Diablo III

 Xbox 360
User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 432 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 255 out of 432
  2. Mixed: 65 out of 432
  3. Negative: 112 out of 432
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  1. DrMarc
    Sep 6, 2013
    7
    The PC version ofDiablo 3 has undergone multiple revisions including making inferno easier, adding legendaries, increasing magic/gold find caps, and adding monster power to give that extra level of difficulty.

    The console version (this review focuses on the PS3 version) is a mixed bag, which I will outline below. Online vs. oflfine: One of the most frustrating features of PC diablo    The PC version ofDiablo 3 has undergone multiple revisions including making inferno easier, adding legendaries, increasing magic/gold find caps, and adding monster power to give that extra level of difficulty.

    The console version (this review focuses on the PS3 version) is a mixed bag, which I will outline below.

    Online vs. oflfine:
    One of the most frustrating features of PC diablo 3 was the online requirements. I have been fortunate to say the least I managed a hardcore demon hunter to paragon 83 without disconnects. However, prior to that there was many deaths due to login errors and disconnects.

    The console version solves this completely by introducing offline mode. It's one of the strongest features that would influence a PC owner to have this game on console.

    To go along with this, there is a new co-op mode which allows up to 4 players to game at once from the same screen, another great perk. The caviat to this is that 1 person gets access to the stash (whoever the account owner is for PSN), and the other characters do not get access to some exclusive items items (infernal helm IS included for all guest characters).

    The co op has some downfalls. If a character seperates from the pack, they get ported to the group. This is potentially a bad idea as it limits tactics for kiting and can get someone killed easily with certain enemies/affixes.

    Also, inventory pauses the game for everyone and only 1 person can use it at a time.

    There is an online mode to the game with no auction house. This time around, what you find/trade is what makes your character.

    Loot changes
    The console version has something the PC doesn't: more efficient upgrade/looting system. This is something PC owners have waited for since release, and it's a bit of a slap in the face to see the console get it first. However, it's a big improvement to the game as well and with the monster power implemented into the console version already, you can truly optimize your farming methods for the best loot and constantly search for a better upgrade.

    Camera and graphics
    I won't give my own opnions for the camera, but know it is very zoomed out for the gameplay changes. The HUD is very small even with 2 players (I play on a 46" HDTV) and honestly it's difficulty to see cooldowns clearly. The resolution is very diminshed form the PC version (720p on PS3) and the graphics have been "optimzied" for console. It's a big step down from the PC version. Interestingly enough, there's certain areas that lag/studder on offline mode with minimal enemies on screen, yet when the screen is loaded with enemies it runs fine. Hopefully this gets addressed.

    Gameplay
    Perhaps the biggest change to D3 on console is the gameplay. Point and click becomes joystick move and dodge. It's a refreshing change to the way the game is played, I'll admit. It adds a new level of tactics. Another big reason someone may want to buy it for the console.

    In summary, D3 made some improvements in looting over PC version and changed the gameplay enough to make it fresh for previous PC owners as well as took away the auction house to allow players to actually play to get gear upgrades. However, the cost is diminished visuals, limited co op with frequent interruptions for inventory/gear optimization and limited guest features for co op play    … Expand
  2. Sammiches
    Sep 28, 2013
    6
    Diablo III for the consoles is basically a port of the latest version of the game as it exists on the PC, with some minor tweaks, the most notable of which being the removal of the auction house (in game currency and real cash). This change alone makes Diablo III on console a better experience than the PC version, since the removal of the auction house makes for better all around lootDiablo III for the consoles is basically a port of the latest version of the game as it exists on the PC, with some minor tweaks, the most notable of which being the removal of the auction house (in game currency and real cash). This change alone makes Diablo III on console a better experience than the PC version, since the removal of the auction house makes for better all around loot drops, as well as more frequent loot drops for your given class. Other than that, it's practically the same game, so let's go through a quick rundown of how it stacks up on old hardware.

    First of all, the story and presentation. It's kind of a mixed bag here. The plot is full of cliches and predictable moments you see coming from a mile away. In game cinematics are laughable and embarassing. Voice acting is similarly hilarious for most characters. As far as visuals, there are some great looking, artistically defined environments, and some terribly bland, cookie cutter environments. Diablo III on the 360 looks good and runs well most of the time, but the framerate can drop in heavy combat, with the effects system culling certain effects to keep the game running somewhat smoothly. Music in this game is for the most part bland and forgettable, with some awful tracks (especially in Act II) here and there. The CG cinematics are basically the only reason to care about the story or plot progression in any way, and there are too few of them. As for in game menus and UI, I liked the organization of the PC menus and interface more. On consoles, cooldowns on skills can be hard to make out, and I don't like the placement of the map. Other than that, controls have been mapped to a controller in a very smart and fluid way.

