Review for Diablo III. Game for PC, Mac, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 15/05/2012 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 21/08/2014 The version for Xbox One came out on 19/08/2014
Thousands of words have been spent on Diablo III since 2012, and many patches have been published to balance both the difficulty level and the farming and crafting components. The final result, however, was really high, and perhaps only surpassed by the predecessor Diablo II. Today Blizzard and his masterpiece - mixed between Action, RPG and Hack n 'Slash in isometric view - return to make fans of the saga discuss with Diablo III: Eternal Collection in light of its release on the "newborn" Nintendo Switch.
Let's find out how successful this porting is.
Diablo III sees us protagonists, after the events of his predecessor, in the role of a Nefilim, whose task is to free the medieval lands from the horde of demons and mephitic creatures that invaded them after the fall of a mysterious meteorite. In the ancient struggle between archangels and archdemons to tip the scales will be the work of the protagonist, engaged in a long battle in five acts that winds through multiple fights and rivers of blood. The plot of Diablo III: Eternal Collection does not offer that much, still managing to be pleasant thanks to some small twists, but in the end that's okay: the title puts a lot of meat on the fire anyway.
We can choose, as in the original, between seven initial classes (including the Necromancer which is sold as DLC on other platforms), which differ both in statistics and in approach to combat. You can choose brute strength by starting your battle with the Barbarian or the Crusader, prefer speed and dexterity with the Shaman or the Demon Hunter or opt for magic and its powerful ranged attacks as the Wizard or the Shaman. In reality, the choice of the character is more articulated and complex since it includes simple RPG elements but very well structured and supported during the adventure.
The equipment you will wear is divided for each single part of the body and are all craftable, improvable, enchanting and even transmogrifable (art that allows the aesthetic change without altering its characteristics). Active and passive skills are also varied and all allow the implementation of additional features through the use of magical runes. Although there is no possibility (at least up to level 60) to distribute points to specific characteristics, customization via the listed features offers incredible variety and depth.
Halfway through the game we move on to looking for increasingly high-performance combinations between weapons, armor and skills - passive and active - in the continuous search to improve the damage inflicted. If forty hours is enough to complete the campaign, after over a hundred you will still be trying to improve your character. Moreover, thanks to the possibility of using a trunk of shared objects, you can continue in the story with characters of different classes, obtaining materials and weapons with one character to maybe use them with another.
Diablo III: Eternal Collection was born on PC and it is therefore natural that each port brings concerns to users about the ability to transfer the commands from the mouse and keyboard to the Joy-Pad, (or Joy-Con in this case). There is no need to worry about this aspect on Switch: the gaming experience is transposed in an excellent way and, according to a large slice of the public, the final result is even better than the original. The portability of the console is the flagship, which marries in an excellent way with Diablo III: Eternal Collection. Playing on the small screen turns out to be comfortable and exciting, and on the big screen the final result is very satisfying. There is talk of 60 FPS practically stable at all times (we noticed some rare drop with the screen invaded by meteors or the blood of the vanquished, but never at the expense of the gaming experience) and a respectable resolution: 720p on laptop and 960p on the big screen. Comparing PC and Switch mercilessly, you can see small graphic downgrades of some backgrounds, but even in this context we can guarantee that this small compromise does not undermine the gaming experience.
The online component - net of an exaggerated battery drain - behaves excellently and this is an aspect that enhances a title that, as everyone knows, gives its best online. Diablo III: Eternal Collection, in fact, is connected with the Battle.net servers and automatically offers the possibility of interacting with the friends you already have in your Nintendo account. So it happens to find yourself during the adventure to be helped by an ally in flesh and blood who replaces the shoulder offered by the title. You don't have to worry, the division of what is found in the dungeons takes place in a masterly way and brings only advantages without ever harming the protagonist. In the same way you will be able to participate in the adventure of your friends making a lot of profit, especially when you face the passages, be they minor or major, which bring incredible treasures and frightening level increases.
Despite the perfect port that does not present any kind of problem either in the multiplayer or solo sections (net of the exaggerated battery consumption), Diablo III: Eternal Collection brings with it the same problems as the other versions which, to date, make it the subject of extensive discussions and inexorable diatribes among the industry's pros. First, the level of the opponents varies only in stamina and attack power - which are matched to the player's level - without offering depth on enemy attack patterns.
Likewise the various bosses and mini bosses don't offer a varying challenge over time, only becoming longer to take down. In addition, crafting, once reached the maximum level, 70, quickly becomes boring, offering a minimum of thickness only in the procedurally generated higher level gates, the only point of the adventure where it is possible to find truly rare and performing objects.
However, if on the one hand the problems that emerge in a title now six years old can make pro gamers turn up their noses, on the other hand the strong multiplayer component offers a long lifetime to those approaching Diablo III: Eternal Collection for the first time, offering at least a hundred hours before getting bored. The added feature with the porting of summoning weapons and monsters thanks to dedicated and non-dedicated amiibo is interesting, as is the possibility of using the transmography to obtain a suit that pays homage to Ganondorf (complete with demonic energy wings), or the possibility of using a Coco mascot and a Zelda themed frame. Small tricks that we are sure, however, will not go unnoticed by Nintendo fans.
The Blizzard guys also had to adapt the title for consoles that do not take advantage of a paid online subscription, still guaranteeing a great quality compromise. Clarifying we can specify that:
- Seasonal and non-seasonal characters require an internet connection but not a subscription to be saved;
- Cooperative modes with multiple Joy-Con or with multiple Switches can work peacefully offline and without a subscription;
- The non-seasonal routes, after the creation of the character, can be carried out without connection or subscription;
- The seasonal paths - once the character has been created - can be tackled without the need for a subscription or connection as long as you lose the ranking and the prizes up for grabs if you advance in the offline story;
- Of course the online cooperative mode instead requires both the connection and the subscription.
- Of course, the software provides for the saving of characters and progress on the cloud only if you have a subscription, otherwise everything will be saved exclusively on your console.
We hope that in the future support will be provided through the dedicated Companion-App for voice chat. The Diablo III: Eternal Collection also includes in its expensive 69 euros for the physical copy also all the DLCs and patches released so far, offering first-rate matchmaking that is of course not cross-platform managed.
Diablo III: Eternal Collection sees in its transposition for Switch the maximum expression of its potential, managing to give new life to a brand that, despite not having reached the end of its life cycle, was heading towards it in full steps. New waves of Nefilim are raging in the lands invaded by demons, giving thousands of gamers the chance to take them down ferociously even in full portability. An excellent port of Blizzard, which allows all fans who have missed it so far to enjoy an excellent title and gives the opportunity to enjoy it even for the pros who want to see how Diablo III fares on a portable console.
► Diablo III is an Adventure-Hack and Slash-Scrolling Beat 'em up-RPG game developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Activision Blizzard Entertainment for PC, Mac, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game is out the 15/05/2012 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 21/08/2014 The version for Xbox One came out on 19/08/2014
