diablo 3 game review
Diablo IIIA wait of twelve years has just ended. Entering its preconception phase in 2001, one year after the release of its predecessor, Diablo III will have experienced interminable development, as only Blizzard could afford. Throughout this genesis, Jay Wilson and his team have endeavored to keep the project constantly evolving. But at launch time, when the decision was made to postpone the PvP - not finalized - so as not to play more with the patience of the fans, Blizzard appears as an artist having trouble putting an end to a work too long brooding. Is this a good or bad omen?
It is always difficult to succeed a masterpiece. Just as Starcraft was the worst enemy of Starcraft II, the first two Diablo, who laid the foundations of modern hack'n slash, remain the biggest competitors of Diablo III. This is a truth that we became aware of throughout the promotion of the game. It started with the "color controversy" that followed the release of the first images; this continued as fans became aware of the features of this third installment and worried about their proximity to those of a certain World of Warcraft. Between his desire to open Diablo to a wider audience and the reluctance of the community, Blizzard seems to have sought a compromise. The closed beta, which we considered as a polishing and balancing tool, will have even taken the form of a final phase of experimentation during which the Californian studio will have constantly changed its game, adding functionalities and by deleting others (exit the Nephalem Cube, the Cauldron of Jordan, the mystic, the identification scrolls ...). Is this a sign of a difficulty in sparing the goat and the cabbage?
Blizzard also had to take up another challenge: managing to dust off a losing genre. The hack'n slash "à la Diablo" being very codified (view of three quarters, point'n click type gameplay, different character classes, many loots and sets of items ...), it would have been risky to s '' excessively dismiss a proven gameplay. The publisher preferred to modernize its license by focusing on connectivity and community features, as it had already done with Starcraft II. Your overall experience on Diablo III is centralized in your player profile, which lists your achievements and your statistics for each class embodied and each difficulty mode unlocked. You can easily contact your friends to play together, knowing that each game launched can also be made public and therefore freely available. Finally, an auction house accessible from the main menu allows you to spend the gold accumulated in your games in order to buy the objects deposited by the players. We will avoid fueling the controversy linked to the presence of transactions based on real currencies (within the framework of very separate auctions): after all, everyone is free to use or not a service that will have no impact on your gaming experience, and that Blizzard legitimizes in the name of the fight against gold sellers (by taking a small commission in passing). Note, however, that even if you do not want to use all of the social features that we have just described, a permanent connection to Battle.net is required to enjoy the game. As much as we sometimes turn a blind eye to this additional constraint more widespread, so we can not ignore it when it is accompanied by failures preventing some players to profit decently from their purchase. Diablo III promised you hell? You risk being served during this launch, which rhymes with engorgement.
But let us leave these prosaic considerations to immerse ourselves in the history of this third part. It takes place 20 years after the destruction of the World Stone in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. This barrier intended to isolate Sanctuary from Hells and Heaven had been corrupted by Baal, so that the Archangel Tyrael had resolved to destroy it. No one could predict the consequences of such a gesture ... Until that night when a comet came crashing down on Tristram Cathedral. Since then, the village has been plagued by fatal events. The dead have awakened, including the skeleton king Leoric who was sleeping in his crypt. And while Leah is actively searching for her adopted uncle Deckard Cain, who disappeared in the depths of the cathedral at the time of impact, the young woman is the victim of a vision in which appears to her Asmodan, one of the minor demons. Thanks to a superb cinematic that you have probably already seen, he reveals his intention to invade the world by pouring out his henchmen. But a hero will stand in front of the Lords of Hell to try to thwart the plans. And this hero is you! Here is a backdrop as dark as usual, which allows us to find certain places and certain protagonists of the first Diablo. In particular, you will have the opportunity to visit the ruins of old Tristram (rebuilt a little further) and come across some well-known figures, such as the final boss of Act I, of which we will surprise you! You will then travel to regions as exotic as they are inhospitable, like the surroundings of the city of Caldeum. Throughout your journey, you will of course enjoy this fabulous Gothic atmosphere which contributes to the appeal of the series, served by sumptuous musical themes, but also by a visual rendering whose immense artistic qualities largely compensate for the technical obsolescence.
