New Destiny Retail Details

What will we explore in the new Bungie adventure?

Why Am I A Console Game?

[Short Answer] I hate you PC Folk

The Continual Problems with Battlefield 4

Why the DICE multiplayer needs another tweak...

Six Months with Microsoft Next Gen Hardware

Games Console or Entertainment System?

The Best DLC Money Can Buy

Does it have Zombies, Burials or Dragons.....?

Showing posts with label Playstation 3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Playstation 3. Show all posts

Monday, 28 July 2014

Content Announced for the Destiny Final Release

The Destiny beta for the PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360 is now finished, but the Bungie Community Manager David “DeeJ” Dague has been answering some questions about what will be included when the 9th September global release comes around. 

On a recent 2old2play livestream, Deej confirmed that each planet will have one location to explore when the game launches - much like the section of Russia we saw during the last couple of weeks.

“We’re calling them destinations. You go to Mars, you go to the moon, you go to Venus, you’ve got Earth,” DeeJ explained.

“We’ve revealed everything that you’ll explore in the first version of the game,” he continued. “You’ll be [going to] Earth. Your story takes you from the wastes of the Cosmodrome, which was essentially our Cape Canaveral of the Golden Age. It’s where we launched off as a global society, where we rushed out into the solar system to colonise and use what the Traveller gave us.”

Even though there’s only one area to explore per location, the beta showed that there is a large amount of area to cover on Earth alone. As most of you are aware parts of Old Russia were blocked off by barriers or by Fallen and Hive enemies that were "immune" to combat or much higher than the level 8 cap of the beta. In the brief 2-hour period that the Moon was made available in the beta on Saturday night we were able to explore deep into the Hellmouth for almost an hour before hitting these same barriers so we're very excited about what is included within these "sandboxes".

In all, there are seven different “destinations” in Destiny for players to explore — the Earth, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and The Reef (a part of the asteroid belt), plus the Crucible multiplayer maps. DeeJ also confirmed that the areas seen in the Crucible maps for Mars and Venus during the beta will be part of the regular destinations for the single/coop section of the game as well.

It's also be found, by Reddit user DestinyDB, through data mining some more information about the missions and destinations. This is by no means everything, or at least we don't believe it is, but even so it's a lot of information and therefore missions to take part in (and remember there are also "harder" versions of most assignments too).

Warning: The below could be considered spoilers so avoid direct eye contact for safety if you're worried....




Earth Story Missions
Old Russia, Earth – The cradle of humanity – a world of ancient glory, waiting to be retaken.
A Guardian Rises (level 1)
Restoration (levels 2, 5)
The Dark Within (levels 3, 6)
The Warmind (levels 4, 7)
The Last Array (levels 5, 8)
Earth Story Challenges
The Queen’s Wrath (Kill Order; level 24)

Earth Strikes
Nightfall: The Devils’ Lair (levels 22, 26, 28)
The Devils’ Lair (levels 6, 8)

Moon Story Missions
Oceans of Storms – An ancient evil stirs beneath the shattered surface of our moon.
The Dark Beyond (levels 6, 9)
The Sword of Crota (levels 7, 10)
The World’s Grave (levels 7, 10)
Shrine of Oryx (levels 8, 11)
Chamber of Night (levels 8, 11)

Moon Strikes
Nightfall: The Summoning Pits (levels 22, 26, 28)
The Summoning Pits (level 12)

The Reef Story Missions
The Reef, Asteroid Belt – Dare to strike a bargain with the ruthless Queen.
The Awoken (level 10)
A Key Awaits (level 12)

Venus Story Missions
Ishtar Sink – The jungles of Venus conceal great treasures – and terrible power.
A Stranger’s Call (levels 10, 12)
Ishtar Collective (levels 10, 12)
The Archive (levels 11, 13)
Scourge of Winter (levels 11, 13)
Eye of a Gate Lord (levels 12, 14)

Venus Strikes
Nightfall: The Nexus (levels 22, 26, 28)
Nightfall: Winter’s Run (levels 22, 26, 28)
The Nexus (level 14)
Winter’s Run (level 14)

Mars Story Missions
Meridian Bay – In the sandswept carcass of a lost city, dark forces gather for war.
Exclusion Zone (levels 15, 17)
The Garden’s Spire (levels 16, 18)
A Rising Tide (levels 17, 19)
The Buried City (levels 17, 19)
The Black Garden (levels 18, 20)

