I remember spending summer afternoons geeking out with my brother in front of the PC, slaughtering demons and what not to an ecclesiastic soundtrack. It was 1996, and Diablo was one of the best games of the year. It was a bit difficult to explain the pentagram on the box to my nan, so I just hid it. It's been more than a decade and my flatmate still plays Diablo 2, so it was through him that I heard of the amazing news that Blizzard has announced the upcoming release of Diablo 3. No exact date has been set for the game yet, however there is a lot of info on the new features. Game designers for Blizzard have said that the game will be ready when it is perfect.
The Barbarian will still be featured as one of the character classes players can choose, while some of the old favourite moves have been retained. A new character will also be introduced, the Witch Doctor, with special moves that control his enemies' minds and summon pets to help him stay out of harm's way. The characters come in either male or female a very politically correct move on Blizzard's part.
But the most impressive feature of the game has to be the interractive environment, which allows you to tear down walls or blow up tables and doors. In their gameplay video one can see a wall being torn down to completely obliterate a group of zombies.
Gameplay has been simplified to the point where one can play the game with only the mouse, although veteran Diablo players will prefer the mouse keyboard combination. The game's graphics designers have not gone for a hyper realist approach, but rather kept a more retro fun design for the game.
It is a welcome game by all us PC gamers who feel left behind in the advent of games consoles with complicated gamepads. Once again I can use my incredible typing and mouse skills to dispatch demons. I think my social life will suffer...
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