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. rasde
    Jul 21, 2012
    0
    Gigantic let down of recent years. All anyone can stipulate is that under a different name it would have not been such a let down. It would have been seen as what it is then, an auction house rpg economic simulator (with war torn Europe as a base line for it's current currency stability, awful to say the least, LOL), but as a supposed successor to Diablo 2 it fails on ALL accounts andGigantic let down of recent years. All anyone can stipulate is that under a different name it would have not been such a let down. It would have been seen as what it is then, an auction house rpg economic simulator (with war torn Europe as a base line for it's current currency stability, awful to say the least, LOL), but as a supposed successor to Diablo 2 it fails on ALL accounts and expectations possible. after almost a decade they crap out this excuse for a game. I even have the exact same problem with the game's launcher that I had in beta, 3 months after its release and had reported back in beta then, that they never even fixed! I personally managed to figured out a complex specific routine of killing the agent.exe process in task manager at certain visual queues of the launchers inane progression. (which is anywhere from stuck at 0% loading or 100%, both with the play button grayed out, and or sometimes flat out showing an error box with absolutely nothing helpful as to what may be the problem, forcing me to relaunch 1 second later and have no error like what usually occurs) A fair minority have had this problem and posted on the forum about it, but still nothing. In the error it says contact customer support... Let me tell you about customer support, they can't help you with the most prevalent problems like you losing items on the auction house, especially right after a patch, which happened to me, thankfully only on trash I was trying to peddle on the AH. Support cited having "no logs" for verifying whether or not I actually received the items even though one of them was a weapon I bought out and re-uped to get a profit, which appeared on the log that I CAN SEE. (which is flipping, learning a specific gear market, buying out gear you know for a fact could sell for higher, and then hopefully selling it for more than what it cost to buy it. Which is exactly why this game is an auction house simulator because you need to do things like that if you hope to get ahead an--- OH WAIT, gold just devalued a couple more million over night due to botters, nevermind that, we're never going to afford that gear for act 3-4 inferno now without using real money auction house, which is another reason things are as bad as they are in this game, ActiBlizz's greed and stupidity.
    Stupidity because they could actually make WAY more money by actually making the game fun and work instead of REQUIRING THE AUCTION HOUSE FOR EVERYTHING. Oh right, did i forget to mention you will never see a drop of gear that you actually want or need? Legendaries are all USELESS. (supposed to be their answer for uniques from diablo 2) I had 3 legendaries drop in over about 300+ hours played, a recipe for a useless level 50 legendary crossbow called starburster or w/e, which I have no idea how people hope to use to draw a profit (with its typical, high resource cost to craft) OR use on their character for more than 2 levels until already seeing better gear. (on auction house) Somehow it sold for a meager 450k at the time, probably all suckers who actually think they know what their doing with their time or money, pro tip: they don't and I BET they all quit the game soon after realizing their loss and was the final nail in the nail filled coffin for this despicable excuse for a diablo game. ActiBlizz strikes again with another mediocre game that takes so much from its cash crop game WoW. IF, IF... IF, they hadn't lost ALL, ALL, ALL of their ORGINAL DIABLO DEVELOPMENT TEAM... THEN, they may have had their priorities set. Instead, they throw money at vain safe devs

    * Players need progression, skill progression, experience level progression, and gear progression all combine to make the player feel the character is theirs and theirs alone. By the end game, my character should feel completely different than another character of the same class.

    * Smooth out the difficulty. The only reason inferno is so tough, is because is was implemented as an afterthought. Gear checking between acts, is painful, even for the biggest D2 geek.

    * Here's one that I really can't understand, make each difficulty level, a little different - Open up new areas, add new monsters, add unique events, add people to the towns. There is no difference in the world of Diablo between difficulties, every run through is exactly the same, except the monsters get tougher. * The legendaries (uniques) are a real head scratcher. There are two possibilities here. Either legendaries didn't have enough time to be implemented, or someone actually thought it would be a good idea to make them completely unusable. In either case, this really scares me.

