There is a large part of me that just wants a slightly tweaked Diablo 2 with hi res graphics, and after so many hours of the same game I’m kinda scared for Diablo to change. But ultimately after ten years what I want most from the franchise is something fresh and deep, and that’s exactly what I got with what is now officially the fastest selling PC game of all time: Diablo 3.

Photo courtesy of Blizzard

Story Diablo 3 is set years after the events of Diablo 2.

You choose one of five heroes who can be either male or female The Prime Evils,  and set out to save the World of Sanctuary from the antagonists of the series. Beautiful cut-scenes bookend each chapter of the story. As we have come to expect from Blizzard cinematics they are of the highest quality and equal Hollywood efforts. While thrilling, I felt that the cinematics were a little overdramatic and did not reach the perfection of the Diablo 2 scenes, but that’s more a matter of taste. In addition to the full-blown cinemas the game features a slew of smaller scenes similar to a motion comic. These bits are narrated by the player character and go great lengths to supplement the world building – this really wowed me.

Photo courtesy of Blizzard

While many may feel that the story that Diablo 3 has to tell is highly clichéd, they have good reason. It’s a good excuse to send the player to a variety of locations and many people will appreciate the super good guys and super bad guys. What is most remarkable with the game’s story is the level of exposition. All the game’s characters, even useless NPCS and the player character are fully voiced and more often than not have something interesting or funny to say.

The game’s fighting companion characters now serve an additional purpose – to flesh out the story and have dynamic conversations with your hero. Often I wanted to replay segments with different companions to hear what they had to say. While Diablo 3’s main narrative may be cliche and predictable the world building and execution are fantastic.

Photo courtesy of Blizzard

Presentation, Music & Sound Diablo 3 has some truly iconic music. There will be no dissention among fans here.Your ears are subject to a rare treat with this game. Classic tracks from Diablo and Diablo 2 have been remixed and mastered and there are dozens of them, the Tristram theme you are privy to in this review has never been so chilling. It’s no surprise that the sound effects and voice acting are of an extremely high caliber, I think I even heard voice actors from Dragon Age.