How Does Diablo 3 Stack Up Against the Other Diablo Games?
The Diablo series of video games are action role-playing hack and slash games that were developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Blizzard North. The series consists of three main games; Diablo, Diablo II, and Diablo III. There are also expansion games available; Diablo: Hellfire, Lord of Destruction and Reaper of Souls. The original game was such a hit with gamers that the subsequent games were in high demand before they were even released. However, gamers disagree over which is the best of the games with each person having their own opinion. So, how does Diablo 3 stack up to its predecessors?
Diablo
The release of Diablo was warmly received by hardcore gamers. It was widely considered the best of the games released that year. The setting of the game is the town ‘Trstram’ and the player characters’ aim is to free Tristram from evil by undertaking quests. They will descend through 12 levels of dungeons and the final level is Hell where they take on the Lord of Terror, Diablo. Reviews of the game say that players found Diablo exciting and challenging.
In the Diablo: Hellfire expansion, there is an extra character class, two hidden character classes a, d two new dungeon environments. Despite these additional features, players found it stale in comparison to the original Diablo.
Diablo II
When Diablo II was released, it broke several gaming and sales records. Gamers felt that it was a significantly improved version of the original Diablo and offered a better overall gaming experience. One reason for this was the improved character classes. There are six character classes and explanations are given as to why each class should pursue Diablo. Also, each character has a distinct set of three skills or spells to use in battles. The game is divided into four acts and at the end of each, the players face a different devil.
In the Lord of Destruction expansion, players are aiming to defeat Diablo’s brother Baal. This game has a new act, two new character classes and a range of new items. Again, players felt that this expansion offered further challenges.
Diablo III
Following the success of Diablo II, gamers awaited the release of Diablo III with excited anticipation. After so many improvements were made between Diablo and Diablo II, they felt that the third game in the series would be even better. Unfortunately, most players felt that this was not the case. There are only five character classes in this game; one returning class and four new classes. Gamers complained that the quests were not as challenging as in its predecessors and that Diablo II was a far superior gaming experience. In comparison to the original Diablo, gamers were also of the opinion that Diablo III was less visually appealing and didn’t have the same dark atmosphere.
The Diablo III: Reaper of Souls expansion was considered an improvement on Diablo III as it had an additional character class and a better storyline. However, visually, it still didn’t come up to scratch when compared with Diablo II.
The Verdict
Although there are similar themes, settings, characters and quests that run through the Diablo series, there are differences in each of the games. Each person will have their own opinion about which of these is the best. Overall, the opinion of the majority is that Diablo II is the best game in the series and Diablo III failed to meet the standards set by its predecesor.