    * The Story - Just terrible, with such cheesy voice acting and dialogue. Possibly the most shocking part for me. There are no characters I feel any connection to. I have zero reason to hate, or want to destroy the bosses. Plus they're mostly remakes of old bosses, brought back for absolutely no reason.    … Expand
  2. LuiGi23
    Jul 24, 2012
    0
    Nos han vendido un proyecto de Beta. Lo de los últimos exploits descubiertos me parece hasta denunciable. El parche de reducción 50% vel. ataque, para aquellos que días antes hubieran gastado dinero real... grrr solo de pensarlo me entran ganas de tirar una bomba nuclear a Blizzard. COMO NO PUEDO HACER OTRA COSA APARTE DE VENDER MI CUENTA OS COMEIS UN PUTO 0 !!!!!
  3. HERPDERPHURR
    Jul 27, 2012
    0
    Server Issues aside, this game lacks the "game"

    Normal/Nightmare are a mindless faceroll against mindless AI, with boring items dropping all the way, that is, each item has 1-3 stats on it. To increase your damage, you need your class's primary stat; there's really no need for any amount of defensive stats in these "difficulties". Delves on stats are so low that Critical Hit Chance,    Server Issues aside, this game lacks the "game"

    Normal/Nightmare are a mindless faceroll against mindless AI, with boring items dropping all the way,
    that is, each item has 1-3 stats on it. To increase your damage, you need your class's primary stat; there's really no need for any amount of defensive stats in these "difficulties". Delves on stats are so low that Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage, Thorns, and Increased Attack Speed are irrelevant

    The story bland, while that is not a big deal, it becomes one when it is forced upon the player repeatedly. There are no options to automatically skip the cinematics or the numerous ingame scripted events that play. For some time I wasn't even aware you could skip the scripted ones. That said, the play is very, very linear, and the area you ocupy is completely dependent on the quest you choose to do. The free roaming aspect is just about completely removed from Diablo, as well as randomized maps gone. The only aspect of "random" left, is the placement of entrances on a static zone, and monster spawns.

    Each Act is literally half the size of previous, so I have to question what they were doing for 10 years...

    Many things shown in videos prior to release, such as PvP, currently are not present in the game, Patches and hotfixes are biased towards the AH/RMAH, while anything they do throw at the game itself is Nerfs to beneficial mechanics, such as Magic Find working on enviromental objects, the spawns of Treasure Chests, gold drop amounts, even a flat 50% cut to the Attack Speed bonus on items....ONE DAY AFTER THE RMAH GOES LIVE. What they did buff was repair costs .

    Inferno itself is bad design; the "difficulty" is artifical, in that your ability to complete the content is 95% gear based, without exaggeration. It is even announced on the official forums that the hitboxes of your character are oversized, because they did not want you dodging things, because it "is not fun", and is intended by desgin not to be possible to weave in and out of attacks. That said, the range on melee from monsters is rediculous. Once an animation starts, you can expect to be regardless of where you are on screen when it lands. This particular issue is worsed by latency, which yes, is attributed to server issues, but I suppose I make this more in reference to Always Online, and the lack of availability of a suitable connection to many.

    Many of the supposed reasonings behind making the game Online Only failed, among them being stopping botters, or preventing hacks .

    More on the Gear Check issue, once you meet the requirement, Inferno is Hell all over again, literally.
    It wouldn't be such a large issue if Inferno really was optional, which technically it is, except the only reason left to play the game is to make money off of the RMAH or continue gearing up, both of which lead you to Inferno, which in turn has deplorable drop rates on decent gear. I refer to decent gear as gear which is sustainable to getting you through the content of Inferno, and it does not drop at a practical rate, at all.

    To progress through Inferno, you rely on the AH, because you cannot obtain your gear on your own without devoting obscene amounts of time into the game. This would be acceptable, if it were limited to Godly/High Tier items. But this is for stuff just to clear the content, it does not drop on a typical set of runs.

    Moreover, when Blizzard announced the droprate increase to higher item level gear, they didn't bother to mention they completely gimped the chances of it being useful; that is, minimum values on given Affixes were lowered, and the likelyhood of rolling more Affixes themselves was reduced.

    Following 1.03, there have been many unannounced changes to the game, such as the reworking of Magic Find; an updated page on said stat was located on 7/21, but it was unannounced

    Now assuming this was not a change, then their claims that Magic Find worked exactly as it had from Diablo 2 were lies.

    Back to the issue with Inferno, there are bizzare combinations of Affixes on Elite/Champion packs, that are outright horrible design.

    From CC locking to being Invulnable, naturally fast mobs having a Fast affix, Jailer locking you in pools of hazards, running from an enemy only to be Vortexted straight back to it, mash your cooldown to escape only to have it Teleport straight to you

    There are many problems, but there are over 3000 other reviews available here that cover all thse things are better than I am willing to.

