weakest in the history of Blizzard's games, not worth buying.    … Expand
  63. RetRap
    May 20, 2012
    4
    Gameplay wise, Diablo 3 definitely achieves what it set out too. The combat is fast, visceral and an awful lot of fun. The character classes are diverse and the abilities and loot come as thick and fast as you could wish. Areas and enemies alike are diverse and it is constantly a pleasure to gaze upon a new environment as you peel away at the fog of war.
    The Acts of the game are enjoyable    Gameplay wise, Diablo 3 definitely achieves what it set out too. The combat is fast, visceral and an awful lot of fun. The character classes are diverse and the abilities and loot come as thick and fast as you could wish. Areas and enemies alike are diverse and it is constantly a pleasure to gaze upon a new environment as you peel away at the fog of war.
    The Acts of the game are enjoyable and while the story is certainly formulaic, it provides enough traction to keep you going through the thousands of demons you will slay.

    Multiplayer and the various difficulty levels also give great incentive to come back, although ultimately the majority of game owners are not likely to keep going with the game past a couple of play through's.

    It's such a shame then that such a compelling package has been forced into a completely flawed distribution system. While the game its self is great, the fact that it is completely unplayable without being logged into Blizzards battle.net system ruins the immersion. For a single-player game at it's heart, to have lag and even be kicked out of your ongoing game because of a connection issue is not acceptable in this day and age.

    What truly is the straw that breaks the camels back however, is the very poor customer service from Blizzard. Since launch the game has been plagued by lack-luster server stability and poor resource management meaning thousands were unable to play. Furthermore at time of writing the Blizzard servers are down again and the official word on the forums is "no word yet on a fix". For a company that runs the most successful MMO in history, such poor infrastructure and customer service can only be the result of poor management. While these problems may be fixed in the future; as a game it works but right now Diablo 3 is a resounding failure as a product.    … Expand
  64. Lamurun
    May 20, 2012
    4
    Cannot play single player if servers are down. Cannot cut socializing if I want to. Nothing special in terms of playability. Nice cut-scenes. Skill change on the go is a nice idea. Too expensive for what it offers. Click`n`kill, just that.
  65. Mob
    May 20, 2012
    4
    The game is pretty straightforward and fast-paced, as it was expected from a Diablo game. Blizzard delivers yet another simple-but-enthralling game. Technically, graphics are a bit lower than expected: more could have been done. Cutscenes are great as ever.
    Let's go to the part where it hurts. Because, yes, it does hurt.
    First of all, Diablo is not a RPG, it never was, Blizzard never made    The game is pretty straightforward and fast-paced, as it was expected from a Diablo game. Blizzard delivers yet another simple-but-enthralling game. Technically, graphics are a bit lower than expected: more could have been done. Cutscenes are great as ever.
    Let's go to the part where it hurts. Because, yes, it does hurt.
    First of all, Diablo is not a RPG, it never was, Blizzard never made any RPG, so I really don't understand why they insist on branding the game as a RPG. Furthermore, any residue RPG aspect was removed from the game: basically, you no longer have stat points to assign freely, and any skill you can use is simply unlocked though leveling: you can change it whenever you want, and try any combination you ever think of. While this may seem to give unprecedented freedom of choice (for a Diablo game), it reduces all character to basically being the same character.
    What puzzles me more, is that Blizzard insists on refraining from customization: you can choose either male or female model for your class, and you can acquire some randomly-spawned "dyes" to partially change your armor's color during the game, and that's it. Seriously, you don't get to choose anything about your character, not even the appearance of the armor worn, which is modelled automatically after the class's flavor.
    For a 2012 game, lack of customization is a serious issue.
    And then there is the main issue: you can play the game if, and only if, you are online on the battle.net servers. This causes a ton of problems, but mainly, if the server has an issue (and it does, often), the game will become unplayable from lag, swap, fps drop... If the servers are down you can't play at all.
    For 60 dollars, I'd have expected more from Blizzard. Unfortunately, this firm seems to be no longer the old glory we all knew before merging with infamous Activision. So far, Blizzard delivered: 3 disappointing WoW expansions, a VERY disappointing Starcraft 2 (or 1/3 of it, the next 2/3 are yet to come) and this frankly below-expectations Diablo 3. Shame on Blizzard. I think my buying their games stops here.    … Expand
  66. Valtyr
    May 20, 2012
    4
    After many, many years in development Diablo III is finaly ready to de-throne its predecessor (The exelent Diablo II) and reign as King of the Hack'n Slash genre. Only it isn't.

    Clearly Blizzard has put a lot of thought and effort into making this game the very best it could be, improvements have been made in every aspect of the game, and is is generally very good. There are some problems    After many, many years in development Diablo III is finaly ready to de-throne its predecessor (The exelent Diablo II) and reign as King of the Hack'n Slash genre. Only it isn't.

    Clearly Blizzard has put a lot of thought and effort into making this game the very best it could be, improvements have been made in every aspect of the game, and is is generally very good. There are some problems with the graphics, and the controles, and the plot, but hese are all minor and should not ruin your playing experience.

