After more than 11 years in development, Blizzard has released Diablo III, the third instalment in its highly anticipated dark fantasy role-playing game (RPG) franchise, and it is a masterpiece.
Diablo III takes gamers familiar with the lore to New Tristram, in Sanctuary, which, after being burnt down in the previous game, has now been rebuilt. The hero must unravel the story behind a mysterious stranger, who has fallen into the town's cathedral, bringing foreboding news about a new prime evil.
Players reunite with Deckard Cain from the previous games, where he and his niece, Leah, are researching ancient scripts warning of a dark prophesy. The player sets out on a quest, which takes place across four acts, to kill and trap the souls of the world's seven evils within a Black Soulstone.
However, Diablo, the Lord of Terror, soon tricks the heroes and steals the Black Soulstone, taking in all the souls of hell's demons and becoming the 'prime evil'. In act four, the gamer must venture to the High Heavens, where Diablo has captured heaven's angels and is attempting to turn heaven into hell.
Diablo III is epic in every way possible, and has an enthralling storyline, rich graphics and superb gameplay similar to previous titles. In fact, the gaming physics are identical to the previous games and the learning curve is very simple. Diablo III uses a 3D game engine, which provides an immersive gaming experience and an over-the-top camera angle.
The imagery is captivating, and in comparison to previous games, Diablo III has a painterly feel to it, as if the gamer was playing within an artwork. True to the tradition of the game, Diablo III provides an incredibly dark experience; despite critics saying it wasn't dark enough.
The theme for Diablo III is more demonic than the previous two games, as gamers feel they have literally been transported into hell. If hell had to be manifested on earth, it would look like Diablo's realm.
There are five classes that the player can choose from, including monk, wizard, barbarian, demon hunter and witchdoctor. I finished the game on normal difficulty playing a monk within 18 hours' of gameplay. After completing normal difficulty, the player can choose nightmare and then hell difficulty.
On normal difficulty, I found beating the game is a walk in the park. Even defeating the prime evil himself proved a very simple task. The character development is multifaceted and gives the gamer a wide variety of skills to specialise in.
Blizzard decided to make Diablo III an online multiplayer RPG game, meaning it can only be played via an Internet connection. While this may be restrictive to many gamers, particularly South African gamers who have limited bandwidth, it does add another dimension to multiplayer gaming.
Gamers from all over the world can team up and fight boss battles or play specific challenges and quests. The co-operative battles make it an engaging experience and also add a social networking aspect to the game.
During the first week of rollout, Blizzard had underestimated the amount of gamers that would be present on its servers, and consequently faced hiccups in terms of downtime. But despite these challenges, Diablo III has certainly impressed and retains its crown as king of RPG.
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