Reviews// Diablo III

You may wonder why not use all of the numeric keys as happens in other comparable titles? The reason for this becomes apparent when you have a 40-strong horde of monsters bearing down on you. There is no dancing around the keys trying to trigger specific abilities, instead you have a finger available for each key and can deal out death on a grand orchestrated scale.

Case in Point
The best example I can think of is this: Cassandra had reached a high level and all her skill slots had unlocked. She ran into a dungeon and spotted a staggering amount of enemies swarming towards her. Instead of running she stood her ground; first using Disintegrate to deal damage to the mob as a whole, its beam able to pass through the vanguard to damage those behind, its rune sending out smaller beams to deal additional damage.

As they drew near she triggered her frost armour, which snap-froze a number of the horde that now surrounded her. Switching to Electrocute she continued to whittle down the mass of bodies pressing against her from all directions. She also called on a little help from a summoned Hydra that spat arcane globes of power at anything it deemed a threat.

It was almost too much for her. There were still 15 or so monsters clamouring for her flesh, flesh that suddenly turned diamond-hard because of the skill called “Diamond Skin”. With one final Explosive Blast the remaining creatures were blasted back to the depths of hell from whence they came! All six skills were used without a misstep, and afterwards Cassandra stood amidst a field littered with gold, health potions and loot.

Rare Fun
Loot is the major draw of Diablo, the steady progression from normal gear to rare gear is what truly drives most of us who get really in to this type of game. Rare items can drop from normal enemies, but the more consistent way to get them is to go in search of the unique bosses scattered around the game world and lay them down low.

Another way to obtain items of power is to craft them. You can pay a lump sum of gold (and other resources in later difficulty levels) to your blacksmith and jeweller to train them. With each payment new recipes are added and some of these recipes will be for rare items. Then, if you get lucky, these can be incredibly powerful. I say lucky because each time you craft an item, its magical properties are randomised and can sometimes come out in ways that will not benefit your character.

There are options open to you at this point; you can dismantle or sell in-game, put them in your stash, which is available to all your characters (except Hardcore characters, but more on those in a minute) so that you can equip the awesome items to characters in other classes; or you can stick them in your stash and enter the Auction House where you can put them up for other players to purchase. Each item has two days for players to bid on and purchase with gold earned by playing the game.

There is a real money auction house on the way, but it has not been launched yet. I will either amend this review or post a separate piece on my feelings about the real money side of things once it has launched at the end of this month. As for making gold from selling unwanted items, I am happy to report that it is both effortless and highly rewarding to sell something that would only have made a few hundred gold pieces at a vendor in Tristram for 15,000 gold to someone who really, really wanted a pair of leather pants that could have two gems attached to sockets in the garments lining.

Reality Check
There are two other modes of play available - Hardcore and Co-op.

Hardcore gives you one life to get as far as you can, and it is absolutely terrifying because if you die then that is it, no second chances, no reloading at the last check point because YOU. ARE. DEAD!

All your loot is lost, unless it has been put in the stash, and you cannot play with that particular hero again. Considering that death has found me on the regular play-through within seconds many times when I had a momentary lapse of concentration at the wrong time, I am not very optimistic about the chances of my Hardcore Monk, Noa, making it out of act one alive.

Perma-Death is not for everyone and, to be completely honest, I doubt I will revisit it if Noa dies, although the challenge of nursing a Hardcore Hero all the way to the level cap of 60 is very appealing.

Cooperative play is something I didn’t think I would like, but after starting Nightmare difficulty I opened up my game to the public. Instantly I had three other player characters by my side, and then I got the warning that the enemies that I would now face would be tougher and more challenging.

Buoyed by my recent completion of the game's Normal difficulty I set off with my motley crew. When we came across a large horde of evil-doers we quickly came to realise that not only had the game significantly ramped up the challenge, it had also upped the experience handed out; gold and loot we found were also forthcoming.

Even though we hardly exchanged a word in the chat window we quickly learned to play as a team. The wizard duo (my character and another) hung back and dealt out death wholesale whilst a barbarian and monk waded into the fray to keep the horde's aggression firmly centred on them. It was a thing of beauty and very lucrative - I amassed more gold in two hours of play than I had in my entire initial play through.