Mars Strikes
Nightfall: Cerberus Vae III (levels 22, 26, 28)
Cerberus Vae III (level 18)
Dust Palace (level 18)

Confirmed Crucible Maps
Earth
Twilight Gap
Rusted Lands
Exodus Blue
Moon
First Light
The Anomaly
Mars
Bastion
Firebase Delphi
Blind Watch
Venus
Asylum
Shores of Time
Mercury
The Burning Shrine

Friday, 25 July 2014

Destiny Beta Overview


The Destiny Beta is now opened to everyone and the Rajakaru team have been playing through the content over the past few days (none of us own PlayStation consoles so we’re a bit behind). The application gives, in most cases, gamers the first chance to see a generous slice of Bungie’s long awaited sci-fi FPS since they left Halo to 343 Industries.

I’ve now played about 10 hours exploring the Cosmodrome and have taken part in everything the beta has to offer – as such I felt it would be good for you all to see a rundown of what is being offered this week. Which, by the way, is now open to everyone – no codes necessary.

After choosing whether to play as a Titan, Warlock or Hunter (see Fighter, Rogue and Wizard) you’re going to be treated to an introduction session of how to play and what to pay attention to. There are also three options on race but as far as we can tell this is aesthetic only. The opening cinematic is quickly followed by an introduction to your new AI Ghost; voiced by the fantastic Peter Dinklage. Whom, for those that care, is far from the terrible audio many had lead me to believe.

You get to run through a section of the game that, if you’ve seen the video, will be very familiar. After discovering your ‘ride’ for the beta zones you’ve shipped offer to the traveller and it’s hub before being allowed to explore in the PvE sandbox (which fantastically doesn’t include any loading screens despite a substantial offering).

In fact you’ll get 4 full story missions that introduce the different enemies scattered through the lands, a handful of flavoursome weapons and even the Sparrow hover-bike to zip around on. The foes come in various different sizes and the Fallen are the first to be introduced. The Dregs are similar to Halo’s Grunts, easy to take down, while their counterparts the Vandals put up a fight similar to that of Jackels. There are also some tougher foes which can be linked to Elites and Brutes.

After a while you’ll also get treated to the Hive – a bit like the Flood, again from Halo (can you see where I’m going here?). They aren’t nearly as annoying but again come in forms that are easy to take down and go up to Elite standards.  Finally, and for the life of me I can’t remember at what point, you’ll also come up against Shanks that are little floating robots; they only take a few shots to go down but they can be nimble and catch you from a vertical height too.

The Hive and the Fallen aren’t the best of friends and you’ll often see firefights between the two parties. Each race has a specific set of ‘special’ enemies too which you’ll see sporadically through the story missions and also in free-roam (where short missions and bounties are optional).

Between missions you’ll be able to explore The Tower, Destiny’s central hub that acts as a place to buy upgrade, make friends and exchange glimmer – the in game currency – for new armour and emblems.

Probably the most enjoyable section of the beta, for me, was the Devil’s Lair Strike mission. If you’re lucky enough to get up to a suitable level this quest is designed for cooperative gameplay and clocks in at around 20-30 minutes in length. You’ll fight against various enemies in large volumes and a lack of communication will end in failure (grab some like-minded friends). This is, I believe, the only chance you’ll get to face off with a Devil Walker (a Fallen tank).

When that’s all said and done you’ll be able to start again with another character or explore the Cosmodrome some more. Some areas are impossible to traverse (with immune enemies to ensure you don’t get outside the available areas) but you’re almost never stuck for options. If you can see if, generally, you can go there. You’ll see other player, fight in momentary one-off tasks, and find new weapons and armour to try out. The beta peaks at level 8, which took me around 4 hours to reach but that didn’t stop my drive to continue playing one bit.

You’ll also get one PvP section at level five carefully titled, The Crucible. This is a three flag conquest style game-mode with teams of 6 facing off. There is only one mode but the beta does come with four very aesthetically distinct maps.

Unfortunately there isn’t any news yet on whether you can transfer progress into the final game – due for release globally in September – but if you’re playing at 9pm GMT on Saturday night then you can expect something cool to be handed out to you when the final release comes around (no news on what this is though)

The beta closed on 27th July so you all have a few days to enjoy it.

Let us know what you’ve thought of it, or leave us a question, in the comments section below.


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You can follow Richard on Twitter by clicking here.
You can follow Rajakaru Games on Twitter by clicking here.

