Having put off playing Diablo III in any form until now, I came into this complete version with a profound sense of readiness. It helps that “Ultimate” is part of the title, as it pokes at me and asks, “What have you been waiting for?" Playing has been a mostly serious business, from the minutes I spent pondering my choice of class to the attention I paid to the concise and to-the-point opening cutscenes detailing the end of days. It can make for a focused, engrossing weekend, one where the window blinds don’t open until Monday morning and you realize you haven’t eaten anything healthy in days.
Playing Diablo III is a symbiotic exercise in mindreading between myself and the folks at Blizzard. In a given dungeon, I’m often using my explorer’s sixth sense to guess where the dead ends are so I might color in the maps the best I can before heading to the waypoint. On the flipside, I feel the developers are reading my mind every time I discover something pleasing about the game’s user interface, considering that this UI is adapted from what was originally a PC game. Abilities are easy to access and use, and simple symbols are easy to decipher when comparing weapons and armor. Appreciating the little things comes easy, like how the game auto-equips items in empty slots.
Any hostile territory in Diablo III presents a gameplay loop that involves defeating all present enemies, assessing loot, and searching entire maps for treasure, even if it means destroying scores of well-sorted bookshelves stocked with ancient tomes, or desecrating one of the game’s countless tombstones. In other words, it’s like all good action role-playing games, and it's a well-paced one at that. Smartly randomized levels and tons of opportunities for experience multipliers ensure you’re not stuck at a given level for long. Blizzard is an expert at dangling carrots, especially when it comes to enticing you with skills and abilities--active and passive--that are only a couple of levels away. Between the meticulous treasure hunting and the map coloring, you’re looking at an obsessive-compulsive’s paradise.
The compulsions include the need to organize the myriad gear you come across. It is a pleasant and unusual feeling to equip weapons not out of necessity but instead out of mood and experimentation. When I switch from a one-handed mace to a mystical spear to complement a specific set of abilities, it’s never because I feel I need to, but instead because I'm struck by a childlike “What does this do?” inquisitiveness.
Where all console users start on equal footing is in Reaper of Souls' content. That includes a fresh playthrough with the crusader class, originally introduced in the expansion. For as much as Blizzard has touted the defensive prowess of this holy warrior, the crusader is impressively well-rounded, with access to giant blessed shields that can be wielded like battering rams. It was my class of choice during this initial playthrough, and my deaths have been few while my level progress has moved swiftly.
Aside from the gratifying sense of completeness of Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition, Blizzard is cueing up a number of console-exclusive social features that we have yet to evaluate. Mailing items to friends is good and all, but what I'm truly curious about is the nemesis system, an asynchronous player-versus-environment feature that is akin to the shark from Jaws invading your session. Once these social components are live, I'll be able to share with you a full review.
Grind and bear it.
Never played a Diablo because, well, dungeon crawlers? Well done for sticking your nose into this review, but bad luck at the same time: Diablo III has the capacity to turn even the most stubborn gamer into a bleary-eyed adventurer that plays for loot. You are but a few mouse scrolls away from becoming hopelessly addicted and driven into what we've previously called "dazzling, wonderful hamster wheels".
With the Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition just around the corner, Blizzard is clearing up any questions the community may have in regard to their dedication to the console market versus their PC iteration.
INQ: Large game downloads for this new era of the PS4 and Xbox One are nothing new. However, the download size for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition in the European Playstation Store may have just taken the cake, and most of your data cap along with it.
More than 20 million players have battled the demonic hordes of Blizzard Entertainments Diablo® III on PC and console. Now, in a series of exclusive GAME lock-ins, players can join the crusade and take up arms against the enemies of the mortal realms on the next generation of gaming with Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition!
With the launch of Diablo® III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition just around the corner, many of you are probably wondering what to do with your characters from the original gameespecially if you've adopted a next-generation console. Well, wonder no more.
As of today, "cross-brand" and "cross-generational" transfers have been enabled for Diablo III on supported PlayStation® and Xbox® platforms. These transfers will allow players to export their save data from Diablo III on the PS3 and Xbox 360 and import it to Ultimate Evil Edition on the PS4 or Xbox One.
Greetings, nephalem! John Hight here to bring you an update as my team and I prepare to unleash a whole lot of evil on consoles everywhere. I’m pleased to say that on August 19, just two short weeks from now, you’ll be able to lay waste to Malthael and bring peace to the streets of Westmarch from the comfort of your La-Z-Boy with the release of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls – Ultimate Evil Edition.
