Rating of
4.5/5
Devilishly Good Fun With Friends
Chris Kavan - wrote on 03/27/14
Having previously experienced Diablo III on the PC when it was initially released, the main reason I got the PS3 version was to experience the local multiplayer. Because I don't trust anyone online - I never got around to trying it on the computer, though I did start multiple characters the first time around. This review will be rather brief - a few comparisions to the PC version and the overall experience, but feel free to read my full review of the PC version as well (if, you know, you're into reading reviews) as my opinion is pretty much along the same lines.
Presentation: Graphics wise, PC always has the advantage over consoles (though my decidedly average PC probably isn't that much better in that department). That being said, the game looks pretty much the same - and also has the same issues when dealing with lots of enemies at once, the game can experience a slowdown of both the music and action. I can only count on a few occasions where it was really noticeable, but it was there. The game also supports trophies, of course, and at least it offers a bit more incentive than just designing a spiffy banner. Compared to previous Diablo games, it's an improvement (mostly in the amazing cut scenes) but it's decent enough on its own.
Story: Nothing to add from my previous review as the PS3 version didn't add or subtract anything from this department.
Gameplay: I'll mainly focus on the multiplayer aspect - up to four people can join (we had three as per our usual MJ multiplayer experience). Once again you can choose from multiple classes - this time around I went with a Monk (mainly good at melee with some decent ranged attacks) and we also had a Demon Hunter (my main class I played on the PC) and a Witch Doctor along for the ride. I think our group was nicely complimented - while I was up close and personal, the Demon Hunter had excellent ranged attacks and sniped away while the Witch Doctor provided some awesome support in the ability to summon a variety of "friends" from a giant zombie to acid blogs to flaming bats. All told, we made a pretty excellent crew.
While we started on the "easy" difficulty - the PS3 lets you adjust the difficulty (which also affects experience and loot drops) and bumped it up a bit. This change didn't really make that game that much harder - I can count only a few times that all three of us managed to die at the same time. Speaking of loot drops - the game is more generous than Borderlands 2 when it comes to dealing out decent loot. We had plenty of "Legendary" drops along the way, thought it was often hard to top the equipment you could get by simply having the blacksmith forge them for you.
Luckily the PS3 also let you map the buttons on your controller for the abilities you want to use - and doesn't stick you with using abilities you don't want. This allowed us a wide range of possibilities - and due to our success, I would say this was an excellent choice to provide players.
We did encounter one disturbing glitch - somehow one of the secondary characters lost an entire night of gameplay (and items and levels) - and I have no idea how. It only happened once - but it's obviously a big issue. Think if you blew through half the game in a monster session - only to lose all that progress because something didn't connect properly. It's not as big a debacle as the auction house (but it's pretty darn close). Other than that issue, I don't think there were any other glaring issues in the game.
Replayability: I didn't add this in the previous review, but I will say due to the increased difficulties and multiple character classes, the Diablo series is one of best games for replayability. Plus the game isn't set, so each level offers something different every time (which can be both annoying and a plus). For that reason, it gets high marks.
Overall: The best Diablo game to date - and it's always fun to play with friends. It is not without its flaws, but it was just as fun this time around as it was experiencing it the first time on the PC.
Presentation: 4/5
Story: 3.5/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Replayability: 5/5
Overall (not an average): 4/5