Monday, 21 July 2014

Crysis has a Crisis

Crysis, the first-person shooter series made by Crytek, should be fortunate it doesn’t have a third-person perspective. And we should be forever grateful for that too.

Why? Because this is what happens when you mess with the perspective of video games. It’s a little terrifying and certainly lets us know that we should stop playing around with finished titles. As it’s an FPS, there isn’t any head on show, so you’d never see this mind bending acid trip otherwise.

You're never supposed to see any of this.

 
You can follow Richard on Twitter by clicking here.
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Monday, 2 June 2014

Watch Dogs Review: Hack-a-lacking

I’m going to break this review down into a single questions – it’s the one on everybody’s lips – “Is Watch Dogs as good as the hype suggests?”

 
Frankly its neither the tragic failure some expected nor the introduction to a 'proper' next-gen others craved, Watch Dogs is instead best thought of as an open-world sandbox: Chicago Edition. As with other titles from the publisher – Far Cry and Assassin's Creed being the obvious examples – it is almost compulsively appealing, thanks to Ubisoft Montreal's tried and true onslaught of collectibles, missions, sidequests and other bite-sized reward loops.
 
The gameplay is as fluid as the best parts of Assassin’s Creed where the systems complement the player rather than hindering them. I’ve played around 20 hours of the title so far, and honestly haven’t made it to the end, so feel I am in a strong position to tell you that I haven’t been bored yet. Sadly, I haven’t been thrilled very often either.

Watch Dogs is set in a fairly large, populated, sandbox but doesn’t catch the intrigue of Creed or the appeal of Far Cry – instead feeling like the love child of GTA and Driver. Critically the title is let down by not feeling like a living “breathing” world. NPC’s walk the streets but seem, largely, like robots out for a stroll in a world they don’t really understand. Thankfully, this is somewhat saved by the titles focus on giant corporations and social inequality; which the world does very well to diversify in its five moderately different districts.

Probably the strangest element, and the one most people are interesting in, is the fact the Hacking plays a relatively small part in the proceedings. The morally dubious activities undertaken by Aiden are a stark contrast to the main storyline and the abuse of power he deals with in it. The interface for interacting with the city is exciting, at first, but quickly fall’s foul of Watch Dogs own marketing features. You’ll blow out lights, hack road signs and lift bridges but it never gets any more involved than that. It’s like the bonus perks of GTA with a little but more spice added in.

At some points you’ll hack the bank accounts of the very people you are looking to “help”. It’s a strange decision that’s made worse by the fact that every action has a negative quality to it and it makes Aiden less enjoyable to play as.

Watch Dogs does take a lot of pointers from Ubisoft’s other titles and fills the world with many enjoyable activities for the player to enjoy outside of the main quest. Side-missions and activities are fun to complete and are the right length that they don’t get boring before you get to try something else new. The only nuance to this is the relatively samey main quests as the drive/hack/escape dynamic can only last so long without feeling repetitive.

The online portions of the game work exceptionally well. The hacking and tracking gameplay is interesting but can get a tad tedious when you are on the receiving end for any length of time. Patience is a virtue here and sometime just playing the “waiting game” holds more than its fair share of rewards. It also has a nice twist on the Assassins Creed multiplayer ideas and if you are a fan of that set-up then you’ll certainly find a lot to enjoy here.

In practice the game works: it’s fundamentally interesting, at times looks amazing (especially the water effect on the next gen system), has good shooting/cover gameplay and AI that seems to learn your movements. The problem with it is that we have seen most, if not all of, this before. It hits the high benchmark we expect from AAA titles but it doesn’t push the boundaries in any directions.



6/10. Good, but not Great!

Thursday, 6 March 2014

Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag - Video Review

Dave has been playing a lot of the new Assassins Creed game, you should see what he thinks about it.



You can follow Richard on Twitter by clicking here.
You can follow Rajakaru Games on Twitter by clicking here.

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Plants vs. Zombie Garden Warfare - Video Review

Dave has been playing a lot of the new Plants vs. Zombie game, you should see what he thinks about it.



You can follow Richard on Twitter by clicking here.
You can follow Rajakaru Games on Twitter by clicking here.

Monday, 24 February 2014

The Theories and Lore of BioShock Infinitie and the Story of Burial at Sea

**Spoiler Alert - In this article I will be talking about the full BioShock Sage so far and specific story point. Anyone who has not completed this series of games should not read on any further**


A few weeks ago marked the return of the Burial at Sea DLC, for BioShock Infinite, in the form of a trailer specifically set created for Episode 2. Episode one featured the relationship of Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth again but - in a contrasting environment to the sky city of Columbia – the underwater dystopia of Rapture.