    No, the "Big Problem" and the reason for why I give this game a score of 4 is that is simply does not work. Even now, days after launch, it is still unplayable. And this is all after both a closed BETA and a public demo that also served as a stress test, so Blizzard could, and should have been better prepared to hold up their end of the deal. When I pay more for a product, I expect to get more for my money, not less, or in this case, nothing!    … Expand
  67. talesdiann
    May 20, 2012
    4
    I waited for a long time for this game, and re-played Diablo 2 recently to be sure Iâ
  68. undeadmuffin
    May 20, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is not a Diablo game, I have played to diablo 1 & 2 and this one is not one of them ! First big deception (when i logged on...) no customisation ! I cannot spend my ability point or chose my spell. My barb will be like all the other barb, and when i hear the fan-boy saying «the customisation is in your game play !» i only want to downvote it more because they remember me that if you dont have a internet connection you cant play. Diablo was based on two pillar: customisation of your character (d1&d2) and grim, dark and unholy atmosphere, which i dont see here. And the weapons, ... the weapons... 3/4 of them are unique to a class and you cant take them (and a special comment about the ones you can take, like an axe, with the witchdoctor or the mage its USELESS, you have your 2 'mouse spell' and thats it) .And one last things, the potion, when i want to use a potion its NOW, not in 30 sec. .Of course, overall, its not an awful game, the graphics are decent (even if they are childish and colorfull) and they put more effort on the story through dialogue and background then d1 & d2. Its playable but its not a Diablo-like game, Blizzard dilute it too much to reach the new gamers, its a idiot-proof game, no chance that you could make a mistake and learn or try somethings new, in one word, have fun. If Blizzard had call it 'Not-diablo title' i could gave them a 6 or a 7.… Expand
  69. Thresher559
    May 20, 2012
    4
    Where to begin...Yes the game had launch issues, but I got over that; that only lasted a couple of days. The fact that you have to be connected to the internet just to play single player is ridiculous. What if my internet is down or their servers are down? Another problem with that fact that there is no true single player is that if you try to play the game by yourself and their serversWhere to begin...Yes the game had launch issues, but I got over that; that only lasted a couple of days. The fact that you have to be connected to the internet just to play single player is ridiculous. What if my internet is down or their servers are down? Another problem with that fact that there is no true single player is that if you try to play the game by yourself and their servers are lagging, then you suffer from lag in a SINGLE PLAYER GAME. Holy crap that's annoying. The game is self is alright, but it has MAJOR flaws in my opinion. The defined skill tree is SO boring and leaves no room for customizable classes. You wont run into anyone out there with a better layout for their class, only better weapons/armor (which can be purchased for the PTW effect). I also don't like that as a wizard, I can't even attack with the weapons i have equipped. I can only shoot out magic missiles and spectral blades etc....So who cares if I get an awesome sword, staff, dagger, whatever, because I can't actually use it unless im out of arcane energy (which lasts all of half of second at the most when burning through it). Anyway, I'm trying to get through this game just once so I can say I've played it, but I won't be coming back to this one time and time again like I did D1 and D2. Do yourself a favor and don't give into the hype. What a disappointment.… Expand
  70. Midevilforever
    May 20, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have been playing Blizzard games since Warcraft 1 and was absolutely fascinated by Diablo when it was first released all those years ago. My Warrior and Sorcerer were unstoppable in the pits of Hell. I looked forward to the weekends when I could play until my eyes practically bled (10 - 15 hours a day). Diablo 2 came out and for the most part was a great successor in the mighty Diablo franchise. With the addition of multiplayer, new graphics, more choices, etc the game made it worth your time to sink hours and hours into it. I will say that Diablo 2 will never be as good as Diablo 1 as far as ingenuity and fun factor, however Diablo 2 did take a lot of what made the first one so great and either keep it or attempt to expand on it.
    Now, on to Diablo 3.. this game takes everything that the original had, laughs at it, spits on it, and runs away as fast as it can. The first big cripple to this once mighty franchise is the lack of customization of skill points. While I can appreciate the need to simplify a game or make it more approachable, it doesn't need to be THAT simple. Customization should be a key thing in an RPG and not being able to select where my skill points goes is a major negative. Let's look at the abilities side of things. While I appreciate the simplistic approach I again have to disagree with it's execution. Basically, (literally basic) you level up, you get a new ability every few levels (like an RPG should do), but the new method of "customizing" is based on runes that open at different levels. No more finding scolls or tomes to make that Fireball cooler or having a rare skill set hidden somewhere in the depths of the Inferno of Act 4 rewarding only the most stalwart of players. Nope, we just get to pansy along and at each level we're rewarded. Fine. I'm still in, just because I want to see Diablo die to my blade. BUT, I ASK YOU THIS ONE QUESTION. WHAT'S THE POINT OF CONTINUING ON INTO NIGHTMARE, HELL, OR INFERNO MODE if you basically get to see all the skills by level 35? Yes, I agree that there is some variation, but there's no real "omg I need to move forward into these harder modes to get more spells or abilities" motivation. I liked leveling up my fireball or my ice orb and making it more rock star as I got farther in. I liked being able to put points into things to customize my character. Ever have a Firewall sorceress in Diablo 2 with max amount of plus damage fire runes? Yeah, good times. So much less customization in this game.
    The graphics are another thing that I wish they would've retooled just a little bit! I do have to say I am not against the artsy direction they went, but for me it's not what I wanted to see. We have 1080p LED screens and HDMI outputs putting out some of the best quality that's ever been seen, and yet Diablo 3 utilizes none of this. I understand the need to appeal to the masses they may not be able to afford the latest and greatest, but at the very least I would think you'd have built in an option for those of us who can. My 4 year old notebook can play this game at almost max resolution. Meh. I personally feel that Blizzard took so long to make this game that they were to far entrenched into what they're were producing that when the new technologies started to come out (within the past 2 years) they were unable to reverse tracks an adapt it in. Just very poor timing on starting and finishing the game.
    Then there is this unfortunate thing called DRM. Why does someone playing a once acceptable solo game have to be online? I do enjoy the multiplayer aspect of the game, please don't get me wrong, however I could easily have clicked a button that said "This character is being made offline and will never be available for Battle.net play. Do you accept?" YES! Now, I want to play online? Cool, me and my friends will start new characters and progress together. Seriously, how many people only have one character? Just saying... even more so the point is when the servers are down for maintenance, wouldn't Blizzard rather have us dinking around on our offline accounts rather than playing something else? In fact, that is exactly what happened. While I was waiting for the servers to fix themselves during launch (which was a nightmare, but I'm not using that to base my overall score.), I had been invited into the TL2 beta. I spent several hours checking out that game. Honestly, it wouldn't of even happened if I had been too busy hacking and slashing my away across solo play ON MY COMPUTER. Not on your damn servers.
    The music is great, but so what? Yay! I can listen to sweet background music and great voice overs while I sit here and muddle through the same campaign/storyline 4 times. Whoop de freaking do. The only huge plus to this game is that it is Diablo and I will always love the universe and fighting the demons of Hell. The game has some amazing cut scenes and is still worth buying    … Expand
  71. Agent-M
    May 20, 2012
    4
    This game is boring as hell.

    The story-line is dry, linear, predictable and could have been much, much better. Character class back-story/story-line is non existent. About the only time your character comes into the story-line is when he/she is narrating it; that's it - which sucks big time. The game should have had multiple endings, substantial choices that affected the    This game is boring as hell.

    The story-line is dry, linear, predictable and could have been much, much better. Character class back-story/story-line is non existent. About the only time your character comes into the story-line is when he/she is narrating it; that's it - which sucks big time. The game should have had multiple endings, substantial choices that affected the story-line/characters, and more random/variety in quests but sadly it doesn't. A better story-line should be given each time you beat the game on a harder difficulty, or else why even play again. Maps are extremely linear, small, and very closed off. They are made just to funnel you to your next destination - nothing more. The games initial difficulty should not be called normal. Diablo I and II on normal were much more of a chanllenge than Diablo III's normal. Diablo III's normal feels like the game is dumbed down significantly for casual players and in fact is holding my hand every step of the way - in fact you will use potions about once every eight or so hours all the way to the ending of the game. This greatly takes away from my enjoyment and game play experience. Bosses battles are extremely lackluster, mediocre and poorly scripted. Aside from playing a different class the replay value is very linear at best. If the game had multiple endings/better endings for higher difficulties, and more variety in quests, gave the player choices that affected the game/ending and a substantial variety in more open and nonlinear maps then the replay value would be high. Art is too similar to WoW, and as such has a very cartoony kids friendly feel to it. In fact some of the animation was taken from wow. The music of the game has its moments but for the most part feels passive and dull. Single player games must be played online only. So if there servers are flooded or down you either experience massive lag which ruins your game play experience or you simply can't play at all. About the best thing I can say Diablo III has is the CG cinematic's which are wonderful too look at. I'd say this game deserves no more than a 7.5 at best.    … Expand
  72. Ghorta
    May 20, 2012
    4
    I am no doubt in the minority of people who do not find the DRM to be a problem. I am always connected to the internet, and yes; the first few days of server issues were annoying but there are more serious problems with the game. Considering how long this game has been in development, it is appalling to see how little has been done to improve the Diablo formula. For years many games suchI am no doubt in the minority of people who do not find the DRM to be a problem. I am always connected to the internet, and yes; the first few days of server issues were annoying but there are more serious problems with the game. Considering how long this game has been in development, it is appalling to see how little has been done to improve the Diablo formula. For years many games such as Torchlight have been considered "Diablo-clones," but the master has a lot of learning to do from the students.

    For starters the graphics are terrible for such a simple game. The spell effects are hit and miss, but for the most part they are quite lacking in polish considering how much could be done (and how much time they've had to do it).

