by CHASE MILLER Staff Writer
A beautiful mixture of story and battle backed by amazing controls and 12 years of development produces Diablo III, one of the most anticipated games of the decade. The Blizzard-created roleplaying game (RPG) series, Diablo, was first released in 1996 and has consistently received the “Game of the Year” Award from a variety of game reviewers and other companies. The first Diablo was released on December 31, 1996, and sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide. The Diablo series takes place during a medieval time period in the world of Sanctuary. Diablo III begins with a drawn cinema with a voice over, explaining what is soon to come to that world, “When the armies of light and shadow will clash across the fields of eternity.” The cinematic then shows a short battle sequence between heroes and the face of Diablo. It abruptly transitions into game film where we meet the two antagonists, Leah and her uncle Deckard Cain (carried over from Diablo II), at a chapel where the first sign of the end of days happens and a meteor falls onto the chapel. After the cinema ends, users log on to the server to choose a character class and name it. The classes to choose from are a Barbarian, Demon hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor, or a Wizard. However, in Diablo III, users can play as a female or male character for each class. Each character has a small separate back story that is shown in a movie before you start actual gameplay. Your character starts outside of the town New Tristram. Shortly after your first few steps, you are faced by the Risen, undead that have been brought back to life due to the meteor that just fell. Once you reach town after fighting a few more undead, you are sent to find a girl named Leah, the only survivor from the incident at the chapel. This game is truly a great game in the way it contrasts to the big games this year such as Skyrim and Mass Effect 3, by sticking with it story-to-battle ratio. Unlike the other two games, Diablo III is a short story game that throws you into waves of battle. Even though the enemies seem easy to kill, they constantly swarm your character. Also, like most of Blizzard’s games, Diablo III is played from the third person perspective, letting you see the oncoming enemies from all sides. Ms. April Mariano say, “Even though Diablo III is a continuation of the Diablo series, one does not have to play the preceding games to follow the story. The storyline reflects back on the previous two Diablo’s which keeps players up to date on the current story. Diablo III is revamped into an even greater addicting loot grabbing, monster slaying game.”