Diablo III - PlayStation 3

Well...call me a deliberate player, or a spacey, distracted player, but I'm *way* past 35-50 hours into this game! I like to think it's a perfect storm between my play style/mood and options for replay built into the game. Here's why I love Diablo 3 (PS3 version)--The delights of this game: Diablo 3, as has been mentioned before, works beautifully w. the PS 3 controller (notwithstanding the rather picky point I made below about POV). I agree with those who said it's almost hard to imagine playing it as easily on a keyboard now that I've had a chance to get used to this console version. The structure of the game remains wonderfully intact (each Chapter advances the storyline) and involves exploration, exploring a variety of ways to derail the demons and cretins who are bent on your destruction; and then collecting the spoils of victory! This means tons of goodies to find and experiment with, agonize over choosing, etc. etc. In keeping w. a tradition of Diablo, random (?) "mini-bosses" or idiosyncratic characters show up to do battle, illuminated in gold and given nick-names; and typically yield especially nifty treasure.For those new to this 3/4 view, hack & slash, treasure hunting, rpg/adventure genre, it should be noted that Diablo 3 maintained a really fun game element from its own origins, and one that is critical to satisfying game play as well as replayability: You can select degree of difficulty from along the lines of something like a matrix; AND if you find yourself hopelessly decimated no matter what you do, you can choose to replay a section until you either level up adequately or collect the appropriate powerhouse combo of armor & weapons...and THEN go back and clean things up. Adding to the the replay value is the fact that there are three additional characters with different skill-sets that you can develop as the mood strikes.One HUGE factor...and this is/was a deal-breaker for me...You can play solo!! Call me anti-social, but often when I want to play a game I want to "tune out" and not interact with other people...not even online. Playing solo of course also means no monthly fees to play a game you already bought; or for waiting for a turn to play before you get booted from the server. No matter how much I love Diablo--and it is definitely one of my favorites--I would not have bought a game that didn't allow for solo play. As it is, Diablo can go either way but for me it's delicious...autonomous...fun.Nitpicks--just a few words about why I was *initially* slightly disappointed with this game: I had expected and hoped for an evolution of the game that had enthralled me on the PC years before. (1) The ambient sounds were more dismal and horrible in earlier game versions...a funny point of criticism, but these ambient sounds were part of what gave the game a sense of true darkness, to the point of being almost disturbing (the "Butcher" quest! OTOH, that may have been more visually disturbing...) This issue no longer distracts from the fun...could be a matter of speaker/headphone adjustment combined w. different sound mix-set used by the current Diablo crew; but in any case I've readjusted my speakers & sound and this no longer detracts as an issue. (2) I wish the camera POV were a bit more adjustable. I did have some fights w. my controller the first couple hours of play before I realized I just had to adjust to this. There are just some times I wish I could straighten my "approach" angle a bit better for viewing purposes. All in all, this game does seem *slightly* less dark and gloomy than the first two Diablo games, but it's so much fun I can overlook this and chalk it up to my exposure over time to the tendency of games in general to be a bit darker; so in this regard Diablo stands out less from the gaming pack than it did in earlier versions.All in all, it's a great game; a great "port" (if that's what it should be considered) a game that well satisfies this diehard Diablo fan; and for those unfamiliar with this genre, or the two of you who don't know Blizzard, go for it! I'm officially giving you a little nudge.Thanks, Blizzard for the Diablo game I've been waiting for; and thanks to Sony/PS3 for bringing it over to their console and allowing for solo play.

TL;DR - D3 on the PS3 fixes all of my gripes with the PC version and redeemed the franchise (IMO) with a fun playable version of D3.So I bought the PC version when it came out. In fact I am on of those unlucky souls who bought into the "season pass" thing with World of Warcraft for the "free" copy of D3 on the PC when it came out. I only played it for about 6 months or so, then upon realizing that the loot and control system on the PC was simply not for me. Add in that just about the only way to get decent gear on the PC version was to dish out money on their RMAH (real money auction house) -which is not present in the console version-. Sure you can grind endlessly to get the item with the stats that you want/need to progress, but that will be a very long grind full of soul shattering disappointments of drops.But enough about the PC.On the PS3, D3 really shines. The controls are simple an intuitive. Everything can be remapped if you use the elective mode. There is an added dodge-roll that proves useful in a pinch. And the controller fixes one of my larger complaints about the PC version, in that I no longer am bound by the same input mechanic to attack AND move. Granted attacking on the console version kinda freezes you in place while playing the animation, but it's a lot more responsive to more troublesome affix combos seen late in the game. Case in point, I always had an issue when a cold affix would make the freeze bombs. You would have to look for just that right spot to click. And in clicking, hope there wasn't anything clickable there or else you would lose valuable moments before the frost explosion and get frozen while the mobs beat you senseless. On the console, I simply tilt the joystick in the direct towards clear space, and my guy/gal walks there and all is good. This type of setup is needed for the PC if it wishes to remain viable and relevant IMO.Next is the loot system. As mentioned, the only way to really gear up in any respectable amount of time is the RMAH on the PC. Self found gearing is basically useless, not only to you, but everyone else as well. So it becomes either vendor fodder or salvage. Conversely, on the console self found is not only viable, but pretty much the only way to gear up making it HAVE to be viable. Quality of gear drops are both better and aimed at the character playing (generally). You are highly less likely to see gear with int drop while playing a barb.On the down side, my only real complaint is the interface. It's kinda clunky and hard to grasp at first. Thats not to say it isn't functional, just less intuitive than I have seen console games release with. Basically, everything works of a radial menu of sorts. And you use the thumbstick to pick an armor slot/skill slot/ect, then upon selecting that you can see and interact with the items under that area more. Case in point, your inventory works of this radial menu as mentioned. All helms are grouped under "helms" off that menu, so to see and pick one you would highlight helms then click it and then be able to scroll through the current listing of helms in your inventory. Vendors work in a similar fashion. At no point can you see all your inventory in an ungrouped manner, even you stash is set up in a similar fashion as well. I personally don't consider it a game killer in the slightest.Additionally, one should know that duping is viable, acknowledged, and no plans to stop or prevent it at all. Since this title doesn't feature an AH, its really of no major concern, but I feel that players may want to be knowledgable of it in case that is in fact a deal breaker for them. (If you are curious how to do it, hit me up and I can give you a walk through :-P)

When i was still toting my PS3 around on the go with me visiting friends when i didnt want to lug my PC around, I bought Diablo III. It was fun on console as it had some co-op features that were different than PC. It still had the same challenges and difficulty as the PC version. So ACT 2 was a nightmare in this OG version. Dont recommend getting this unless you just want to fill a spot in your collection.