Diablo III (PC/Mac DVD)

OK, this is definitely not the game of the year, but it's still fun to play and a good game. It's a 4 star, but I gave it a 5 because I think that too many people unfairly rated it 1-2 stars - and it definitely deserves a better average. Considering its BLIZZARD, I would give it even a 3,5 star - they usually make better games than that.PROS - Good graphics, good game balance - there is challenge, but it's manageable and fun, OK Story - although a very short for my expectations. It would have had perfect scores about 3-4 years ago, but now compared to witcher, starcraft 2, etc. (not game mechanics, but FUN and story) - it just doesn't deliver enough.CONS - Well I had very little problems with the DRM and Battle.NET - maybe because I received the game on 22nd of may (delayed by amazon) - and also I have other things to do besides gaming, but I believe that this shouldn't have happened as it did. OK, if the poor blizzard doesn't have enough servers and can't afford more for the launch. But in that case organize it differently - make different launch dates in different countries or even states, cities, stretch it over the week for example. Make it organized. You've already had the experience with the WOW? So why not learn on it. Then it would have been easier for them to spot errors and avoided the huge disappointment of fans.The auction house is a great way to get gear and gems and probably the best way. For now it's still not very organized - and many don't know how to sell and price items properly, but it will get there. Auction house rally makes crafting weapons completely unnecessary - a waste of time and gold. I would usually save some gold, upgrade with best equipment I can afford and then everything becomes too easy - for about 6-9 hours of gameplay. Then when some boss suddenly kills you - you understand that its time to go shopping again. The best items are found on auction and it's only a matter of gold. I personally thinks its OK, but many Diablo 2 fans will disagree - as it takes a bit of thrill out of the game - you no longer need to farm for items - you simply go around killing things. And if before, in 2000 there were no games that could compete with that - now we have far more interesting things to do in other titles.Conclusion - buy it, play a few different characters, have some fun and move to the next title when bored. I'd say it's about 100 hours max game time for your. Its good, but not good enough to compare to competition. Hopefully Blizzard will do better with the expansion and add some juice to the story.

Reading the reviews I was very suspect on buying this game. But loving this genre of gaming and previous titles I took the chance and bought it.Spent a good few hours on it already and find it very enjoyable and so far a good experience.The graphics are not exceptional, but very good overall. Runs perfectly smoothly on my system (i7 CPU with a GTX 470) on full settings. Not a problem at all playing and graphic lag. The spell graphics also are quite good, and the 1 cinematic I've seen is very impressive graphic wise. Almost like a movie rather than computer generated.The server lag for me has been minimal and hasn't stopped me playing for got me killed because of it. I have experienced it slightly here and there, but nothing to cry home about as of yet. (I played most of Saturday and Sunday, not sure if these are classed as "peak" times).It does feel more like an expansion of Diablo 2 and more WOW than a new game entirely, but it is very enjoyable and has good qualities of gameplay so far, enjoying the Companion side of things, and they can be upgraded slightly which is a bonus. Already had 1 legendary item drop for me, not sure if this is by luck or that the drop rate has increased. (I am towards the end of Act 2 normal difficulty)Quite a few yellow rare items also have dropped, used some, sold some have some more to sell..I'm liking the fact it's quite difficult already, and that you have 6 different spells (Buttons 1-4, left mouse button and right mouse button) - this is plenty and offers a wide range of offensive spells for me to combat most hordes of monsters and also get me out of trouble on occasions when on a boss fight or have bitten off more than I could chew.I have also played a couple of times via the multiplayer/public game option, not sure what to make of this as it was random people rather than people I know. These were all geared greatly mostly rare to legendary (so presume that these are alts of players who have been playing for a long time) and seemed to just wonder off leaving a lot of drops and wading through everything with 1 blows. The end boss of act 1 lasted 3/4 seconds, with me not even joining in as by the time I got there, it was dead.The AH limit of 10 per player for sale is very annoying and the blue drop rate seems a tad excessive (I have already 4x open bags in stash full of Blues) and had to sell/salvage a lot already due to lack of space.Not sure on the Real Money AH as not sure I would ever use this.So overall, 4 outta 5 stars for me personally. Maybe this will change once I have completed it, but no game can last forever and will eventually have to end. (Spent over 200 hours on Titan Quest 2, so presume that D3 will keep me content and occupied for this length of time)Fun Aspect - 8 - 10Graphics - 6.5 - 10Story Line - 7 - 10Multiplayer - 6 -10Overall - 6.9Enjoy :)