    The game's mechanics are as simple as they should be, but the problem I have is with character development. Characters get no appearance customization, leaving you to look exactly like all of the others that share the same class and gender. Armor changes look so infrequently you can go a whole act and none of your teammates will notice your equipment has changed. Weapons are recycled models, with nothing new ever added into the mix as you progress. Even with all of these simple faults that could lead to the game being more enjoyable, none surpass the problems with skills and stats.

    The skill system is by far the most boring aspect of the game. Each character is given skills at varying levels and then runes to equip and upgrade your skills. This system gives you preselected upgrades and completely removes player input on how they want their character to evolve. My monk is set up for tanking, and less than half of the times I've leveled has he ever a got something to increase his ability to tank. This means the majority of the time I spend leveling with him, I use the same skills I've been using since the first act on normal difficulty. I feel as though he really isn't changing, and I have no input at all how I would like him to change. I will be the first to applaud Blizzard for trying something new, but this system is not good. I honestly would have preferred gaining skill points and being able to choose my skills, and use skill points to upgrade them. Currently, my main skills change so infrequently, it feels like I'm doing the same thing over and over until I get so bored I have to play something else to avoid falling asleep.

    Stats are another problem area for this game. Depending on your class you will only be stacking in two stats. Vitality is for everyone since it gives you added health (and thus survivability). Barbarians stack strength, Witch Doctors and Wizards stack intelligence, and Monks and Demon Hunters stack dexterity. If you have a stat not specified for your class, all you gain is an arbitrary bonus (int gives resistance, dex gives dodge, and str gives armor). This means stat balancing is non-existent. As it stands, there is no reason for a Wizard to have any dexterity because it does not provide critical chance, nor will it increase any of his abilities. This has removed the need for allocating stat points when you level, but makes armor and weapon choices a simple yes or no. It also makes you wonder why the in burning hells you just found a Witch Doctor off-hand that has strength and dexterity.

    Lastly I'll wrap up my complaints with a few quick points about other problems I've noticed. Voice acting is terrible. Polish is nice, but they only polished a turd. Crafting system provides equipment of a lesser value than of what you find out in the world (and yet you have to use the equipment you find to salvage for parts to make new equipment). Story is way too short (four acts total amassing MAYBE 10 hours on your first play through). Harder difficulties only give trash mobs more hp (too much if you ask me) instead of the preferred method of more difficult enemies. Dungeons don't feel different at all on multiple play throughs. With all of these problems, it does have some nice qualities. The combat is often fun. Getting a new skill or rune will sometimes change up your strategy enough to where you'll feel like you're playing a new class. Tanking is fun for those who do not like relying on someone else keeping you alive. It's active and involved and the game makes sure your full attention is on it, or you will suffer a death.

    To sum up, this game does not feel finished, and it feels more like a beta than a full game.From any other game company I would have held it to lower standards, but considering it was Blizzard and considering how long it took; this game is a poor excuse for a Diablo sequel. I would not recommend to anyone to buy this game. If the price ever dropped below $15, then maybe, but it is not worth the $60 you would waste on it otherwise.    … Expand
  73. ZMoney187
    May 20, 2012
    4
    This is a great game even if it's unoriginal and a hack-job of its predecessor. You can't screw up Diablo even if your company is a corporatist shell of its former self. The graphics are fine, physics look cool, gameplay is the same fast-paced kill-fest that the last two games were. I can't comment on the story since I can't play the game for more than 10 minutes without getting kickedThis is a great game even if it's unoriginal and a hack-job of its predecessor. You can't screw up Diablo even if your company is a corporatist shell of its former self. The graphics are fine, physics look cool, gameplay is the same fast-paced kill-fest that the last two games were. I can't comment on the story since I can't play the game for more than 10 minutes without getting kicked off the server. Frankly, I am offended by Blizzard's launch performance, especially since I specifically waited five days so as not to be caught up in the inevitable first day fiasco that characterizes any online game launch. Let's not even get into the fact that this is supposed to be a single player game. Above grief aside, I give this an 8.… Expand
  74. Agorash
    May 20, 2012
    4
    Unjustifiable quality presented for a game in development since 2001. 11 years. I repeat, 11 years. The graphic quality doesn't impressed anyone, not music, average story, overly high latency and the first weekend they lost control of the servers. They deserve the users score who obtained making things so bad as possible.
  75. dragonpark
    May 20, 2012
    4
    when I played D3 ,I can't believe that it's a game developed in 2012 , the Graphics looks prety bad, the art style almost let me think it was a Korea game, Completely a different kind art-style of D2
  76. Gutss
    May 20, 2012
    4
    As fallout 3 is to fallout and civ V is to civ IV, Diablo 3 is to Diablo 2. Customization is low, replayability is zero, the setup is antisocial, graphics are fine, items are completely wack (blues>legendary). I played Diablo 2 for years as did many others, Diablo 3 is a 2 weeks game then move on.
  77. Morfarpower
    May 21, 2012
    4
    I must say i had much higher hopes for Diablo III, the lack of customization, DRM and constant connection, expensive, and cliche story that basically is tacked on, it feels like blizz has given up trying to please the fans, instead are just spewing out simple junk that can be played with one hand while on the phone (which i actually did and it went fine) There was even midnight release allI must say i had much higher hopes for Diablo III, the lack of customization, DRM and constant connection, expensive, and cliche story that basically is tacked on, it feels like blizz has given up trying to please the fans, instead are just spewing out simple junk that can be played with one hand while on the phone (which i actually did and it went fine) There was even midnight release all over for this in my country, and i later found out it was nearly impossible to login and with numerous errors so people who pre-ordered sort of got screwed over, To think a company with 10 million+ ? players dedicated to them, they'd prepare for release with better login servers and tested server load, which Blizz is famous for not doing in their games... This will most likely be the last Blizzard game i ever buy, i feel they've taken enough of my money without actually giving enough back, I will say that not all is bad with Diablo, its fun to play with friends on higher difficulty, and its quite nice to roam dungeons eventhough it's mindless farming if you think about it (Blizz in a nutshell) However i enjoyed this title to a extent, Story sucked, customization was poor ( there is none almost) as well as Meh graphics for 2012, Overall its a ok game, not a blockbuster or a memorable game, but it serves as time killing and some fun co-op moments.… Expand
  78. ShW
    May 22, 2012
    4
    Graphics - awesome.
    Skill mechanics - good.
    Story - not bad, but not good. Atmosphere is lost. World - too small, too linear, and I hate that the world is split into quests parts. Character stats and items mechanics - never seen worst. Totally stupid and poor. "Let's max primary stat and vita! Oh, you want your barbarian with evasion? No way, you'll get huge penalties if you do    Graphics - awesome.
    Skill mechanics - good.
    Story - not bad, but not good.
    Atmosphere is lost.
    World - too small, too linear, and I hate that the world is split into quests parts.
    Character stats and items mechanics - never seen worst. Totally stupid and poor. "Let's max primary stat and vita! Oh, you want your barbarian with evasion? No way, you'll get huge penalties if you do differently than we envisioned"
    "You want to farm legendary items, which have very-very-very small drop chance? Okay, do it. But rare items is way better than legendary, and sometimes blue items way better than rares!"
    Pony level is not funny, guys. Well, cow level was not very serious but it was scary anyway.
    Disappointment of decade. Do not expect this from Blizzard. And still hope they'll say "It was joke haha, download our patch and you get play really cool Diablo!"    … Expand
  79. CreagerX
    May 22, 2012
    4
    I was super excited and just bought it as soon as it came out..... If I had known it required you to be online all the time I would have saved my money. E.A.D. Blizzard !
  80. JackPaladin
    May 22, 2012
    4
    First, like a coin operated video game, you will never see your character's name in game. The only thing identifying your character is an ugly computer ID code, which is the same for every character you create. Same with friends you play with, their "name" is always a computer code too. Average graphics (at best); average plot (at best); basic options missing (can't change text size forFirst, like a coin operated video game, you will never see your character's name in game. The only thing identifying your character is an ugly computer ID code, which is the same for every character you create. Same with friends you play with, their "name" is always a computer code too. Average graphics (at best); average plot (at best); basic options missing (can't change text size for example); about 20 hours to finish, and the ending is just like "BAM, game done, over, nothing more to see here, move along!"