    As a typical game, I'd rate 4/10, but since they slapped "Diablo" on it, and continue to run it into the ground with each new patch, 1/10    … Expand
  4. sveltess
    Jul 30, 2012
    4
    Ah product where all the work is for the ah.
    i doesn't deserve the "name" game.
    In the past, blizzard was Blizzard. Today, it's just a common company which is selling videogames because it gives more money than a broom.
    Biggest disappointment in my gamer's life.
  5. Karzak
    Sep 21, 2012
    0
    I was the biggest diablo and blizzard fan... diablo 3 released... I hate blizzard and diablo
    They pretty much butchered the whole series and the company in everyones eyes.
    This is the worst game release ever and tehy should all get fired and never develop a game ever again!
  6. vrs123
    Aug 5, 2012
    0
    Reading other reviews that call this game a "triumph" makes me wonder if the reviewer even played the game. At any rate, I played the original Diablo and also Diablo 2 and I can say for certain that this game has none of the dark atmosphere of the first, and none of the enjoyable gameplay of the second. It pretty much feels like WoW ported to the ARPG genre. Here are some highlights:Reading other reviews that call this game a "triumph" makes me wonder if the reviewer even played the game. At any rate, I played the original Diablo and also Diablo 2 and I can say for certain that this game has none of the dark atmosphere of the first, and none of the enjoyable gameplay of the second. It pretty much feels like WoW ported to the ARPG genre. Here are some highlights: 1)Always-On DRM was supposed to protect us from hacking and exploits, which did neither. 2)Auction House feels mandatory since it's next to impossible to gear up for inferno based on drops in game. 3)Drops in general are terrible. Most Legendary items are laughable. 4)Enrage timers and gear checks in an ARPG (these things really only belong in an MMO) 5)Limited character builds and uninspired skills. 6)Various fixes implemented to combat the people exploiting the game that ended up punishing the legit players. Very disappointing for such a highly anticipated game.… Expand
  7. tpalmi
    Nov 26, 2012
    1
    I won't give Diablo III a 0/10. It did have smooth combat, unfortunately that's it. I won't complain that the story sucked, we all expected that as it's far from the point of a game series which was made famous as a hack and slash dungeon crawler. Everything we DO expect from Diablo has been taken out. Skill, Attributes, world PVP, not being able to just buy your way through everythingI won't give Diablo III a 0/10. It did have smooth combat, unfortunately that's it. I won't complain that the story sucked, we all expected that as it's far from the point of a game series which was made famous as a hack and slash dungeon crawler. Everything we DO expect from Diablo has been taken out. Skill, Attributes, world PVP, not being able to just buy your way through everything with real cash. Rather than tailoring to the audience Blizzard took a "you'll enjoy what we allow you to enjoy" approach. We were forced online even for single player which wouldn't, alone, be the absolute death of the game if the server functioned half as well as the decade old Diablo II servers. Rather than customizable character builds we were forced into pre-designed characters on which the biggest difference was whether or not when you leaped you did AOE damage on falling or if it had a shorter cooldown. To replace the customizable character builds we got an overly intricate item system in which even the top tier items have stats that vary so much that no one knows where the cap's are; the item system, rather than promoting farming and gearing new characters instead just causes people to give up and shell out more real life cash to get even decent gear. In other words the entire game is tailored so that in order to reach any sort of endgame gearing level or pvp-ready level, the only two options are hundreds of hours of mindless grinding for items which, once they drop, may not even have any usable stats, or giving up hope and giving blizzard more money. That's it. The entire depth of this game can be summed up as, "try to get them hooked with smooth combat and flashy cinematics, force them to pay us more if they want their characters to be even slightly different from anyone else". Sorry for the length, and I try to be as objective as possible, but the fact of the matter is they had a system that worked and, when they saw a window for more cash, they let greed ruin it.… Expand
  8. isotrex
    Jun 21, 2012
    3
