Diablo III: Reaper of Souls — Ultimate Evil Edition - Xbox One

I really like this setup for Diablo. I am a huge gamer, and enjoy spending time with my friends online just smashing things up. I have played every Blizzard title, and this is definitely up to snuff for the Xbox One console. Only if they'd put WoW on console!

It took me many months to decide whether to pick this up or not. I read through numerous reviews, watched video reviews on Youtube, even indulged in some Twitch viewing to decide if this was worth owning. My reluctance boiled down to this: The same attack animations over and over for dozens of hours with mediocre textures and an isometric view seemed like it would get boring fast. Yet at the same time the Gauntlet games gave me some of my best social gaming memories and those were far simpler. On the other hand, they had a brighter more diverse color palette than Diablo 3 seemed to have and that was part of the allure back in the day. All this is to say, I did not go into this with a great deal of confidence. Instead, it came down to the fact that I only have one other game for Xbox One that I can play with people on the couch and this seemed like the best bet of my other choices. As you can see from the above rating, it did not disappoint. There's a certain magic to this game that can't be accounted for unless you actually play it. Watching videos, reading reviews, none of it does the game justice. There's a smoothness and ease to progression that is just oh so satisfying without ever feeling like a grind. A loot driven game can easily become compelling solely for the hunt for something new or better, which is more about triggering certain psychological loops than it is about anything actually Fun. Not so with Diablo 3! It's a testament to the solidness of the gameplay that I have enjoyed all my time with the game despite having zero interest or investment in the lore, world, or story (this is comfortably and enthusiastically a high fantasy game and high fantasy is not my bag). Even my girlfriend was immediately sucked into the game. I say "even" because this is a far cry from the games she usually plays and was nothing she had any interest in trying; she only gave it a try because I whined about wanting her to. Immediately after exploding her first zombie as a crusader with a shield and flail was she sucked in. Again, on paper and in video it looks repetitive, simplistic, and even dull, but with controller in hand it feels weighty and satisfying. My only complaint so far is the absence of any sort of consistent sprint function. You can get speed boosts in various ways which is all well and good, but without the ability to reliably sprint some of the treks through areas can drag slightly. This, however, is the minorest of minor complaints as I can count on one hand the number of times this was an actual detractor for me. In short, this game is brimming with content and is designed in such a way that you can pick up and play for 15 minutes and feel like you've made progress. 20 hours in and it hasn't become dull or grindy, and it's accessible and flexible enough that anyone who's even remotely inclined to play with you can jump right in and have a good time. Word of warning though: If they want to save their character they'll need a unique profile on your Xbox. Near as I can tell this isn't Blizzard's fault but instead a bizarre restriction on Microsoft's end so I won't fault the game for it. Full disclosure: I bought this game on sale during Black Friday at a huge discount. Now that I've played it, however, I feel confident that I would feel completely satisfied and happy with my purchase had I paid full price.

I own D3+RoS on PC, and rebought on X1(on sale) to see how different it actually is. It's great. The controls are excellent, it makes it easy to give a controller to someone and have them play without having to spend 10 minutes explaining everything. Graphics are PC perfect and it's a plus to have surround sound instead of headphones/smaller speakers. I wouldn't dream of paying $60, but it's a worthwhile addition to a collection. Skip regular version if you're on last gen, Crusader and the new content is worth it.

I bought the used Diablo 3 and it looked pretty much brand new. no scratches or smudges. As for the game itself, if you played Diablo 3 on pc like i have you would be expecting the same thing. You would be wrong. There's a lot of added things in the console version that the PC version doesn't have, such as a roll to quickly move your character out of the way, and the best thing is that when a monster kills your friend it turns into a nemesis and shows up randomly in your game. If you kill it you get loot as well as gift items that you can send legendary items to your friends. If the monster kills you it gets stronger and moves to another person in your friends list. It's pretty awesome because being in a boss fight and then having a monster suddenly jump out of a portal that killed my friend with their name above it makes everything way more intense. It's actually more fun than the PC version. I swear it runs smoother too, i think it's optimized for console. My computer is no slouch either so they did pretty good work.

Blizzard did a great job of porting the Diablo III game to console. I was a fan of Diablo II on PC, but I no longer prefer to keep up with spec requirements year after year. Game controls well and I feel like I am playing a heavily overhauled Diablo II, which leaves me wanting play just one more quest...one more quest...one more quest... Oh, and single screen Co-op means a great game to sit and play with friends.