When I think of the game Diablo, and especially Diablo II, it brings back many memories. Several months (and possibly an entire year now thinking about it) gone by, playing my way through Normal, Nightmare and Hell difficulty and several occasions having to fork out my hard-earned cash on telephone bills for my 56k dial up, to be able to play on Battle.net... good times! By the time I eventually started playing, the Lords of Destruction expansion pack had just come out (my PC at the time was not good enough to play the game when Diablo II was originally released)

So when I heard about Diablo III in 2008, I was seriously excited about it. Almost two years later there is still no official release date and I am getting very anxious... but my excitement is still there!

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of playing the Diablo series, which is developed by Blizzard Entertainment, who are also responsible for the Warcraft series & Starcraft, it is a fantasy action RPG. The first game was released in 1997, and saw you taking the role of the hero and working your way through 16 levels, eventually finishing up in hell to face Diablo, the Lord of Terror, where you "kill" him with a soulstone. The game received many near perfect scores on several reviews and by 2001 had sold 2.5 million copies. You had the choice of three charcters: Barbarian, Rogue or Sorcerer.

Diablo II was released in 2000, with the expansion, Lords of Destruction, being released a year later, in 2001. The story continues from the first game, but when your adventurer "kills" Diablo in the first game, it actually only made him stronger and he releases his brothers Mephisto (Lord of Hatred) & Baal (Lord of Destruction) from their soulstones.
You take the role of a adventurer, who arrives in the wake of the destruction caused from the first game. You work you way through four acts by defeating the three prime evils, Diablo, Mephisto and Baal. The game recieved several game of the year awards and for a while held the Guinness Book of World records title of the fastest selling game! By 2001 it had sold over four million copies... Your choice of characters increased from the first game; you could play as Barbarian, Sorceress, Necromancer, Amazon & Paladin and with the expansion pack the Druid and Assassin were added.

But enough about the old games, lets get into the juicy details about Diablo III.

According to the official website, the story goes as follows:
Two decades have passed since the demonic lords, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal, set out across the world of Sanctuary on a vicious rampage, twisting humanity to their unholy will. Yet for those who battled the Prime Evils, the memory fades slowly.
When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins of Tristram Cathedral seeking clues to defeat new stirrings of evil, a fiery harbinger of doom falls from the heavens, striking the very ground where Diablo once entered the world. This fire from the sky reawakens ancient evils and calls the heroes of Sanctuary to defend the mortal world against the rising powers of the Burning Hells once again.

I have lost count of the number of times i have watched the cinematic teaser and the gameplay preview and i am seriously impressed. I think I know the teaser by heart now!



There are some changes to how the game works. Firstly there will be five classes initially, but with the big change being that you can choose the gender of your character. Four of the classes have been revealed to date, namely:

- The Barbarian

I couldn't find a video of the barbarian, but if you watch the gameplay trailer on their website, most of it is about the barbarian.
This is also the only character to be in all three games...strength and brute force is what it's all about

- The Wizard
Watch the Wizard trailer
Total opposite of the Barbarian, while not strong, this character relies on magic to annihilate it's enemies.

- The Witch Doctor
No video for this one either, but once again, it is featured in the gameplay video
Reminds me of the Necromancer. Has "pets" and other spells to kill its enemies

- The Monk
Watch the Monk trailer
I love this character and there is a 90% chance that I will play this character!

Besides the new character line-up there are some changes that i can really appreciate. The health pickups as you kill enemies, the specialization characters & the destructible environments. There is also talk of some net Battle.net features.

Basically i think that there is a lot that we have to look forward to with the new Diablo and I wait patiently!