The trailer shows what most imagine will be the opening three minutes of the game and brings back characters of old. In true Irrational style the trailer adds more questions than answers as a ‘downed’ Elizabeth interacts with the scheming Atlas. Or, to be more specific, I’m assuming its Frank Fontaine posing as Atlas.

The gameplay will take a different turn to the ‘shoot-everything’ style of the main game (and Episode 1) in the fact that you will take over the role of the weaker Elizabeth. Her story will be driven by stealth; although we still haven’t seen this in action.
When watching the trailer, the questions arise almost immediately when a ‘ghost’ of Booker – similar to that of Caprica Six only seen by Gaius Baltar in the more recent rendition of Battlestar Galactica – guides Elizabeth through a series of hairy verbal exchanges. Almost certainly saving her from death.

The story appears as though it will, at least, begin with Elizabeth helping Frank Fontaine (“ATLAS”) return to Rapture. Atlas, posing as Fontaine, was banished from the city by Andrew Ryan, some time before the beginning of Episode 1, in exchange for the safety of Sally (the Little Sister that provided the focal point for the last instalment).

Although details of the upcoming episode are minor, (however we now know the release date should be 25th March) we can expect to get some explanations into what’s going on while also seeing the whole content play into the strength, and lore, of the BioShock franchise.

I fully expect the story to tie into the original BioShock and in particular to the fall of Rapture itself. If Elizabeth succeeds in helping Fontaine return to the main part of the city then this could lead us into an interesting circle – especially as the fall of Rapture begins on 31st December 1958 and this is the date shown on Bookers calendar within his office at the start of Part 1.

At the end of the first episode Booker discovers Sally, the missing child, and as he attempts to extricate her from one of the Little Sister vents he has a flashback. It quickly becomes apparent that Booker is actually an alternate universe version of Comstock, but his attempts to kidnap baby Anna ended in a very different fashion. Instead of a finger the dimensional window closed around her neck – decapitating her – killing her instantly.

As Booker starts to understand what has happened the Lutece twins and Elizabeth explain that he asked them, Robert and Rosalind, to help him escape into Rapture so he could forget these terrible actions at which point he is killed.

This obviously leaves several strange questions for us to ponder:

  • How did this version of Comstock survive the culling that occurred at the end of BioShock: Infinite?
  • Why was Elizabeth present at the kidnapping of Anna that we see at the end of Part 1?
  • Are we confident that the Elizabeth, the key companion in Part 1, is the same one from Infinite?
  • If so, why has she suddenly gotten so vengeful and gone so ‘dark’?
  • How long has Comstock been in Rapture and where did he come from?

The second part of this content is obviously due to answer some of these questions but it’s starting to become a confusing mess again….



The biggest question we have to deal with is how Comstock “escaped” from the culling at the baptism. The end of Infinite ‘Prime’ confirmed that Booker’s self-sacrifice at the baptism was designed to cut off the timelines for any further Bookers who managed to reach the same point in their own timelines. Meaning all of the subsequent ‘Bookers’ would drown at this constant point in time…..

Therefore… never becoming Comstock, so, as Booker doesn’t live this also means Anna is never born.

At the end of BioShock Infinites main story we see the different Elizabeth’s fade from existence, Back to the Future style, while Booker dies. Except we then see the troublesome scene after the credits where we are back in Booker’s office and he goes to get Anna from the other room. How could this happen if Anna has been erased from all timelines?

So my ‘theory’ is that the “Burial” Elizabeth, and potentially this Booker/Comstock, has followed a completely “exceptional” path. Potentially at the kidnapping this version of Anna did not suffer any physical harm during her encounter with the ‘tear’. Perhaps she really does become the Seed of the Prophet that attacks New York. Perhaps during this fight she realises the error of her ways (or never really wanted to go through with it anyway) and tries to stop the events – only to find that it is too late anyway. Obviously this is all speculation.

It would then stand to reason (if you could go that far) to say that the Lutece twins had always been attempting to find an “Exceptional” Booker to finish the mission set during Infinite Prime. In fact they may have failed to find one of these Bookers during the first 122 attempts. It’s not until they manage to get back to the original dimension Anna came from (potentially by complete change) that they find the “Exceptional” Booker they require. This would be the Booker, we control during Infinite, whose innate connection to “Prime” Elizabeth allows him to succeed in the mission. And in the process of doing so, he drowns his “Exceptional” Comstock, and then sacrifices himself, closing the loop and leaving nothing left over.