    Also, people are getting hacked left and right, imo due to the RMAH that is like beacon to thieves. But Blizzard gets money for the RMAH, and, oh, what a coincidence, they get money for the "special" authentication program you can "buy" from them. Read the forums, and see how Blizzard's response to one poor guy that got he account gutted was "You did not purchase our special authenticator".

    This game is corporate greed at it's worst in every aspect of the game.    … Expand
  81. Cuz
    May 22, 2012
    4
    Game was bad enough that I asked Blizzard for a refund. Fortunately, their customer service was stand-up and they gave me one within a couple days of submitting a ticket. Character customization was weak, story was uneventful, graphics were mediocre, but what really pushed me over the edge was lagging out and rubber-banding in a single-player game. I'm assuming the connectivity issuesGame was bad enough that I asked Blizzard for a refund. Fortunately, their customer service was stand-up and they gave me one within a couple days of submitting a ticket. Character customization was weak, story was uneventful, graphics were mediocre, but what really pushed me over the edge was lagging out and rubber-banding in a single-player game. I'm assuming the connectivity issues will get resolved in a few weeks but there just isn't enough there to wait for. I'm giving it a 4 based on the quality customer service I got from Blizzard.... which probably saved me as a customer on future games from them.… Expand
  82. legendma
    May 22, 2012
    4
    ----Not Good----
    Atrocious launch for a title many waited 12 years for in anticipation. Carries with it the stigma of Activizzard's DRM politics and agenda. Unimpressive graphics engine and animation. Bland plot and characters. Voice acting and script are sub-par. Stripped-down character mechanics. Single-player lags per online traffic and is only playable when the servers are up.    ----Not Good----
    Atrocious launch for a title many waited 12 years for in anticipation. Carries with it the stigma of Activizzard's DRM politics and agenda. Unimpressive graphics engine and animation. Bland plot and characters. Voice acting and script are sub-par. Stripped-down character mechanics. Single-player lags per online traffic and is only playable when the servers are up. Pay-to-win auction house. Art style diverges greatly from the other products in the series, and adopts the now tired toony style a'la World of Warcraft. Time to complete is rather short for a game with limited replay value. Music score is bland.

    ----Good----
    Hardcore mode is fantastic: rewarding greatly and punishing firmly, making victories an incredible rush and making you really care about your character. Online party system is better than ever, and for now the griefers are few. Sound and music cues make the experience cinematic at times. Interface and menus are slick and polished. Player characters all have a unqiue feel and style.

    ----Final Comments----
    The engine really feels like the World of Warcraft engine adapted and enhanced for this title, which is weak since the technology is showing its age. For all the shallow justifications Activizzard have given for the forced-online constraint, the title has or will soon be cracked and pirated, the auction house economy is junk, and only those who have paid for the game or want to play online must suffer the DRM. I can't help but think some big budget top-down action RPG title will fill the void left by this disappointing release. Perhaps that will be Blizzard with a Diablo3 expansion pack, restoring the deep metagame mechanics and charm of the series.    … Expand
  83. hoolabanana
    May 23, 2012
    4
    Even if many 0 votes are too harsh it is clear that Diabla did not live up to many people's expectations if you actually read what they write next to their grade. Blizzard would do well to listen to what their game serie's oldest fans actually want.

    My biggest problem with the game (PC): + Subpar graphics for this age on PC. If you max out the graphic settings you won't push any    Even if many 0 votes are too harsh it is clear that Diabla did not live up to many people's expectations if you actually read what they write next to their grade. Blizzard would do well to listen to what their game serie's oldest fans actually want.

    My biggest problem with the game (PC):

    + Subpar graphics for this age on PC. If you max out the graphic settings you won't push any modern card, even the cheapest ones. They should be ashamed over this, considering how big Blizzard is. I can blame the consoles for making the gfx so low but it's not an excuse, the gfx should have been made for the PC and then scaled down for consoles.

    + Internet requirement. No **** arguments for it, it is just plain bad. We don't own the game we're holding in our hand, we have a license to play it. Even says so in the "agreement" during installation.

    + The built-in marketplace. Did they really have to recommend people to cheat? What happened to the satisfaction of finding good stuff yourself? Now you are supposed to just grind for money so you can buy stuff that other players have found OR just aquired easily on the Inferno difficulty. It completely takes away the compare-yourself-with-a-friend aspect of the game as well, since there's no way of knowing how much he has just bought in the market. Using game-money in the marketplace is just a step-stone towards using real-world money that the greedy Blizzard wants you to use. By buying/selling items with game-money your are putting real-life-worth on virtual items, worth that will eventually bubble into someone spending real money. Shame on you Blizzard, SHAME ON YOU.

    In a way the marketplace issue is even larger than the Internet-connection issue. At least the actual gameplay is not ruined when you are required to connect to their servers.    … Expand
  84. JustinMP91
    May 23, 2012
    4
    I'm 20 years old... I played Diablo 2 LoD way back when I was 14 or so. Even being a few years old, Diablo II was an awesome game back then, provided hours and hours of interesting gameplay. I remember being truly creeped out running through Blood Moor. The game just had a dark, eerie feeling. The music was enjoyable, and I remember how excited I was when I found out it was free toI'm 20 years old... I played Diablo 2 LoD way back when I was 14 or so. Even being a few years old, Diablo II was an awesome game back then, provided hours and hours of interesting gameplay. I remember being truly creeped out running through Blood Moor. The game just had a dark, eerie feeling. The music was enjoyable, and I remember how excited I was when I found out it was free to download. Finding the best armor was a skill, and I remember my MF Sorceress fondly. My uncle and I had mule accounts to keep all of our good drops. Fast forward to Diablo 3, the long awaited and highly anticipated game for all of us Diablo 2 fans. Is the game good? Yeah, I guess. Is it worth the $60? Not really. And it definitely is a disappointment. Watching beta videos on YouTube, I was very disappointed with the cartoon-like graphics. It's not as bad as I was expecting, but it still doesn't give me the creepy feeling Diablo 2 did. The storyline is also absurdly short and rushed, I beat Normal within a few days and that's not even playing all day or night. I thought the cinematics were cool, but in general, the acts felt very reminiscent of Diablo 2 except with a worse storyline. The inclusion of the Auction House gives me mixed feelings... and it all seems like Blizzard set the game up to just make them money. We don't get our Hoadric Cube back, we have to craft our armor, craft our gems, level up our stash... and it all requires gold. Even in the gold auction house, Blizzard takes a cut of the gold. Runes as we know them from D2 are gone, replaced with skills we can't really customize. I feel like I can't stand out at all from any other Wizard (I play a Wizard)... not to mention that the Wizard is pitifully weak compared to other classes. I tried to find my own loot like in Diablo 2, and had 50% MF total.. and found no decent drops. I ended up just buying items from the AH, which is probably how everyone will do it. Even the music is uninspired... they just remixed one song from the previous game and it gets very repetitive. It's not creative and doesn't really add to the atmosphere like it did in D2. I guess I just find Diablo 3 to be very oversimplified, short, and bland compared to Diablo 2. It's a fun game worth playing, but if you really enjoyed Diablo 1 and 2, you may be disappointed.… Expand
  85. Smilomaniac
    May 23, 2012
    4
    There are no spoilers in this review.
    I have played the game almost through hell in four days and this is what I think...
    There is early game and end game, but nothing in between. You start off enjoying the experience and story, then you proceed to nightmare and hell difficulty to grind levels and finally when you're 60 you either try to complete inferno difficulty or you grind    There are no spoilers in this review.
    I have played the game almost through hell in four days and this is what I think...

