14 DAY TRIAL // Diablo III is one of the video games that Blizzard is making playable at the Gamescom event, allowing players to choose from four classes and then take a look at the combat and exploration elements.
I chose to play the Barbarian, the class I use on my first playthrough in all Diablo titles, mainly because I like to know that I can take just as much damage as I can dish out without having to worry about complex spells and about too many special abilities.
The demo is set in the kind of barren rocky mine area that we heave already seen for Diablo III and it's quickly clear that the game is pretty classic in its mechanics.
Left and right click control the weapons and both buttons can be customized to automatically deploy special attacks.
Enemies seem pretty frail against the Barbarian and the only time I die I do so because I couldn't get to the health potion button quickly enough.
As always, inventory management quickly becomes a problem for the player given the amount of loot the enemies seem to drop. However, Blizzard made the welcomed decision of allowing the playable character to pick up objects by just running over them.
It seems that Blizzard is more interested in creating solid experiences, as polished as possible, than in breaking new ground.
Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty also played it pretty safe, sticking mostly to the formula of the first title in the series while massively upping the production values.
Rumors about how Diablo III will play and look have been swirling around ever since the expansion to the second game in the series was launched and at one point there was speculation that Blizzard might release it before Starcraft 2.
At the moment the developer is also working on a new expansion for World of Warcraft, called Cataclysm, and on Heart of the Swarm, the next chapter in the Starcraft saga.