Diablo III Previews

Since everyone is getting their hands-on time with Diablo III at BlizzCon, we can expect a lot of impressions… and the first two are in now. Shacknews.

Inside the ruined church, zombies of every sort rambled out of their holes, as is expected in a Diablo game. The difference now is that there is more variety to the combat, in every respect. Ogres wait inside small culverts, bursting forth in ambush. As you fight, the environment is destroyed all around you, providing a great sense of total carnage.

In fact, as laser-focused as the original Diablo games were in the realm of combat, I dare say this sequel has appropriately been improved in that arena. Playing as the Barbarian, slamming zombies with crushing Bashes and axe strikes, the screen shakes violently. 3D zombies are hewn apart in a way that 2D sprites couldn’t be, bloody spraying everywhere. Even leveling up causes a huge explosion, rocking the area.

GGL.

After smashing my way through two levels of the cathedral and its crypts, complete with skeletons breaking out of crypts (again with the dynamic encounters), and skeletons with shields (takes a while to batter away their defenses), I came upon the Skeleton King. He taunted me, saying I would never reach his throne, but quickly destroying a couple of gateway orbs opened the path to his throne room.

Placing the crown on the Skeleton King’s inanimate corpse, I was treated to a nice animation of his soul and corpse rejoining. He arose, flanked by a large number of assorted skeletons, and the battle began. This was the only time in the that I felt like I was in any kind of danger, and it was not unwarranted. The Skeleton King possessed a devastating melee attack, and my mana was constantly low. I only managed to win by kiting his slow corpse around the throne room. When he died, his army died with him, and I was left with a pile of loot and a message that said I’d beat the Blizzcon demo. Sweet!