This is the first time Diablo has come to Xbox, so here's a brief description of what it is. Diablo is like staring into a spinning black and white spiral. It's polished, seamless, hypnotic.
Blizzard are a company whose game development process probably involves invasive electrodes jammed into their corteces, as morally ambiguous scientists nod and take sinister notes. Diablo 3 looks like any other dungeon crawler, but it's a craftily generated loop of discovery, challenge, reward and apprehensive lulls. Basically, you're going to need a second alarm clock to tell you when to go to bed.
Every level you rise unlocks new combinations, encouraging you to mess around, and each class has different resource management, fighting style and visual effects, making multiple playthroughs less of an off-putting prospect. And even if you've only got one character, you're supposed to play Diablo more than once - much of the content is teased, visibly out of your reach, until you get to Inferno mode.
There's an abundance of loot, most of which you'll be selling for cash or salvaging for materials to smelt into more level-appropriate stuff. Because the economy has been built to be self-contained on Xbox, rather than the open and cynical-feeling auction houses on the PC, rare drops feel less rare. An anecdotal comparison - three playthroughs on PC, and I'd yet to see a legendary orange loot. After saving the world the first time on Xbox, I was swathed in a dazzling mix of orange, yellow and blue.
I think the first time I heard the grotesque words "gameplay loop" was in relation to Diablo. "Eur," I thought. "Stop trying to apply weird analytical terms to fun." But Blizzard really are the kings at putting us into dazzling, wonderful hamster wheels. And that's not an insult, any more than calling any video game "pointless" is an insult. The cycle of minions and mini-bosses keeps you on your toes, but there's also the balance of power, shifting between you at the enemies. There's always something you want, and it always feels tantalisingly close. (The exception to this is Paragon Level 100. That'll always be something I squint at suspiciously through my binoculars.)
The result of that seamless loop is that it never feels like the right time to put Diablo down - even finishing the game drops you straight back in at the beginning, with promises of more glistening crowns and wonderful greaves. Fair warning - you probably won't hit level 60 until your fourth time through the game. Fairer warning - getting all five classes to Level 60 is a commitment that will cost you in other areas of your life.
If you find yourself struggling, you've got four ways of keeping pace: hang back and level up, fiddle with your skills loadout, find or smith some better gear, or play with friends. That last option is the most immediate tonic. Teaming up online - even with randoms - offers no scope for abuse, because everyone gets their own loot. (For obvious reasons, local co-op players will have to share. But in that situation, punching a loot-hog is a real and important option.) With randoms, everyone we met with was the right mix of "get the job done" and "let's dodge roll for a bit, it's fun".
Getting better gear isn't entirely down to the randomised drops - upgrade your blacksmith and salvage your garbage, and you can get some reliably decent stuff. Some items can be enhanced with gems, others have more subtle bonuses that might outweigh a damage or health boost. It's a long, deep and dense system.
With four players, the action gets obscenely intense, but the engine never struggles - Blizzard has managed to make the entire screen shimmy with enemies, and sizzling attack animations. The Sorcerer's electric men stalk the screen as the Monk summons bells from the sky, and the Witch Doctor's zombie dogs explode on command. It is chaos, and it is brilliant.
If you use the blacksmith effectively, the increase in high quality drops means that the game gets a little easy on Normal mode - but then again, Hard mode is painfully punishing in the early levels. It all balances out as you approach the level cap, and Infernal difficulty, which is where many people will say the game begins. Those people are bizarre: finishing a game for the fourth time should never be referred to as "beginning" it. But even when you're briefly overpowered and dicing through the named Yellow bosses, or struggling against a trio of blue mini-bosses with a cruel combination of random powers, it's still satisfying to play.
Diablo 3 isn't an experience for the time-poor, though it's surprisingly possible to nip in for half an hour, just to level yourself up. But treat it like a casino: set yourself a limit, and stick to it. Otherwise, you might find yourself wide-eyed on Nephalem Glory at 5am.
16 comments so far...
N00binator 360 on 5 Sep '13 said:
Only the loot can make me happy...this'll do nicely until GTA V is released.
Grummy on 5 Sep '13 said:
Great review as always El Loggo, but i gotta say bro, even though it really doesn't mean a lot in the scale of things, it does feel like you gave it a 9 and 1 down mark against your better judgement, almost like you were searching hard because you were faced with giving a dungeon crawler a 10/10. Your review reads 'this game is flawless', your score reads 'I needed to find something wrong as there is no such thing as a perfect game. Not that I actually care, your quality review is far more worthy than some arbitrary number, but even so, it was a little surprising.