    Now the gameplay. Diablo III feels like it was made for consoles at its outset, and now that I've played it on consoles, I can reaffirm this statement. Diablo III has mostly forgettable classes that don't really evolve in fun ways until you hit level 30. Leveling up entails earning new runes and skills that you can combine to create versatile builds to crush monsters with. The problem is that half of the skills for any given character are flat out useless or don't have a place in later difficulties where long cooldowns or short burst skills can't fill the gaps where monsters are hitting you for three times your health. In order to curb this problem for newer or unfamiliar people, the loot has been scaled significantly. By the time I was partway through inferno, my witch doctor was dealing over 250k DPS with super life steal and movement speed gear, and this is without an auction house to weed out the bad gear. As a result, the game became quite easy for me, even in co-op on Master difficulty Inferno. Bosses died at rates I never thought possible, some of them before they even finished their dialogue at the start of the battle. On the bright side, managing mobs and elites was much more fun, as I had the freedom to use unorthodox builds with my gear to fill the gaps. The supercharged loot drops make crafting weapons and armor practically worthless, even though crafting has been tweaked to give stats relevant to your characters prime attributes. You will simply never craft or buy anything as good as what you can scavenge from the field.

    The worst part of diablo is easily the environments. Dungeons are either short and bland, or long and monotonous, with very few variations. Overworld areas have the same layout every time, just with randomly arranged dungeon entrances that are very frustrating to those who commit layouts to memory. Act IV's levels are utterly pathetic, with everything else save for most of Act I and parts of II and III being mostly bland.

    The addition of a sub-difficulty setting is a good thing, so when you feel like speedrunning or taking it easy you can simply drop the difficulty for any given mode down. The flipside is that Diablo III on consoles is way too forgiving and ultimately too easy to hold your interest for long. Playing new characters can feel fresh depending on the switch, and the addition of supercharged loot drops as well as sub-difficulties makes leveling feel like less of a grind, but the quality of the base game is so spotty that you'll probably be turned off by the time you've done everything you could for your first character.

    In summary, Diablo III on console is a mixed bag. While it's fun to hop on your Xbox and slam some co-op with your buddies, Diablo III is simply an unpolished, unfinished feeling game that probably won't hold your interest for much longer than a couple of weeks. The story is utterly forgettable, the locales and dungeons are poorly designed with few (and frustrating) variations, and the boss fights are entirely pitiful, but this doesn't make the hacking and plundering inbetween any less fun. If you enjoy being rewarded very handsomely for making gibs out of anything and everything with your friends, Diablo III will satiate your desires for a couple of weeks.    … Expand
  3. kcanon112
    Nov 5, 2013
    7
    A lot better than the PC version and has a lot of bad features removed and replaced with good ones, however the loot is still boring and the classes still don't feel like they level correctly.
  4. alcatraz247
    Sep 18, 2013
    5
    I just don't find this game exciting at all. I keep trying to like it, but keep getting bored. I wish I would have saved my money for GTA or a new gaming system. It's not a bad game, but I really don't get the 9 and 10s it is getting. I would recommend you rent first, and decide if it is worth the 60 bucks, cuz I don't.
  5. EdgarAllanFlo
    Nov 5, 2013
    5
    D3 is a decent hack and slash, though it falls short from what it could of been. The story is underwhelming, plot twists are easily deciphered long before they happen. Boss battles are a bore until you reach the highest difficulty levels. The real money auction house causes the desire to grind for gear to wane, knowing you'll be pwned by people who bought their gear. After your firstD3 is a decent hack and slash, though it falls short from what it could of been. The story is underwhelming, plot twists are easily deciphered long before they happen. Boss battles are a bore until you reach the highest difficulty levels. The real money auction house causes the desire to grind for gear to wane, knowing you'll be pwned by people who bought their gear. After your first run through the game constantly feels like more of a chore than a rewarding experience as you grind with crossed fingers for something you can sell for the gold you need to buy that one piece you really need. The whole while you can feel Blizzard nudging you to just spend your real cash on it. After hours of play I still prefer Diablo 2 for this style of gameplay.… Expand
  6. somethingguy912
    Apr 7, 2016
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Many a controversy has come and gone with the initial release of Diablo 3 on the initial PC release, before delving into the territory of being a more console-friendly release tantamount to the prior Diablo releases. Always on DRM and Auction House woes, as well as a extremely simplified and practically non-existent difficulty curve to the basic essentials of the game have gotten the best of old fans of Diablo 2. While I am one of these old players, I don't mind a little bit of change here and there, just so as long as it makes sense and still makes the game whole. But with the last complaint in mind, that is the one thing that is inevitably Diablo 3's downfall.