    I rated this 3 at most simply because it wasn't what I expected. It's like I'm not playing a Diablo game at all. The overall story is too linear and weak. The totally butchered the game. It's a huge insult for me and for every Diablo fan out there. This is not worth $60 at all. It feels like $20 - $30. I'm already generous at giving it a 3. I wonder why most gaming review sites give this aI rated this 3 at most simply because it wasn't what I expected. It's like I'm not playing a Diablo game at all. The overall story is too linear and weak. The totally butchered the game. It's a huge insult for me and for every Diablo fan out there. This is not worth $60 at all. It feels like $20 - $30. I'm already generous at giving it a 3. I wonder why most gaming review sites give this a high score. I smell company politics and bias here. people should be aware what they're paying for. Lastly, the online-only aspect of the game is a big big disappointment.… Expand
  9. Winters
    Aug 17, 2012
    4
    Oh Blizzard, you really screwed this one up. It is to be expected though, now that you have merged with those developer-killers, Activision. Your games have been going downhill since WoW: The Burning Crusade and this is just another nail in your coffin as far as a huge chunk of your fan base is concerned.
  10. vanzi
    Jun 9, 2012
    0
    I wanted Diablo 3 to be a perfect game. I tried not to judge it by the errors following the release as many people did as it wasn't fair - now, nearly a month after the release the servers are stable, yet AH downtimes still happens. I've spend over 120 hours in game, cleared entire Inferno level with my main DH and I'm halfway through Hell with my Wiz. And I'm just bored. There game itselfI wanted Diablo 3 to be a perfect game. I tried not to judge it by the errors following the release as many people did as it wasn't fair - now, nearly a month after the release the servers are stable, yet AH downtimes still happens. I've spend over 120 hours in game, cleared entire Inferno level with my main DH and I'm halfway through Hell with my Wiz. And I'm just bored. There game itself is good enough, but the randomization is barely noticeable and you just run the same levels over and over again (I went through all quests at least 7-9 times + farmed Act 3 of Inferno a lot) - it's simply boring, but I can get over that, it was to be expected. What I can't ger over is the **** beyond repair item drop system. All items you get are either total thrash or meant for 10 levels below yours - this is obviously intended to make people use AH - that's still fine. However, right now the AH is completely destroyed by Chinese gold farmers, Inferno item prices are skyhigh because of hyperinflation, basically an Inferno entry level gear for my Wiz costs about 25-30 mil, 2 weeks ago it was below 2 mil - farming Act 3 Inferno I would be able to afford that in about 4 months - obviously, by not solving this issue they want me to pay for those items on RMAH - no thanks. Add to the above the constant gold selling crap on all channels, frequent ninja nerfs that simply appear without any trace of patch notes, totally imbalanced difficulty in Inferno (I still feel sorry for melee classes after I face rolled through Inferno with my DH), loads of exploits available that allowed some people make fortunes in first two weeks, and so on. Basically, if you are not able to farm Inferno right now then you are **** out of luck because you'll need RMAH to do so. In the end the game itself is not bad, it gets boring but still it's not a bad game. However the implementation of item drop system that forces people to use AH and the hyperinflation that increased AH prices 10 times in two weeks simply made creating alts unpleasant.… Expand
  11. razos
    May 28, 2012
    2
    A lot of parts of the game feels untested (especially Inferno) . Class balance is non
    existent, few classes is making insane amounts of gold by farming inferno act 3-4 while other cant earn a dime , progress beyond act 1. Itemization seems vastly inferior to one in Diablo 2.
  12. pyrominsoo
    Jun 3, 2012
    0
    Let me just play single-player without network problems! I'm seriously not buying anything with this DRM in the future. Sure, this is just a game, but that's precisely why you shouldn't frustrate your goddamn customer!
  13. gamer1
    May 25, 2012
    2
    The game starts well but has an extremely bad balancing... The first chapter misses challenge a lot (no challenge at all!). Then after 10 hours you encounter a boss (Belial), and there it becomes almost impossible! I stopped playing the game here, and it very frustrating to pay a game full price without being able to finish it.
    Blizzard try to make you believe it is accessible to anyone,    The game starts well but has an extremely bad balancing... The first chapter misses challenge a lot (no challenge at all!). Then after 10 hours you encounter a boss (Belial), and there it becomes almost impossible! I stopped playing the game here, and it very frustrating to pay a game full price without being able to finish it.
    Blizzard try to make you believe it is accessible to anyone, but this is not the case (at all). For hardcore players only.
    Ho, and yes, the story is for 12 yo kids only too...    … Expand
  14. Consoleportfail
    Jun 1, 2012
    1
    Easily the biggest flop of the decade.