FishyGinger on 5 Sep '13 said:
A game can be flawless without getting a 10.
Tempted to give this a miss for the time being, can't be doing with some time stealing video-crack at the minute.
fracturedrich on 5 Sep '13 said:
Yeah great review,i have lost more hours on pc than on any game since dark souls.I would say if you struggle on pc you head of to the auction house to upgrade your gear with your hard earned gold,none of that hear.This is what makes the console version way tougher,that with the fact that pc players no that you have to stick together. I am surprised on how good this game looks on the 360,great job blizzard.
Dave2123 on 5 Sep '13 said:
I hate games that don't last very long, but why would I want to play a game that will take me thousands of hours to complete?
Grummy on 5 Sep '13 said:
I'm not sure where you get 'thousands of hours' from, I'm about 18 hours in and I'm on the last act of my first playthrough. Honestly, I have no idea what you're getting at with that suggestion, it seems simple to me, you either play games to complete the story then keep playing until you're done with it or you want to max out everything and complete every last thing. I guess you need to define 'complete' as it pertains to you.
How long you play the game for after a first playthrough is entirely down to your personal values, what point you consider a game 'finished'. If you're a one playthrough guy, then it's about 20-25 hours, if you want to max out 1 character, then (depending on the paragon points) it could be anywhere from 60-100 hours, maybe more. If you're all about the achievements, then you're looking at about 100 hours at a rough guess. You would only be looking at 'thousands of hours' if you wanted to play every character and max them all out and get all achievements and challenges. If that's your choice, then fine, but it is then no different to any mp game that you play over and over again, making the question of 'why would I play this' redundant. IF you're a person who wants to max out everything he can, then the majority of games you will ever play are going to have hundreds of hours of content.
Lancer Armstrong on 5 Sep '13 said:
This game sounds unhealthy.
Wadium_Arcadium on 5 Sep '13 said:
The best always are.
Really enjoyable review - I expect I'll pick this up on PS4 if it ever appears.
kronk10 on 6 Sep '13 said:
this game really is flawless its amazing they have managed to port over something that is better than its pc original and i its even better than both diablo 1 and 2 the co op is amazing i am totally in love with this game
Baryonyx on 6 Sep '13 said:
This game is definitely worthy of a 10/10!
OXM Log on 6 Sep '13 said:
I wouldn't baulk at giving this a 10, if it felt perfect. (Didn't I say flawless *conversion*?)
But while it is an exquisite game, there's a kernel of resentment towards it, too. I resent how it plugs into my circuitry so easily, and plays me like a damn fiddle. If you're going to analyse me GO AHEAD - it might be that resentment that killed my 10 instinct.
fracturedrich on 7 Sep '13 said:
I agree with log,you can not just hand a ten out like it's nothing.I do not no how many games have achieved that magic number and it does come down to personal preference.I no we should not care but a lot of gamer's do care about the number at the end of the text.
The reviewer makes his or her case and then hits us with the number at the end.I would expect a ten if this game had not come out on pc a year ago.I think a lot of hours would have had to have gone into a game like this to justify that perfect score.I agree with everything in this review,and having spent a lot of time with the pc version,i can say this is the best port i have ever played.
I have a sneaky feeling that a certain game coming out in two weeks time might just get that perfect score.
Can anyone tell me what games oxm have given that all allusive ten to?
IPlayGamesUK on 7 Sep '13 said:
Not getting this just because i know i don't have the spare hours that this game needs and i'll get annoyed!
Maybe if it comes over to the Xbox One I'll look into it in the new year.
Insaneyokel on 7 Sep '13 said:
Have to say this is the game I have been craving for a while, it just hits the right spot when I fire it up. I had a good day at work and it topped my day. Yesterday, had a stressful day, fired up Diablo and again it was just the therapy I needed. There are few games that do that, I usually have piles of casual games, happy games and grumpy mood games, Diablo seems to fit all three piles
though the down side is I am finding I can lose my time to it so easily. The other game that I hope will be like this is GTA 
Anyway random ramble over, think my brain overheated or something with being back to work
must now go play Diablo, it is calling me 
EdDeRs1 on 16 Sep '13 said:
I don't have a life so this should be perfect for me
EdDeRs1 on 16 Sep '13 said:
Skyrim, Oblivion, GTAIV and somehow MW2