I really enjoyed mafia two. It is more of a narrative focused linear game with some open world driving and setting. I loved the period authenticity and the driving  felt great. Pretty decent third person action and shooting sequences. The overall story is decent, maybe not great. But the game has great character writing and voice acting that made me care about the main characters. 

My god. Same old same old. Diablo 3 is a good game. Yes, your abilities automatically unlock as you level but as you gain more and more of them you have the choice to use the abilities that you want to use. Furthermore, you can augment them with Rune's which can go anywhere from being a minor to very significant change to its ability. In the end, with Diablo 2 people went with the cookie cutter builds 90% of the time anyway which took away the customization that seemed to be there. troness

I had a look at Path of Exile and i'm really too sure what you're talking about. The art style is generic and bland, it's just another example of realistic visuals... because there's not enough of them. Diablo 3 has the most amazing art i've ever seen in a video game. The whole game looks like hand painted concept art. I don't think i'm a huge fan of the levelling system, but the game looks absolutely amazing.

OverlordGunnar

There is no denying that character building is very much simplified from diablo 2. Honestly, after 7 years in development this game is dissapointing to me. The prospect of the game having any legs after you hit max level seems dodgy but we will have to see how it plays out. I bet if this game came from another developer then blizzard we would all be considering a cheap knock off.

I feel like diablo 3 is a good action rpg but not a AAA game nor one that pushes the genre or gaming forward in any real way. I feel like the skill and rune system is too simplified to make the game interesting from a mechanical standpoint. The graphics and art design seems decidedly mediocre to me with bland low fidelity graphics and uninspired enemy designs. Titan's quest had better graphics and similar physics.

When you consider all the great action rpgs that have come and gone I fail to see how diablo 3 raises the bar for the genre. They spend 7 years and a huge budget on this game and this is what we get? A good action rpg that feels about 4 years dated complete with crappy artifacting CGI movies and some dodgy business practices? A game where instead of developing actual content you are supposed to just grind through the game 4 times? This game just reeks of lazy yet game sites will probably give the game 8+ ratings. In my opinion the game is about a 7.0.

Its not like blizzard lied about the online only requirement. Maybe you should not be an idiot and make smarter decisions as a consumer. Its like buying a car with 2 wheel drive and then getting pissy when you can't drive it home through the snow.

Starcraft 2 was cutting edge in a lot of ways when it came out. Why couldn't diablo 3 have that same level of fidelity? Titan quest looks better and that game came out a long time ago. Hell, drakensang online runs in a browser and looks about the same as diablo 3. Did their art team just take a nap for the last 4 years since they showed the game off at E3?

A thought that is blindingly obvious to anyone who has seen the animated short "wrath"

Max Payne 2 is a fantastic game. I remember when it came out it was a nearly perfect game with the only flaw being that it was a bit short. I played it a few months ago and it felt like a game that could come out today and still be fairly well recieved.

On the technical level I feel like the game is quite dated, which is wierd considering how advanced starcraft 2 ended up. Models and textures look legitimately terrible for a 2012 game. Titans quest came out in 2006 I think and looks more advanced than diablo 3. Path of exile, which is free to play mind you and made by 1/200th of the development team at blizzard with much lower finances looks way more detailed than diablo 3.

On an artistic level, I think the game has a pleasant consistent look with nice colors and is easy to "read". However, I believe that they should have stuck with the dark gothic horror theme of the first 2 diablos. I especially loved diablo 1s asthetic. I am not a huge fan of the somewhat goofy and cartoony animations and the cartoony exageration of purportions on the models. The game looks more like a tod mcfarlance comic which is not the style I am looking for.

Basically, I feel like blizzard sold out and made the game appeal to as wide an audience as possible in all aspects of its design. Unfortunately, something was sacrificed in this process and the game is just boring to me. Its kind of wierd they made the game look closer to what we saw in torchlight 1 then diablo1.