    There is early game and end game, but nothing in between. You start off enjoying the experience and story, then you proceed to nightmare and hell difficulty to grind levels and finally when you're 60 you either try to complete inferno difficulty or you grind elite/champion monsters to get loot buffs that you use to take down bosses and get better than average loot.

    As stated, there's no midgame, there's nothing to do but grind your character to level 60 and replay all the things you beat on normal, which had no challenge. The "good" loot is very far in between and there is no satisfaction in taking down bosses until you're level 60, since they drop nothing of value. The skill system is very varied and I'd say most abilities are competently balanced, but as always there are specific combos that just work best and if you're going to have that instead of changing between abilities to adapt to situations, then you might as well have kept the old skill system, assigning points. The greatest challenge in Diablo has always been randomly overpowered champions/elites and never the bosses and D3 keeps this approach, giving ridiculously overtuned special powers that can have devastating effects depending on what you play. The thing is that you can't outplay these monsters if they have a certain combos of abilities and at present they too hard a challenge at higher difficulties. While bosses are still very difficult at higher difficulties, they are manageable and you will never lose because because of unfair ability combos.

    The game is overpriced, the servers are unstable and currently make you unable to have a chance at playing hardcore, since you are likely to die from lag even in a singleplayer game. You cannot kick friends or block friends from joining your game, which has been a problem since people will often join your games randomly, even though you only know them from a different game or want to play by yourself.

    If Diablo 3 and Diablo 2 came out at the same time, and graphics were not in question, then Diablo 2 would be the far superior game. This isn't nostalgia talking, this is easy to compare since Path of Exile just had an open beta and heavily relies on the old mechanics and playstyle. People have been saying that Torchlight 2 wouldn't have a chance because of Diablo, but Blizzard screwed this one up royally. They have gone far too mainstream this time and their mass catering has substantially hurt their own design and gameplay.

    I am disgusted at the "professional" reviews that have given the game so high a score without touching the important factors. I suspect, however, that it is a fine console game and would be fit for that target audience, it should just have been named something else.    … Expand
  86. Grulnork
    May 24, 2012
    4
    I see it as a glorified Indie game. It's fun but not worth it's price-tag of ââ
  87. 2hi4me2cu
    May 24, 2012
    4
    Before I begin, I made an account here just to post this review.

    This game defines the reason Piracy is so prevalent today. Quite simply it is not worth the price tag attributed. I could not find any in the shops so purchased for £44 online and downloaded it. I shall list my experience so far in order; The installation was not easy, I had to trawl through the online forums    Before I begin, I made an account here just to post this review.

    This game defines the reason Piracy is so prevalent today. Quite simply it is not worth the price tag attributed. I could not find any in the shops so purchased for £44 online and downloaded it.

    I shall list my experience so far in order;

    The installation was not easy, I had to trawl through the online forums because it continuously failed, trying numerous things suggested until I fixed it which took an hour or so. The fix was from the community NOT from Blizzard :/.

    You need a CONSTANT internet connection to play the single player game, there have been times where their servers are overloaded and I could not play / log in. Unacceptable to me from such a big player in the games industry.

    The game itself is really mediocre, I usually play on hard difficulty settings for a challenge, but you need to complete the game on normal first before its unlocked. Normal difficulty setting is so unbelievably easy, the gameplay you literally hold one mouse button to run around and kill things, then occasionally hit the right mouse button, Q and numbers 1 - 4. As one previous poster commented "This is Spore all over again" - That too was a game that was unbelievably over-hyped and ended up just a HUGE disappointment to me. Diablo 3 is similar.

    To me there are alot of games companies squeezing the life out of excellent titles for the sake of profit. THQ did it with Supreme commander and Activision do it with Call of duty, then there is Tiger woods 137 etc etc. - Diablo gives me the same feeling that me, the consumer and my gaming experience comes not even second to their main priorities of the bottom line and making money. Yes it is important but the balance is tipped too far in the wrong direction for me imo.

    Very disappointed!    … Expand
  88. Jimboy
    Jun 21, 2012
    4
    What is there to say: I was playing the game for 2 weeks after the release date, and that's it. Did not remove it from my PC, but haven't started it since. I just don't feel the urge to play it.
    Funny, but this was not the case with Diablo 1 or 2...
  89. Vrantakofski
    May 25, 2012
    4
    My original review exeeded 5000 characters so I'm just going to break it down.

    Combat feels good but one dimensional enemies make it a less satisfying experience. Boring and unimpressive item system. Difficulties in the game are all gear checks. No new mechanics in higher difficulties. Monsters don't get new spells or attacks (with the exception of elites and their affixes).    My original review exeeded 5000 characters so I'm just going to break it down.

    Combat feels good but one dimensional enemies make it a less satisfying experience.

    Boring and unimpressive item system.

    Difficulties in the game are all gear checks.

    No new mechanics in higher difficulties.

    Monsters don't get new spells or attacks (with the exception of elites and their affixes).
    Elite monster affixes are boring with most of them being aoe area control spells that force you to run away.

    Game is short with linear maps that have minuscule randomisation and waypoints are given to you automatically in certain points of the story. Exploration becomes pointless and unrewarding.

    Long cool down timers ruin the pace of the game.

    Many skills and skill runes are useless and are not viable in the endgame.

    Endgame forces you to go certain builds just to survive, killing build diversity.

    Gold sinks are pointless and expensive. (Jeweller and Blacksmith)

    Disappearing text in chat box is annoying.

    Private messaging is clunky and slow, further ruining the pace of the game.

    Script is cheesy and poorly written.

    Story characters feel like tag alongs.    … Expand
  90. TheCritic2050
    May 25, 2012
    4
    SAVE YOUR MONEY !
    In short:
    GOOD: - Nice cut-scenes - Audio & dialogs (although at times repetitive, and quite odd...) BAD: - Always online DRM! (unacceptable), played at least 8 games where i got disconnected due to Blizards servers, lost the game I was in and had to waste a good 20 to 30 minutes searching for the moved goal on the map. Also, constant reloading in game of the characters    SAVE YOUR MONEY !
    In short:
    GOOD:
    - Nice cut-scenes
    - Audio & dialogs (although at times repetitive, and quite odd...)

