Get suited and looted for a Beelzebub bombshell.
Blizzard has an unfair reputation for plugging its fingers in its ears when good times go bad. For all its immediately apparent quality, the original PC release of Diablo III was marred by a real money auction house that even the big B admitted had fudged its intricate loot systems.
It also had always-online requirements infamously coupled with crippling connectivity issues. Compounding those missteps was the kind of immense fan expectation that can only come from a game baking in the development oven for over a decade. It’s pleasing then that this Ultimate Evil Edition proves that actually, not only is Blizzard capable of listening and acting on fan feedback, but that it’s a studio that really does understand that oft rolled-out opinion that games nowadays are more of a service than a single out-of-the-door-and-be-done-with-it product.
Knight terrors
For the uninitiated, this version of Diablo III contains both the original console version of the game (dolled up to the nines should you be playing on a new-gen machine), with the most recent Reaper Of Souls expansion included. It’s a loot-centric dungeon crawler in which four player co-op, both online and local, plays a huge part and the combative focus is all about empowerment. The six characters you pick from to play as feel like they’ve been ripped from a Marvel flick and placed in this dark fantasy setting. None more so than the new guy (or girl), the Crusader.
This meat-flavoured melee fighter would make an ideal bouncer if it weren’t for his probable propensity to reduce would-be nightclub entrants into pulpy residue. Using his huge shield and geared up with a skillset that encourages both brute force and movement, he can power through the battlefields of Sanctuary, knocking enemies hither and thither with reckless abandon. Skeletons instantly crumble as he shield bashes them asunder, while bottlenecked corridors chocka with suitably squishy cultists present the ideal opportunity to break out a red-mistmaking Condemn explosive attack. There’s a playfulness apparent in the Crusader’s skillset, ensuring that with each level gained and ability unlocked you’ll want to tinker with your build. Alongside the other characters the Crusader manages to plug a much needed balance void, as now there are three ranged and three melee types to choose from.
Stomping grounds
A whole chapter has been strapped onto the end of the original game’s fourth act, throwing up another enrapturing villain to supplant the titular demonic lord. Malthael is an angel gone bad and it’s up to us to head over to Westmarch and deal with him. Note this: Diablo III is a game in which you spend a vast proportion of your time looking at the floor, but Blizzard has managed to make that floor endlessly interesting. Act III is a particular highlight, seeing you trample across explosive, blood-soaked ramparts as a marauding army of demon spawn batters Bastion’s Keep into rubble.
These active backdrops return in Act V. You’ll explore haunting cathedrals littered with the rotten remnants of a massacre, cadavers squelching unpleasantly underfoot. You’ll delve into dank passages, pillage the halls of kings while traitorous coups unfold and eventually assault an enormous keep atop a skyscraper-sized battering ram.
While the main story plays out fairly predictably, there’s also the rather brilliant addition of side-quests involving the collection of merchants and followers that veterans will have spent so much time with up to this point. Gem purveyor Covetous Shen gets some time in the limelight, as does Lyndon the Scoundrel, Kormac the Templar and Eirena the Enchantress. These little stories are wonderful, meaningful excursions which flesh out the world in unexpected ways.
When leaving the followers in town and venturing out in multiplayer, things are largely unchanged. There’s a satisfying array of online options to ensure you and your pals can play together without interruption, and loot gets doled out to individual players so there’s no fear of ninja-ing antics unfolding. We were irked by the inability for multiple players in local co-op to be able to menu surf at the same time in the initial release, though it’s hardly a deal breaker that this hasn’t been introduced this time around.
There’s another vendor joining your crew, too. The Mystic allows for Transmogrification, which is a fancy way of saying she lets you choose different designs for weapons and armour regardless of their stats. This addition is a double-edged sword. In a positive light it lets you look however you want to look, gifting that touch more personal control over your threads. However it also means that the loot you hoover up can lose its one-of-a-kind feel.
Covetous ops
A huge additional feature for veterans that have already powered through the main story is Adventure Mode. Finish off the final fifth act and you’ll unlock this potentially endless series of refreshing quests splayed out across all of the existing, randomly generated areas. Not only does this strap tens of hours of questing onto your playtime, but as you progress you’ll discover the very best gear going, via the Nephalem Rift dungeons. Once in you’ll have to take out a set number of enemies in order to summon in a random Rift Guardian boss, which is bound to explode in a golden firework display of Legendary loot and coins every time.
If you’ve been playing through the existing console edition and are considering upgrading then the new additions make it very much worth your while. First time players, meanwhile, will find themselves wonderfully overawed with the wealth of content that lies before them. Whichever side of the demonic divide you lie, you could do with a bit more Evil in your life.
Format PS4 (reviewed), XO, PS3, 360
Publisher Blizzard
Developer Blizzard
Out Now
Players 1-4