This is for those who still own a 1Mbps Streamyx broadband line like me and for the people who are just too lazy to download the demo but still want to know more about what Diablo 3 has to offer. Long live Blizzard. While BrianC is busy informing others about the open beta, I am busy waiting for the servers to be opened to public.
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So, does it look like World of Warcraft? (WoW)
Yes and no. The element of surprise combined with the nature of the game are definitely different to be compared with WoW. Pacing for the gameplay is dynamic and the ability to roam around the map is totally different compared to WoW. Maps and spawns still change, although they were not very apparent in the open beta.
However, there are some similarities such as, the damage counter, the buff’s description on the simple User Interface (UI) and the amount of skills you need to spam on the keyboard. As far as the UI is concerned, it is actually quite WoW-like.
Gameplay: Does it feel like I am playing Diablo?
Some of you might be wondering if Blizzard has lost their Diablo mojo. Well, no. This, without a doubt, is Diablo. You will notice this as soon as your abusiveness towards the left and right mouse button increases exponentially from the word go. Besides that, they’ve kept true to their Diablo roots, combining multi-leveled catacombs from Diablo 1 with roaming of maps from Diablo 2.
The dark settings of each zombie infested crypt, hell-spawned cathedral and eerie dungeon, makes you feel nostalgic. Aside from fuzz-inducing nostalgia, there are seveeral improvements to the game mechanics and graphics which they showed off not too long ago. Collapsing columns, walls, breakable objects are all seen in this beta.
When I was exploring Old Tristram with my bloody-fisted monk, one of the pillars of a badly burnt house collapsed. I slid my cursor with lighting speed, to check if there were more undead to send flying. There were none at that time, unfortunately. (don’t fret, on many occasions there were plenty of zombies and skeletons crawling out of the various holes in the map)
Then, I saw a shop sign highlighted in gold, written “Griswold’s Fine Weapon”, and that was the moment when I thought, “That’s it, after so many years… it’s all coming back to me now.”
So, that’s it folks for today’s review. The only reason why the review is short is because I only played for an hour as I started at 3 AM. I apologise but please look forward to Diablo III OPEN BETA: Day 2.