    BAD:
    - Always online DRM! (unacceptable), played at least 8 games where i got disconnected due to Blizards servers, lost the game I was in and had to waste a good 20 to 30 minutes searching for the moved goal on the map. Also, constant reloading in game of the characters position due to high pings...diablo 3 was the onyl game i got over 300 ms ping...every other game not more than 20!....if this game would be saved to my hard drive there would be no issue!
    - Repetitive! (I got bored half way of slashing the same way at enemies....later just pushed for the story...which was overall lackluster, looks like the game was only made to mimic world of warcraft, rather than diablo 1 and 2...
    - NO REPLAY VALUE...yes there are "harder" monsters later on, but that is it...the I finished the game in about 7 or 9 hours tops...with heavy exploring til the mid game areas...later I just got bored.
    - Lackluster graphics...unimpressive dated...stale.
    -idiotically easy enemies...even bosses, lacked any real challenge...i literally stood there holding my mouse button in one spot...till the boss died...
    -BORING!....was unimpressed overall....I bought starcraft 2 on day one...got diablo3 on day 2....I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER BLIZZARD GAME! ...save your money for supporting developers that offer worth wile products...diablo 3 feels like a huge hoax at the end....    … Expand
  91. SHOManiac
    May 25, 2012
    4
    I was/am a big fan of the Diablo series games but D3 has left me quite disappointed. Anyone that gives this game a glowing review surely never played the previous Diablo games.

    To me, Diablo 3 looks and feels like what I would expect a console version of Diablo to be like. It's nothing like the previous versions were. Anyone that buys this game thinking they are going to be able to    I was/am a big fan of the Diablo series games but D3 has left me quite disappointed. Anyone that gives this game a glowing review surely never played the previous Diablo games.

    To me, Diablo 3 looks and feels like what I would expect a console version of Diablo to be like. It's nothing like the previous versions were. Anyone that buys this game thinking they are going to be able to experiment with character customization has just wasted $60.00. In the end, we all have the same skills and the only thing separating us is the items we are carrying. If you are a Monk and your buddy is a Monk, you are exactly the same.

    In previous versions of Diablo I spent countless hours playing characters like the Amazon or Barbarian developing each of their skill trees completely different. You simply can't do that in this game.

    I have also seen mention of how this is supposed to be a Loot based game. Well let me tell you, I am about 1/2 way thru nightmare and I have never played a loot based game that generates so much completely worthless junk. In the old Diablo's at least non-magical items were worth a little bit, lugging those items back to town was worth the effort. I don't know why they even included non-magical items, they are a total waste.

    Everything is on a timer (including my patience)! Seriously! What is wrong with guzzling potions to avoid death? I have 50 health potions and have to run away from a tough fight to re-charge my healing timer?? If I have the spirit and the potions then let me spend them how I see fit. Really Blizzard it's not a complicated concept, you did it in the past.

    I give this game a 4. It's not a total waste of money and there is some entertainment value in H&S with some friends but if you enjoy a feature rich character customizeable experience you won't find it after you install Diablo 3. After about 10 hours of game play you will kill Diablo for the first time and start getting bored of using the same 3 skills over and over and over. The whole hype about the online market thing is totally lost on me as well. I won't be playing this game long enough to care to even visit this store and why would I spend real dollars on items when the character customization is so locked into a single path.

    Sorry Blizzard, but this game is all hype and just doesn't deliver. This could have been so much better if you stuck with the format you had in the previous versions.    … Expand
  92. Arker
    May 27, 2012
    4
    I've tried to put up with all the issues but there are too many! 1. Story is mediocre.
    2. some very horrible dialogue. Especially when Diablo himself is talking like a stupid child.... seriously.
    3.lag spiking. and this is the only game that does this so its this game and not my internet. 4. Frame dropping.. sadly BF3, dirt 3, ME3 and every other game runs smooth D3 does not. Tried many    I've tried to put up with all the issues but there are too many! 1. Story is mediocre.
    2. some very horrible dialogue. Especially when Diablo himself is talking like a stupid child.... seriously.
    3.lag spiking. and this is the only game that does this so its this game and not my internet.
    4. Frame dropping.. sadly BF3, dirt 3, ME3 and every other game runs smooth D3 does not. Tried many diff video drivers and settings to no avail.
    5. End game video was pitiful for a diablo game. number of CG videos lacking.
    6. no real feel of improving. I've gone from 1500dps to 3000dps upgrade and there was none to little sensation of really destroying **** up. 7. Leveling and items seem to be fine drops are fine.
    8. music is lacking... i seem to notice only 3 songs...
    9. Audio doesn't work well with my 5.1 system... Every other game works fine. so this was depressing. And i never have audio problems with anythings. sigh.
    10.Auction House is horrible at best. It may work. but it probably won't. Then it will work oh wait its not. lol
    10.1 Support for cash auction house response ... call this number ... call number wait an hour. oh ya its not up yet. ask why it said on the box it was in game... no answer and then they freaking hanged up on me.
    10.2 when the auction house works it's not bad... if it works

    11. random game kicks you out cause server problems. They're trying to fix it i get it... but just dont release the game if it can't be played properly damn it.

    12. It's freaking DIABLO 3 not some cheap ass company that puts out ****ty games. Yet this game is flawed and needs too many fixes. I wish I had not bought this game. I have asked for my money back as I get too mad for the 1000th time the game lags when im battling some mobs and im dead again.... and again.... yeah that's sure fun.

    I love Diablo 2, 1, Starcraft 1, 2, big esports guy but third time is not a charm for diablo series 4/10. 60% of the fun was lost from playing this game now....

    Don't buy it now... buy it when it's finished.... if you have to...    … Expand
  93. stepim
    May 27, 2012
    4
    First of all, I'm a hardcore gamer, multiglad in wow, 10 hours a day of gaming on average since 2007 (all sorts of games). I got to Act II inferno on witch doctor a few days ago and hit the wall where my 28k dps isn't enough to kill elites. So in order to progress without skipping champion packs, I have to buy upgrades worth of a few million gold. Now this is when the actual game ends andFirst of all, I'm a hardcore gamer, multiglad in wow, 10 hours a day of gaming on average since 2007 (all sorts of games). I got to Act II inferno on witch doctor a few days ago and hit the wall where my 28k dps isn't enough to kill elites. So in order to progress without skipping champion packs, I have to buy upgrades worth of a few million gold. Now this is when the actual game ends and boring mindless grind starts. I see people in streams farming inferno act 4 minibosses (after getting there through an exploit) over and over, like hundreds times a day. Well this is just a pathetic way to spend your time when there are so many other things to do. Even playing tetris is more fun lol. So I'm giving this 1/10 for endgame, 10/10 leveling, 0/10 for how easy it is on eyes (it puts more strain on eyes than all other games I've played, mostly due to enormous time you are forced to spend on AH and dark background graphics.)… Expand
  94. Maximilia
    May 28, 2012
    4
    I really liked Diablo 2, but I wasn't that excited for Diablo 3. I just felt there was no where for the story to go, and boy, was I right. Well, no where for it to go without digging into some massively stupid cliches.

    Graphics: 5/10 They're passable. I mean, there's nothing really new from what I remember of Diablo 2, just updated to look a bit nicer. It's actually below what I would    I really liked Diablo 2, but I wasn't that excited for Diablo 3. I just felt there was no where for the story to go, and boy, was I right. Well, no where for it to go without digging into some massively stupid cliches.

    Graphics: 5/10 They're passable. I mean, there's nothing really new from what I remember of Diablo 2, just updated to look a bit nicer. It's actually below what I would expect, but they're not horrid.