In order not to spoil anything, Diablo III benefits from an excellent handling supported by an exemplary interface which allows you to focus on the action, simple but addictive, delivered by the genre. We massacre, we lodge and we team up with great pleasure, knowing that Blizzard has tried to make its game as repetitive and as tiresome as possible. To begin with, the environments crossed are pleasantly varied; Act I notably offers a very appreciable variety of atmospheres. The different play areas benefit from a fairly successful design, even if the dungeons are more conclusive than the exteriors, made of corridors and large arenas. Above all, they offer multiple opportunities to interact with the environment (containers to open, destructible decor elements to drop on the enemy, traps to avoid ...). As has been the tradition since the start of the series, most of these areas, as well as unique enemies and loots, are generated in a semi-random fashion. But this procedural aspect also benefits a particularly welcome event system, which assigns you additional objectives to be resolved on the spot and without delay. Blizzard has made a real effort to keep the game dynamic in all circumstances. The newspapers which instruct you on certain background elements are read aloud in particular, so as not to interrupt the action. In the same spirit, the more you advance in the game and the more the bestiary which you are confronted with prevents you from remaining static during the combat: certain creatures charge you while playing the suicide bombers, others use powers with zone effect, still others teleport or move underground, not to mention those who try to cut your retirement by erecting magic walls around you! This pretty world obviously attacks in numbers, which also contributes to the dynamism of the clashes.
The combat system of Diablo III is based on the management of a resource which differs according to the classes (fury, mana, arcane power ...), but which, in all cases, allows you to launch more or less skills less devastating. Even if you quickly put aside your basic attack, your weapon should not be neglected because its values are taken into account to determine the effects of your different powers. It goes without saying that each type of weapon available can only be handled by certain character classes. Besides, which one are you going to embody: the impetuous barbarian, the deceitful hunter of demons, the powerful sorcerer, the wise monk or the eccentric witch? These five archetypes, available this time for women and men, of course have their own fighting style. The barbarian bets on his brutal melee attacks, often preceded by a leap, a cry of rage or a ground shock, to kill his enemies before they can react. The demon hunter, experienced in the art of long-range combat, relies on his projectiles, his traps and his ability to conceal and dodge to get out. The sorcerer, master of mysteries, has many elemental powers capable of affecting a single target or a given area, but also a few protective spells. The monk, who excels in contact with the enemy, remains a mobile fighter who can count on his healing skills when his fists and feet are no longer enough. The witch doctor, finally, submits to his will relatives who fight alongside him, which gives him the leisure to launch curses that weaken or poison his victims. This evokes known profiles (melee or melee DPS, tank, healer, support, debuffer etc.) allowing everyone to find their place in a group of characters provided they adapt their powers accordingly, the optics there being necessarily different from that of the solo game.
This is where the rub is: in Diablo III, your hero is a real piece of plasticine. This third part no longer offers you to "build" a character properly speaking. You no longer have to upgrade his characteristics, which increase all alone over the levels, nor to select his skills on dedicated trees, since you automatically unlock all those reserved for his class. However, you have to make a few choices, because you only have six slots reserved for active skills (the two buttons on your mouse and four shortcut keys). But these are by no means final: you can come back to them at any time. Same observation concerning passive skills and the runes system. The latter is interesting in itself, since it allows you to nuance the effect of your different powers by increasing their damage, reducing their cooldown, etc. But in reality, he suffers from a pronounced assistantship since each rune is unlocked at a given level, can only improve a specific skill, and can be associated / disassociated freely. In short, the game is full of customization options allowing countless possible builds, but you no longer have any chance of being "wrong" as you are not subject to any decisive choice. This was the objective of Blizzard, which readily describes Diablo III as an "adventure / action game" on its official website. Please note that in addition to the NPCs who sometimes accompany you as you wish, you can be assisted by a permanent companion, to choose between the Templar, the brigand and the enchantress. Although, here again, the possible selection of their skills is not final (a single click allows you to reset everything to zero), we appreciate being able to take advantage of this association to address its own weaknesses: the Templar can, for example , be tank or healer oriented.
