After a very long wait and multiple delays, Blizzard finally released Diablo III yesterday and, after enduring busy servers, many errors and quite a lot of missed logins, I’ve finally been able to experience the first few segments of its single-player campaign.
While the opening part of Diablo III may be the same as the one seen in the beta stage, it’s still quite enjoyable a second (or third or fourth) time around, largely because it emulates the classic Diablo experience of watching your character from an isometric point of view, crawling through dungeons, slashing at enemies and uncovering loot.
While there have been quite a few great dungeon-crawling role-playing games that came out after Diablo II, few really managed to recreate that same classic experience.
I’m the first to admit that I didn’t play Diablo II or its Lord of Destruction expansion when they came out, due to my fondness for Counter-Strike and my utter disinterest in RPGs, but, after trying out a few cooperative matches with friends, I soon became mesmerized by Blizzard’s creation.
After going through many other RPGs, from isometric titles like Torchlight, to action experiences, like
Skyrim or
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, I still haven’t found a title that offers the same classic Diablo experience.
Now, with the third installment, I can finally say that my desire has been fulfilled.
Sure, I still have a few doubts about two of the game’s “features”, like its lack of mod support or the mandatory internet connection, but in terms of actual gameplay, I can certainly see myself spending dozens of hours in its company, especially alongside many of my friends who also bought it yesterday or had it pre-ordered a long time ago.
What about you? Does Diablo III satisfy your isometric dungeon-crawling need or do you think it’s nothing like its predecessors? Share your first impressions of the game below.
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