    Story: 2/10 Gah, other than a few cool parts, the story was completely predictable. And this Nephalem thing... what's wrong with just good old humans being the heroes? And Tristram! REALLY? Does EVERY Diablo story HAVE to start there? Really? And the second second act. Oh, and the barbarian lands the third act... I'm rather expecting them to shoehorn in the jungle in any expansion they come out because it's terribly hard to think of new cities and new environments to play in. I actually found the journals more interesting than what the main characters had to say, and the journals aren't really... that good.

    Gameplay: 3/10
    ... it's Diablo. It's a clickfest. It works. Why I'm lowering the score here is the lack of customization. Every class has every skill in that class unlocked. Gone are choosing your skill and stat points. I personally think that taking choices away from the player is a Bad Thing. Yes, they can choose anything they want, but the fact that it's all open, that there's nothing to really work for, and that there's no reason to roll another of the same class is pretty ridiculous. Sound/Music: 8/10 While not perfect, I liked the music. The sounds are fine for combat, and when listening to the journals, it dims the other sounds so you can hear it. What's annoying is that if you happen to click on something else that spews sound at you, or start a conversation, before the journal or whatever is done, the new one rides over the old one. I suppose it had to be that way, but it's still annoying.

    Miscellaneous: 2/10
    Miscellaneous holds the "other" categories which don't fit neatly in sound, gameplay, story, and graphics. As the catchall, the DRM must be mentioned. YOU MUST HAVE A CONNECTION TO THE INTERNET TO PLAY. That's ridiculous! What if your internet goes down? Oh, I'll play Diablo... WAIT NO YOU CAN'T. The only more ridiculous DRM I've ever seen was on Spore, which gave you three installs, and that was it. This one makes you be social. The auction house should get a mention here, which I don't think adds to the game. The reason why? The further you go, the harder it is to find equipment for the character you are playing. I'm not kidding. I have a 40 wizard, and finding +Int items seems impossible. However, I can go on the auction house and buy them.... It's been stated by Blizzard that there's an algorithm in place to calculate drops based on your character and the auction house, which means that you find awesome stuff for other toons, and you can save them in a communal stash (great upgrade there), but they are leading people to using the auction house. Now, I have no problems with that, in theory, but just let me get my own items. What if I don't WANT to use the auction house? Why make it harder for the single player? All of this is, of course, leading up to the real money auction house (RMAH), where if you list something, from what I have read, there is a $1 dollar item fee, %15 listing fee, and ANOTHER 15% fee to transfer any money from the battlenet store to PayPal. That means that if I sell an item for $1.50, say, $1 goes to the listing fee, and it's unclear if it's %15 of the remaining money ($0.50) or of the total ($1.50). If it's the second, that's a $0.23 fee, leaving you $0.27 cents made. Then, if you transfer that to PayPal, there's another $0.04 fee to do so, leaving you with a grand total of $0.23 from a $1.50 item. Of course, the higher you sell an item for, the profit margin will grow, but who will spend REAL money for fake items? All in all, it's a shame that this game isn't better. I don't mind the idea behind the auction houses, but let people make money off of it. Just take a flat %15 and call it good. The gameplay is what you expect from Diablo, but the story is awful and rehashed. I would avoid buying it for now, and pick it up on the bargain bin six months from now, because it CAN be consuming (especially the first time through), but it's not worth $60, not by a long shot.    … Expand
  95. GuyOnEarth
    May 28, 2012
    4
    I am a long-time PC gamer who played both Diablo and Diablo II for many, many hours back when they came out, as well as other great Blizzard games like Starcraft and the Warcraft series...so wow, where to start with a review of a game that was one of the most anticipated of the last 10 years, and probably one of this biggest disappointments ever. What's interesting is that BlizzardI am a long-time PC gamer who played both Diablo and Diablo II for many, many hours back when they came out, as well as other great Blizzard games like Starcraft and the Warcraft series...so wow, where to start with a review of a game that was one of the most anticipated of the last 10 years, and probably one of this biggest disappointments ever. What's interesting is that Blizzard previewed this game 4 years ago, and it looked mostly done at that point. Why has it taken so long to deliver so little? I'm going to ignore the two things that seemed to get most people so angry, the requirement of a persistent connection (though I think it's a bad idea, a really bad idea), and the server issues which have made playing hit-or-miss for so many people, and concentrate on what I think are it's major failings, one, the lack of any real long-term replay-ability, and two, a game model and approach which owes way too much to World of Warcraft. Another major gameplay complaint is the way multiplayer games are handled, come on, only 4 players? No game lobby? I don't like it at all. Why take a model that worked great (D2), and throw it out the window?

    This is an event-driven, very linear game. There's not much in the way of "free play" like you had in D2 at all, you can only enter the game at pre-determined quest points, if you want to play an area again. There are no persistent portals, either, which I see as a major mistake. You can not die on a quest, and go back to where you were. You have to start over, and this can be REALLY annoying. After playing this game all the way through in only a few hours, I was left asking myself where the other half of the game was, because it really seems like it's missing at least half of what it should have. Where's the beef? A good game should provide at LEAST 40 hours of play-through, (especially one that costs $60) and no, I don't think that including extra hardness levels counts. You're still doing exactly the same thing over again. The maps are all the same, every time. Many of the "maps" are basically a corridor from the entrance to the exit, with maybe a few hard mobs in the way. There is very little in the way of challenge here, much less strategy. By abandoning the attribute point and skill system, one of the really fun things that made D2 so replayable is gone. The system they replaced it with is well thought out, but it's totally unsuitable for a serious ARPG game. What they've actually done is turned this into a casual game at a hardcore price.

    That brings me to the second major issue, the whole game model. It's obvious that Blizzard is intending this to be a major money-maker by creating an auction house where addicted players will be tempted into buying the best items to equip their players for the hard levels. This is clear just by the way the difficulty scales as you move through the game. It goes from easy to super hard very fast, with no commensurate boost in player stats to compensate, just the same old mismatched items that are completely ineffective. To top it all off, the "normal" auction house hasn't even been working correctly at all, and the "real money" one has been put on hold indefinitely. It's bad enough that you have to struggle against an unbalanced game, but you can't even get what you need from the auction house either. This has been a major ongoing issue, as a lot of players have reached the level where they really need those auction house items, and they can't get them. I can't help but think this is a huge step backwards. You should be able to play the game without having to buy equipment from someone else. The fact that you can't shows a really cynical approach by Blizzard to the game overall. Even in World of Warcraft, you can play the game through without having to buy anything. This game is so item-centric that you simply can't.

    I'd rate this game as follows:

    Graphics: 7 out of 10, mainly because they look just like WoW graphics, almost the same style.
    Gameplay: 6 out of 10, because there's little strategy, and some annoying gameplay decisions.
    Execution: 2 out of 10, because of the awful launch problems, MIA auction house, and terrible multiplayer implementation.