But now we know that it wasn’t true. There are other sets of “Exceptional” Bookers and Comstocks, one of which we find has absconded to Rapture in Burial at Sea. In fact the links are there when you look over them…. when Comstock moves over to Rapture through the tear, his memories are wiped in the same fashion that the “Exceptional” Booker’s are when he moves into the Infinite Prime timeline (as we see this happen during the final sequence of the main game). Hence he has no sense of who he really is until the very end, where his attempts to pull Sally out of the heating vent and his memories flood back to him.


Elizabeth needs to make sure he dies to finally close the loop. And therefore she needs to make sure she is there to see it and make sure that nothing stops him from dying.

ROBERT: You turned to us to solve your problem
ROSALIND: To provide a place to go where you might forget
ROBERT: Where there never was an Anna in the first place
ROSALIND: Comstock was never one to own up to his errors, was he brother?
ROBERT: Never comfortable with the choices he made
ROSALIND: Always seeking someone else’s life to claim as his own

We shall see. There’s still the second half of Burial at Sea to be played (where we’ll be taking control of Prime Elizabeth herself, which should be a rare treat),

Sadly, any I’m sure we’ll find out soon, if I am right there could be many “Exceptional” versions of Booker and it may even suggest the ‘Jack’ from the original game is actually a ‘Booker’ too…. Oh god by head hurts.

Have you got any theories on the BioShock universe, specifically those on Burial at Sea? If so please let us know in the comments below.

Thursday, 19 September 2013

Grand Theft Auto V - It's Not A Review It's a Homage

Grand Theft Auto V is just one day since release and already the interweb is flush with spoilers and end game footage. It’s a bit of a shame, considering the amount of time Rockstar spent keeping the storyline under wraps, but then again it was pretty inevitable.


I won’t be writing a review for the title itself, as I’m sure you’ve seen all the ‘honest’ high scores that the major publications have been setting and for once I can honestly say that their opinions are valid.


The experience is fluid, interesting and immersive. Each of the three main playable characters has unique skills and stories that web together in clever ways. An early scene, which you probably couldn’t class as a spoiler, sees Michael point out the location of a building to Franklin even though they haven’t actually ‘come together’ at this point.


Unless you're in a mission, you can switch to any of the three characters at will. That doesn't mean you can drop any of the three characters into any point in the game, though. Each character has his own missions and switching between them moves you to wherever that character is as you join his life, which is already in progress.



As you switch between characters their life is already in play; Trevor may be waking up in the middle of the desert, wearing a dress; Michael might be smoking on the pier; and Franklin may be leaving a coffee shop. It's a good little trick that gives the illusion that these characters are off living their lives, even when you aren't directly controlling them. It also helps make each character's personal story make sense.


One of the major steps forward is the world itself, stunning to look at with interesting spots around every corner; the whole island is a joy to explore. Substantially bigger than anything the franchise has offered before, this depiction of Los Santos is the definitive sandbox for all you wannabe gangsters.


My only gripe, and it’s a minimal one, is the car handling. Taking to ease the transition of inexperienced players, you glide around corners and passed oncoming traffic with little difficulties. Personally I liked the hard mechanics of the previous titles where a four star wanted level meant you had to have a bit of luck on your side to escape an arrest.


It’s a bit unlike me to pick up this sort of game, I didn’t really enjoy GTA IV as much as I thought I would and Saint Rows, which most state is a ‘cheap knockoff’, is always a mile from my radar.


The game offers a lot of options outside of the main missions. There are movie theatres to visit with short, pre-rendered "films" for you to watch. There's a golf course, complete with a passable little golf game; as well as a fairly additive tennis mechanic.


You can also use your phone's (each character having their own phone design that mirrors the iPhone, Android or HTC browser style) built-in web browser to invest in the stock market. Adding to this is the chance to complete a series of assassination missions that allow you to influence this market a little more directly.


I tried a little bit of everything and found a lot of it to be distracting and largely unnecessary, given the quality of the main story, but if you're going to make an open world game, you might as well fill it up with a bunch of different optional events.


Overall Grand Theft Auto V will leave you wanting more, as you invest time you become glued to the very lifelike world around you. It’s a great escape from the tiresome yearly instalments, without any noticeable improvements, of COD or PES (which is indirectly mentioned in the story). I would have no problem recommending this to anyone.