    So let's get on with it. Now, Diablo games have never been on the high end of 'storytelling', and Diablo 3 reeks here. Twenty years after the events of Diablo 2 and we begin our quest with some 'fallen star' that somehow speaks of a 'ultimate prophecy' of the primeval 'arising'. You know what's the problem with wrapping your narrative under a 'prophecy'? All the characters are ultimately reliant on it, therefore, causes no surprise for the people playing it. And as much as this game is called Diablo 3, Diablo is way in the background, even supposedly dead according to the events of Diablo 3,except when the only real surprise in the game is that Leah, the niece of Deckard Cain of which he never mentioned in Diablo 2 at all, is somehow the demon child of Diablo and THEREFORE, a perfect hollow form for Diablo to manifest himself once all the 'lesser' and 'prime' evils manifested into the worldstone. As to WHY Diablo is the one who gets to dominate over the lesser and prime evils is up to your interpretation, a interpretation that will never be explained. Oh, and they kill off Deckard Cain, one of the most interesting characters from Diablo 2 which also simultaneously discounts the purpose of Identitying weapons or items. Who do they replace? Leah, who while cute and pretty, is just overall a shallow husk of a character with only the forward interest in mind. So yeah, story is here and there, you aren't missing much and not much really happens beyond hell consuming heaven.

    As for the complaint of Diablo 3 being too 'safe' or 'light' compared to other games, I never saw Diablo 1 or 2 as generally creepy or scary in any way. I've always known it as crazy fun and gory, which Diablo 3 does provide if only for the first playthrough of it's game. Weapon pickups and item pickups have been fixed from Diablo 2, so you won't have a huge spreadsheet of random items that you have to manually click with each button, as gold is auto picked as well as multitudes of materials or potions. As for the items themselves, instead of each item having a different value of space, each and every item has exactly the same item value, so a small ring to a giant warhammer will take the same exact space. As for the abilities, it seems that Diablo 3 is a LOT MORE lenient on giving attribute abilities as compared to Diablo 2, which is one sign of a simplification of gameplay. You would be lucky to find a unique item in Diablo 2 that would even give you +10 dexterity, but now here almost every weapon will give you +10 dexterity at lower levels and so much more at higher levels. And because of this, a lot of the 'unique' weapons aren't unique at all: they just have a much higher boost of the normal stats with OCCASIONALLY one special attribute unique to it, like extra projectile penetration or area of affect aura. And because of this, the difficulty curve falls far fast when you get higher, as the game coddles you with plentiful amounts of items that either give you extra health per second, health per hit, health per kill, and health globes that occasionally drop from enemies that automatically heal you at a certain amount combined with items that give you so much of a certain attribute that it is impossible for you to die at any rate. While potions have been simplified in consequence to this, and mana potions are nonexistent, I think this was an appropriate route to take considering each hero has their own unique 'mana' pools, some regenerative on their own and others regenerative based on attack. But the one thing that makes this game falter from Diablo 2 and 1 is that there is LITERALLY, NO REASON TO KEEP PLAYING after you complete the story mode. Diablo 3 suffers from the likes of WOW and other dungeon crawlers with making the grind a CHORE rather than making the grind FUN, with repetitive button mashing combined with no challenge and having to embark on the same story elements just so you can raid a boss or find a practical dungeon. And with the map design not having a tangential change like in Diablo 2, you will never get any variance of map redesign in every playthrough other THAN the random dungeons stroked time to time. Overall, not a horrible game, but just a boring, droll, lifeless husk of Diablo 2 with prettied up graphics and no heart.    … Expand
  7. teogreer
    Jan 26, 2014
    5
    Older gamer who has never played the Diablo series but my friends have raved about the series since its inception. Based on their praise I bought Diablo 3. Disappointing. The game speaks to a particular type of gamer which I am not. Repetitive and no longer original with game play that does not match the pace or expanse of newer variants of RPGs such as Skyrim. Not a waste, but not recommended.
  8. Portalguy17
    Nov 14, 2016
    5
    I've loved the Diablo games ever since I played Diablo 2, but I find this game to be quite boring, I really wanted to like this game but I just couldn't get immersed in the game, I didn't care much for the story either, this game was a disappointment to me.
  9. brendo214
    May 22, 2019
    7
    Diablo III was fun for a while, but it got stale pretty quickly. Definitely better with friends.

Awards & Rankings

9
#9 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2013
23
#23 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2013
20
#20 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 41 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 42
  3. Negative: 0 out of 42
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Oct 24, 2013
    100
    A conversion that is almost too good to be true. Diablo III is moving past its previous mistakes and removes the game-breaking auction house that made PC players suffer through its charts. [Issue#234]
  2. CD-Action
    Oct 16, 2013
    85
    Diablo III is a better game on consoles. Gamepad controls lack precision a bit, but on the other hand this version does a better job at conveying the most important thing in the series – the euphoria associated with looting. [CD-Action 11/2013, p.68]
  3. X-ONE Magazine UK
    Oct 14, 2013
    90
    It's one of the best local and online co-op games available on 360. [Issue#103, p.77]
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