    I'm afraid that this is the game that has put the nail in the coffin of Blizzard as far as I'm concerned. WoW was a good game at the start, but they've dumbed it down to a silly, childlike, purely casual game now, complete with personal flying dragons and dancing pandas. Starcraft II was a warning, in a way, because it was only 1/3 of a game, or looking at it another way, a game you had to buy two expansion packs for to have a complete game. And of course there was the DRM, and the need for a persistent internet connection. And now we have Diablo 3. Goodbye Blizzard, it was nice knowing you.    … Expand
  96. alepdcj
    May 29, 2012
    4
    If you like to defend blizzard for its name and not for its work, so dont need to read it. We, that played diablo II, and I think i can say for everybody that did it, are very disappointed. You, Blizzard, Just took off lots of things we like in the series and didnt put anything new. It's the same game, but with less options, less time of gameplay and less fun. 30 hours! This was the timeIf you like to defend blizzard for its name and not for its work, so dont need to read it. We, that played diablo II, and I think i can say for everybody that did it, are very disappointed. You, Blizzard, Just took off lots of things we like in the series and didnt put anything new. It's the same game, but with less options, less time of gameplay and less fun. 30 hours! This was the time for Diablo II off-line. Now people play all Diablo III in hell mode in only 10 hours. Probably people that didnt play diablo III will really like it but not us. We wanted new challenges. Not repetead ones.

    I cant say its not fun, we can have a good time and when the pvp comes, diablo III can become a better game. My low score is for the retrocess instead of the progress between II and III.    … Expand
  97. ADeadKitten
    May 29, 2012
    4
    Stay awhile and listen: "I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want myStay awhile and listen: "I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money back Deckard Cain dies I want my money back I want my money backI want my money back I want my money back I want my money back I want my money backI want my money back I want my money backI want my money back" Those critics are smoking pole or weed. This game is not worth 60 bucks, 30 tops.… Expand
  98. bulldogg0822
    May 29, 2012
    4
    Don't waste your time. Way to short, graphics are meh at best, its always down for maintenance (it has not worked at all today not once and its 3 weeks old) hackers up the wazoo, no internet no play (really blizzard REALLY?) Blizzard really **** the bed on this one, got to big for their britches if you ask me. Wait for Torchlight 2 and Guild wars 2, you will thank me.
  99. Kamigami
    May 30, 2012
    4
    If you are considering Diablo 3 you more or less know what you are getting in to. You pick a character, fight hordes of monsters, and loot their stuff. But what you might not know is that Diablo 3 is filled with poor design choices that seriously detract from the game play.

    The biggest issue for me is the pacing. Blizzard assumes you are going to play the game through three or more    If you are considering Diablo 3 you more or less know what you are getting in to. You pick a character, fight hordes of monsters, and loot their stuff. But what you might not know is that Diablo 3 is filled with poor design choices that seriously detract from the game play.

    The biggest issue for me is the pacing. Blizzard assumes you are going to play the game through three or more times with the same character. But the bulk of most gamers experience is the first play through, perhaps with multiple characters. And Diablo's experience there is decidedly lackluster.

    When my wizard finished the game at level 30, only 30% of her skill runes were unlocked That meant that although I had played through all the content I was still very restricted in what I could do with my character. To unlock all my skills, I'd have to play the exact same content with the same character two more times, which honestly I'll probably never do.

    The order that the skill runes unlocked was also an issue. All of the core skill runes that my wizard used unlocked by the end of act 1, so I spent acts 2 through 4 with little to look forward to when I leveled. My level was just a number, there was no meaningful change. Yes my hit points went up and damage improved, but the monsters scaled up too, so essentially nothing happened.

    Blizzard seemed to attempt to correct for the fact that you'd only have a fraction of your skills on the first play through by making the monsters numerous but easy. You will rarely be in any real danger. You just spam your primary attack, and they all die. Boss monsters can be more challenging, but are hit and miss as well - some easy, some of medium difficulty.

    As a side effect of the spam your primary attack "strategy" is that the core mechanics of each class become irrelevant. In theory, the core mechanic of my wizard was her arcane power, which was in limited supply and regenerated slowly. However, the primary attacks of the wizard don't use arcane power and were more than sufficient for most everything you came up against, so arcane power didn't actually matter much. I believe that the class mechanics (rage, chi, etc.) have the same issue.

    Put all that together and you can see why the experience on the first play through is not very good. Your character changes little after act 1. 90% of your time is spent spamming your primary attack. At the end of the game, you've only unlocked a fraction of your character; to unlock the rest you have to face the above again. And again.

    Besides the pacing, there are also numerous design issues that detract from the game.

    The skill UI is horrible. Simply horrible. It's confusing and overly complicated, while at the same time somehow managing to be tremendously restrictive in what you can do. The best thing I can say about the skill interface is that you won't have to use it that often past act 1.

    Numerous Diablo 1 & 2 features were stripped out to "streamline" the game, but left confusing remnants. For example, identification scrolls are gone, as they were just cluttering up inventories. OK, I'm fine with that. But oddly, you still find items you have to ID, which you do by right clicking on them and waiting half a second. What's the point of that? Is Blizzard paid by the click or something? Similarly, the complex gem, jewel, and rune system has been removed, as it was complicated and required too much inventory management. But they left a modified gem system in which you can level up a gem cutter to be able to combine gems into other gems that you also won't use, because they are pretty much worthless.

    Another poor game design component is how Blizzard treats characters and levels. As a player, a character is someone that I want to customize. Maybe I want my wizard to be a fire wizard, or a lightning wizard, or an illusionist. Levels are what I use to do so. But to Blizzard, the character class is the character... all wizards are the same. Same appearance, same voice, same skills, same back story, etc. And levels aren't a way to customize your character, they are a way to restrict content so that you have to put more hours into the game. Very unappealing approach.

    Finally, the decision to force you to be connected to the internet... it definitely detracts from your experience. You WILL have to deal with server downtime and lag. And you WILL receive tells from people out of the blue when you just want to veg. It's annoyingly unnecessary.

    All in all, I rate Diablo 3 a 4. It's OK at best. I'd pay $20 for it, but it's definitely not worth $60.    … Expand
  100. SnackMasterB
    May 30, 2012
    4
    Game play is constantly engaging. The never ending onslaught of monsters keep the action exciting. The graphics are just decent for 2012. My biggest concern about this game is the constant connection required to Blizzard servers. I have patiently withheld my score since release but the servers have been down most of the time I have wanted to play, thus the score of 4. You simply can'tGame play is constantly engaging. The never ending onslaught of monsters keep the action exciting. The graphics are just decent for 2012. My biggest concern about this game is the constant connection required to Blizzard servers. I have patiently withheld my score since release but the servers have been down most of the time I have wanted to play, thus the score of 4. You simply can't play a game that is unavailable. I am so glad I didn't shell out the extra money for the collector's edition. I only play Diablo in 2-player with my son. I wish there had been a local LAN option instead of this constant server requirement. Looks like I'll be waiting for Torchlight 2 which will be playable when it comes out at least. Or maybe even give Guild Wars 2 a shot. Sorry Bilzzard, you can do much better with your money and resources than what I've seen out of Diablo 3 so far.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

12
#12 Best PC Game of 2012
1
#1 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
3
#3 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 86 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 81 out of 86
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 86
  3. Negative: 1 out of 86
  1. Thunderbolt
    Aug 31, 2012
    90
    My one major complaint is that the game never feels very difficult, especially on Normal. There are frustrating moments, hordes of baddies, and increasing difficulty levels, but the same feeling of utter defeat never really happens as it did in the past.
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  2. Hyper Magazine
    Jul 18, 2012
    80
    For all the game's missteps, though, you certainly can't accuse Blizzard of phoning it in - if anything, the game suffers from the tendency to try a little to hard at times to evolve the design. [Aug 2012, p.61]
  3. PC PowerPlay
    Jul 3, 2012
    80
    When it works, Diablo III is the best of the Diablo games. When it doesn't, all it does is make you mad. [July 2012, p.54]
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