As an Xbox fan and someone who loves loot, Baulder’s Gate was always the go to game for couch coop; tons of pixelated gold; godlike armor and weapons and the obliteration of otherworldly creatures. However, now that I have finally taken the opportunity to play Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition on Xbox One, I think my favorite dungeon crawler of consoles past has been dethroned. Blizzard took a genre of game that hasn’t had a real console hit in almost ten years and revived it’s heaving corpse. Between the amazing look and feel of the game and it’s great story telling, this was a long needed break from the FPSs and TPSs that are currently taking over the console world. And although you have the option of playing online with friends, you can just sit on your couch, have a few beers and tear it up with a couple buddies in your living room.
Ok, enough of my babbling, let’s get to it.
I started this game up and linked all of my accounts and got rolling into what can only be described as a high definition brain-gasm of animated excellence. I’ve always been the type to push through so that I can see how the story progresses and with the way the technology has been leaping forward in the last few generations of consoles, I have been more than impressed with the level of detail possible in even the least funded indie game. But Diablo III is a beautiful example of story telling in graphic animation and gameplay.
Once I was introduced to my character and I was familiarized with the controls, it was a fairly linear progression for the first hour or so of Act I. Which actually works to your advantage. You need the loot and items given to you in that first hour of the game just to have a chance at surviving the onslaught of undead hordes and malicious minotaurs soon to be mobbing you at every turn.
I have honestly only started two characters and focused more on my wizard, but I found that the advantage of dealing damage from a distance with the healing power of the paladin companion makes for a nearly unstoppable combination. The crafting progression takes some time with the first play through, but all characters you create can take advantage of the items and crafting abilities you’ve earned. I like this mechanic, mainly because it gets boring when you decide to start a new character and end up having to farm like crazy all over again, but also because it allows you to create a character for each group you play with. I don’t know about your friends, but mine all have their favorite class, and I like to be able to join them whenever possible.
I don’t like to spoil things for people, so for those of you that haven’t played I won’t get into details of the storyline. But I will say that while playing, don’t dismiss the companions storylines. It may seem like there isn’t a point to listening to all the blabbering about their past, but Blizzard managed to round out those storylines quite elegantly. As for the rest of the games story, it runs pretty cohesively with bits of campy dialog scattered about. That’s not to say that there aren’t times you would rather get a root canal than blast through one more dungeon, but that’s just par for the course with dungeon crawlers.
Now down to brass tax. I give this game a definitive 9.5. It’s highly addictive gameplay and engaging story telling keep your appetite for the destruction of the Great Evils satiated heart pounding victories and soul crushing defeats.
So what are you waiting for? Tend to your homebrew, crack open a cold one and destroy the armies of evil!!
Sixtydgree 