Tuesday, 17 September 2013

Diablo 3 - Personal Review

I played a lot of Diablo, and its sequel Diablo 2 back on my old PC. In fact I pumped so many hours into both titles that the franchise is on my shortlist of favourite all time video games. Having said that, I have not once played the PC version of Diablo 3; therefore my first experience of the title came with the Xbox 360 release.

 

Let’s get the negatives out of the way first – or should I say negative. The story in Diablo 3 is by far the titles weakest element. Fortunately, in the case of these action adventure titles, it isn’t that important anyway. Purely giving you a reason to slay the masses of evil creatures sprawled across the lands. Essentially it’s the same stuff you saw in the first two titles; the evil demon Diablo and his Prime Evils are threatening to consume the world again. It’s the player who has been employed to stop them. It’s nothing new and nothing exciting.
 

 

On a different note, if you scroll through various forums it has been noted that the graphics of the 360 version aren’t quite up there with the PC counterpart. However, it’s a massive achievement to show off this game, still with a high quality pallet, running at 60 fps and holding up to 50 characters on screen at once – and never once in my playtime have I experienced any form of lag. So personally I feel it looks great.

 

The sounds that complement the graphics are top notch too. Each direct hit feels weighted and strong due to the clatter of swards, explosions from spells and cries from vanquished creatures. The whole experience feels brutal and perfectly suited to the gameplay style.

 
Speaking of gameplay, this is exactly the area that the game excels in. You start by selecting one of five available characters: the Barbarian, a melee heavy brute; the Monk, a fast, agile and deadly martial artist; the Demon Hunter, a professional archer that can employ some traps; the Witch Doctor, a voodoo summoner of undead and other minions; and the Wizard, an arcane magic wielding powerhouse. Each can be made to be female or male, unlike the gender sets of the previous titles.

 

I’ve always been a fan of the ‘tanks’ in cooperative games so I’ve instantly found myself wandering around with a two-handed axe wielding Barbarian. Although I have seen the other characters played, or have tried them myself, so I can be sure that they offer a varied set of abilities and traits that set each of them apart.

 

Diablo 3 is set in the same isometric action-based devises of the previous titles and you can easily find yourself exploring every crack and crevice for each of the ‘out of town’ combat areas. Most sets of enemies drop gold, weapons, armour or other forms of loot for you to add to your inventory and upgrade. The groups of enemies are frequent, but not to the point that map exploration ever becomes a chore, so each ‘loot’ quest becomes completely exciting and unexpected.

 

The maps, this time around, are not truly randomly generated like they were in Diablo 2. The geography, meaning the shape and borders of each map, is always the same, but which dungeons are open as well as their placement and contents are randomised.
 

 

The game focuses on raiding dungeons, collecting the aforementioned loot and boss encounters. Your character levels up, unlocks new skills and goes from townsman (or a woman) that struggles with Skeletons to a demon hunting god that makes short work of any foe. And it’s this constantly moving, and improving, platform that keeps you playing. You can even craft weapons and armour, and upgrade them, to push the character growth even further.

 

The lifespan of this game is massive; I’ve played through the campaign twice now and still haven’t scratched the surface properly. There are four difficulties to choose from, ranging between Medium and Inferno, as well as the opportunities to jump in and out of online co-op with the flick of a button. You can also, if you wish, play through Hardcore mode; which gives your poor character only one life.

 

Probably, and again I’ve heard it mentioned on forums, the biggest change between the 360 version and its PC parent is the control system. Each face button, or trigger, relates to a specific skill, which can be assigned on the fly. Each option opens as the player levels up and each skill comes with its own distinct advantages and disadvantages for you to be aware of. The menus are now set up in a radial style and allows for quick and simple navigation.

 

Additionally, the 360 version of the game features a dodge ability, linked to the right control stick, which I am told didn't exist in the PC version. When you're going toe to toe with a really nasty boss and getting yourself ground to a pulp, it helps to be able to roll out of the way or do a back flip to evade that next strike. It can by you some time to let your skills power up or use a badly needed health potion, and I have no doubt that effective use of the dodge ability is the key to surviving and winning Hardcore mode. It's a great addition to an already great game.

 

Diablo 3 kept pretty much all of the best parts of Diablo and Diablo 2, and has been upgraded dramatically from its PC outing based on fan feedback. The game itself has been nothing but a blast to play, and I can already predict my girlfriend is going to end up hating this game for the amount of time that it's going to suck away from my life in the next few months.