The customization offered also goes through equipment of varied rarity - an aspect that is still just as essential, even in the presence of one of the great novelties of this opus: craftsmanship. You can now call on a blacksmith or a jeweler to make or set equipment, by recycling unused magic objects, as well as paying large sums of money to boost your craft level and get interesting bosses. On this subject, we regret the disappearance of the Nephalem Cube and the Cauldron of Jordan, which allowed in the beta to sell or recycle the kit that clogs your inventory. These possibilities were undoubtedly hardly "roleplaying", but they avoided the frequent returns to town (thanks to a classic system of portals) which hack the exploration of the dungeons and induce a redundancy that Blizzard nevertheless strives for. 'mitigate. According to the editor, it was a question of cutting the same game session into small sessions, but why impose on the player the way he should live his experience? In the same vein, there is the difficulty of the Normal mode, which some will find in retreat compared to the previous episodes. Even if it is impossible to spam potions, the orbs of life are numerous enough and the bosses never very threatening. The challenge is especially felt by peaks, which represent for example the timed dungeon of Act II (difficult to negotiate without the help of a group). That said, we should not forget that Diablo has always bet on its excellent replayability, which gives you the opportunity to unlock other levels of difficulty (Nightmare, Hell and Armageddon) offering a challenge that is much more robust, not to mention the mode Extreme where you only have one life. You will understand that if certain concessions upset us a little, this third aspect remains of extraordinary richness and interest.
The notes
Graphics 18/20
Drawn appearance, pastel colors, lighting effects, volumetric effects ... The very worked decorations benefit from an artistic direction of high flight, which largely compensates for the modellings and the animations a little outdated. What is more, the slightly behind technical aspect allows Diablo III to run on relatively modest configurations.
Gameplay 17/20
Impeccable, the grip is supported by an interface as clear as practical, allowing you to focus on an action that retains its dynamism in all circumstances. The gameplay is very rich, but we regret however the few concessions made on the altar of accessibility, especially in terms of character construction.
Lifespan 17/20
Diablo III provides up to twenty hours of play if you explore the areas crossed thoroughly (nothing but Act I is larger and more varied than the entire first Diablo!). It has a great potential for replayability, due to the random generation of part of its content but also to the presence of a cooperative mode, although we deplore the absence of PvP at launch.
Soundtrack 18/20
Always as atmospheric, the compositions are sumptuous. We highly appreciate the resumption of illustrious musical themes of the saga (like that of Tristram). The very successful sound effects reinforce the dynamism of the fights, and the dubbing in French is treated. On this subject, note that the attention to detail allows the NPCs to address you taking into account your gender!
Scenario 16/20
If the story, based once again on the struggle of the forces of Good against the lords of the Underworld, is not of great complexity, it is based on a rich background, an elaborate script and engaging characters. It even reserves a few moments of emotion, thanks to cinematic scenes of extraordinary quality that the cinema should envy us.
Diablo III is the messiah we have been waiting for 12 years, but he is both an angel and a demon. This new Blizzard title, where the publisher's attention to detail is expressed better than ever, provides a rich and jubilant experience that borders on addiction. But the game also has its share of shadow, which manifests itself in its concern for accessibility at all costs. In the absence of a character construction worthy of the name, this third opus even loses the only RPG component that the genre could still claim. However, you should, like us, end up succumbing to sin: once the mouse is in your hand (don't forget to provide a spare), you can't stop playing, and it's a sign that doesn't not deceive. Diablo III therefore succeeds in establishing itself as the best hack'n slash since Diablo II.
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