Diablo 3 Eternal Collection - Review

The last time that I got to play anything of Diablo 3 was back at E3 2014 at the PlayStation booth and I always put it down as a game that I wanted to sink some time into, but never did. Now that the game is on Switch, I found myself using my daily commute to destroy the forces of hell every chance I got.

Being this was my first time jumping into the game proper, of course jumped into the story mode pick my character class and jumped in and when hacking and slashing. Starting out as a nobody with very little weapons and gear was fun, but hook of picking up a new piece of gear that was slightly better started early on and it had me addicted. Pretty soon you meet a cast of characters that help push you forward in your goal and as you interact with the more you learn more about them in the world and the evil the place them, it's not a great story it's very bare bones quite basic but it did give me a reason to push forward each time I booted into the game. Well I've yet to restore the campaign with a different character the allure of revisiting those same missions with new powers and abilities makes me wanna go back but at the same time the story it's a one and done thing.

One of the things that the eternal collection does add is the ability to jump into a thing called adventure mode something that's unlocked from the get-go here, which will give you plenty of variety from the moment you start it up. What did you do with the host of missions across the various locations throughout the game world, with random Dungeons filled to the brim with monsters and creatures and demons (oh my). Because each time you begin something in adventure mode you never know what you're gonna get with the content being fresh every single time you could replay it 100 times in a row and never get the same combination of events or missions this is the mold that I found to be the most enjoyable.

Of course, anyone who's ever played Diablo 3 before is not going to be shocked by the content on offer yes it comes packed with all the DLC that had been released since the games initial launch back in 2012 but now it's in the one package add on the portable system that is switch. It's the fact that it's on switch that made me wanna play it more now because I think it's a bad game I don't actually really, really enjoy it but more so because I could pick up my switch play for 30 minutes and try to complete a single mission, and even if time ran out I could pop the system in sleep and continue my venture later. The strange thing is I never played the game docked, I only ever played the game in handheld mode, as I said play it on my daily commute give me a good hour each way of gameplay and no time did, I ever think Hey I should put this on my TV I was just engrossed in the game.

One of the reasons that the game has done so well over the years is because it's sheer replayability, not only in the randomization at the levels come up with Each time you play. However, the variety that people keep going back for is with the character classes there is the barbarian and crusader which is more for those who want to get in amongst the action. For those that want to say back and fight you can choose the witch doctor or the necromancer, as those classes will let you use your own foot soldiers as cannon fodder and then there's a character like the monk who uses a lot more spells to fight with. You can create characters as often as you'd like and use them in the adventure mode that's what I did too vary things up. Swapping between character classes with does take some getting used to but the advantage is that the game will always feel fresh I've seen people play with their views the exact same character class but played it completely differently so no matter how many options you think you've done the game probably has more content for you.

Now as I mentioned I only played this version in handheld mode, so my experience is based around the undocked performance level and I have to say I didn't notice anything. There's been a few games over the switches life where you can notice that it drops performance, resolution and things like that, but I Did not experience that all in my play time with the game. As I mainly stuck to melee character that may explain why I have is not a lot of spells going on which is what some people have flagged as a problem but for me the game performed exceptionally well and apart from the fact that I was playing it in my hands you could have convinced me it was being played on a more powerful system.

Perhaps the only real complaint that I have with the visuals is that when there are a lot of enemies on screen with me on the switch is small screen it did become a little bit of an issue trying to make sure I was you know where I thought I was. There were a handful of times early on where I would think I was the AI character running with me just because I was so overwhelmed with everything that was happening clear a character definition may help that but when the only real complaint that I have is that I couldn't see where I was once in a blue moon it's nitpicking in all honesty.

The games audio was vibrant and well defined, in my story mode playthrough hearing the bass field voice of Magnus Was awesome and while the switch did an admirable job broadcasting that through the speakers it was with a set of headphones at the game really came alive. Hearing swords, clash monsters roar and people cry for help there was never any doubt where the noise was coming from it was always clear. My only complaint really with the audio is it the music never stuck with me there is not a single piece of music that I felt I would listen to on its own and even thinking back now I can't think of a single piece that really resonated with me throughout my time with the game.

For game that 6 years old, I was honestly surprised just how good it was now I'm not gonna spend hundreds of hours reliving every moment of the game possible but is deathly going to be one that if I have a few minutes bear you can see me jump into adventure mode on Switch. If you have a Switch and you want a very meaty game then you can’t go wrong with Diablo 3 and if you have played it before, I am sure that the idea of taking a game like this on the go will be a great reason to revisit.

Review copy provided by Blizzard