    If you've played the past Diablo games, DON'T pay and play this one. The game is nothing like the past games and revolves around getting you on the Real Money Auction House and trying to get you to spend money there. Feels much more like World of Warcraft than Diablo. Blizzard sold out and deceived us all big time on this game.

    Avoid it.
  15. redsuns
    Jun 20, 2012
    0
    1.0.3 put the nail in the coffin this time. Even my casual friends are getting bored with this game. Huge repair cost. Low rewards. They can barely save enough gold to buy decent stuff. Now the huge repair cost is just making the game a stupid gold grind.
  16. fleche007
    Jun 6, 2012
    1
    Piece of **** update all the time, can not work off line, result you wait and maybe you will have a chance to play.

    Story very short, not very impress
  17. ff7rule
    Jun 20, 2012
    0
    This game is getting worse week by week as they "patch" things that take away the fun. Basically anything you find good about the game now, next week they'll be gone.
  18. dragonknight4
    Jun 20, 2012
    0
    Always online DRM, gold farmers, must buy an authenticator if you don't want to be hacked, bad music, real money auction house designed to exploit consumers, insane repair costs introduced in the 1.03 patch designed to cripple your game (who knows what crippling patches Blizzard will have in the future), Deckard Cain's anticlimactic death, looks more like WOW than previous Diablo games,Always online DRM, gold farmers, must buy an authenticator if you don't want to be hacked, bad music, real money auction house designed to exploit consumers, insane repair costs introduced in the 1.03 patch designed to cripple your game (who knows what crippling patches Blizzard will have in the future), Deckard Cain's anticlimactic death, looks more like WOW than previous Diablo games, generic cash grab, horrible story, you probably won't be able to get a refund if you buy it, bad loot distribution, game is buggy and unfinished, overpriced compared to other PC games. If you decide to ignore all the warnings and buy this game and have buyer's remorse, don't complain, because by then, Blizzard and Activision will already have your money.… Expand
  19. CaptainAwesomer
    Jun 16, 2012
    2
    This game should be rated M for Mediocre. I really wanted to like it, so I could play co-op with my friends, but the game is awful. The graphics look like something out of the 1990s, and that ruins everything. You don't care about the story or the characters because you can barely see them in the game, you don't see any facial expressions just their same lifeless portraits when they speak.This game should be rated M for Mediocre. I really wanted to like it, so I could play co-op with my friends, but the game is awful. The graphics look like something out of the 1990s, and that ruins everything. You don't care about the story or the characters because you can barely see them in the game, you don't see any facial expressions just their same lifeless portraits when they speak. The voice acting is all right, the warrior character I played actually sounds pretty cool, but that's not enough to save it.

    There's not a lot of variety in the locations either, from levels 1 to 9 you see a town, a graveyard, and some dungeons. There's so little detail in your character and the creatures you destroy, that they should have just gone with stick men. If the stick man version had some blood and gore I would have preferred it to this.

    The actual gameplay mechanics are weak as well. You don't customize your class at all at creation or after levelling, you're just given new abilities. Fighting is extremely unsatisfying unless you're fighting a boss which is rare, or a large group. You're just constantly clicking your left mouse button, there's no thought or skill required.

    And don't forget the constant internet connection requirement, not just of you but of their servers. I waited a couple weeks after getting my trial pass before playing, and when I was finally ready I was greeted with a message saying their servers were down for maintenance for another four hours. But other than that I played from levels 1 to 9 okay, and then uninstalled the game.    … Expand
  20. Un0va
    Sep 17, 2012
    0
    If the abysmal user score and the fact that the game lost 65 percent of its player base in 3 months didn't tell you enough, I don't know what to say to you. The game basically forces you to buy everything using the Real World Auction House and the lack of end-game content makes it worth about six hours. Jay Wilson is an idiot and he should be fired and forever denied a job at Blizzard forIf the abysmal user score and the fact that the game lost 65 percent of its player base in 3 months didn't tell you enough, I don't know what to say to you. The game basically forces you to buy everything using the Real World Auction House and the lack of end-game content makes it worth about six hours. Jay Wilson is an idiot and he should be fired and forever denied a job at Blizzard for what he did to an incredible series.… Expand
  21. Golakka
    May 20, 2012
    0
    Single player has all the worst features of a MMo, first of all server availability. Europe severs offline on sunday: no single player, no game, only the sensation of the worst work in blizzard history.
  22. lge73
    May 20, 2012
    2
    Wildly disappointed! No means to play offline and the servers are constantly crucified. Game play is OK but mediocre compared with previous iterations of the franchise. The fact that I forked out for the CE is really getting to me as I would quite like to be able to play the game as opposed to find a regular stream of error messages... and WTF is maintenance on a Sunday allWildly disappointed! No means to play offline and the servers are constantly crucified. Game play is OK but mediocre compared with previous iterations of the franchise. The fact that I forked out for the CE is really getting to me as I would quite like to be able to play the game as opposed to find a regular stream of error messages... and WTF is maintenance on a Sunday all about!?!?!?!?

    I have to state that no further blizzard purchases will be made in this household. Hugely disappointed :( Sad that such a great franchise and company has been muddied so utterly by a huge failing in one game, which lets be honest Blizzard must have been aware of the demand for this title!    … Expand
  23. AznDota
    May 25, 2012
    3
    There's too many things to mention that are bad about this game. Blizzard improved a bit on D2, but regressed in all the important areas including replayability, which is almost nonexistent. Everything about this game feels uninspired and rushed (the loot, story, even the game's servers).

    I've never done a formal review of a game in my 15 years as being a gamer, but I decided to do just    There's too many things to mention that are bad about this game. Blizzard improved a bit on D2, but regressed in all the important areas including replayability, which is almost nonexistent. Everything about this game feels uninspired and rushed (the loot, story, even the game's servers).

    I've never done a formal review of a game in my 15 years as being a gamer, but I decided to do just this one because I've never been as disappointed and let down in a purchase as I have with this title. It's really turned around my perception of Blizzard, unfortunately in a bad way. They just aren't the company they were before.    … Expand
  24. Adael
    May 26, 2012
    1
    Like the game but online requirement for single player sucks. I'm constantly suffering lags, delays and glitches that makes the game not funny. (dummy text to get 150 chars)
  25. Dudeambiguously
    May 27, 2012
    3
    Ok game mechanics, graphics and playability for the first few stages but totally lacks most of the long term viability of its predecessor. It seems as though the developers threw a lot of good Diablo ideas out the window, replaced with WoW concepts and a goal to milk money out of players with their RMAH. For a sequel so long in the making it is an utter failure, for a new game it wouldOk game mechanics, graphics and playability for the first few stages but totally lacks most of the long term viability of its predecessor. It seems as though the developers threw a lot of good Diablo ideas out the window, replaced with WoW concepts and a goal to milk money out of players with their RMAH. For a sequel so long in the making it is an utter failure, for a new game it would be ok, but not great.… Expand
  26. Keekuli
    May 27, 2012
    3
    Very poor story, dull bosses which are easier than champion packs, itemization failed (blue items better than legendaries), narrow variety of usable skills in end-game and Blizzard doesn't give a sh*t, they just want more money
  27. PeterD503
    May 28, 2012
    3
    Underwhelmingly awful. The game is repetitive and boring and doesn't carry-through the darker undertones of Diablo II that somehow made this type of gaming interesting. I was placed on a different server to my friends but was not warned of this - this meant later after we'd started, we couldn't join-up and play with our characters.
  28. 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
  29. 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
  30. kyanwan
    May 29, 2012
    3
    Over a decade in the making - Blizzard presents you with the most fantastic game release failure in recent memory. The game, is ok - however - with the anticipation of D3, the huge resources of Blizzard - the end product is unforgivable.

    The game, has potential, if it worked. In the spirit of other Blizzard titles - we have whining players, constant changes to classes, mechanics,    Over a decade in the making - Blizzard presents you with the most fantastic game release failure in recent memory. The game, is ok - however - with the anticipation of D3, the huge resources of Blizzard - the end product is unforgivable.

    The game, has potential, if it worked. In the spirit of other Blizzard titles - we have whining players, constant changes to classes, mechanics, gameplay - and inconsistent application of stats. It just has this sour taste ... reminiscent of another Blizzard title. This is Diablo, not World of Whinecraft. Diablo fans want what they expect, not an unfinished, untested game that is flawed, broken in many ways - and still a work in progress. As a Diablo fan - who has played all 3 Diablo I'm soundly disappointed by this mediocre release. Even the auction house doesn't work. Nothing works in game! I didn't expect to play a half-finished beta - served as a final product. Pathetic.    … 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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