There is no excuse for not buying it

The nightmare is back - with a vengeance.

Twelve years after the release of Diablo II, and 15 years after the original, Diablo III is finally here.

Let's put some perspective on this. The original Diablo swept the PC gaming market like a storm in 1997. Its point-and-click interface and isometic view spawned a host of clones — even the orginal Fallout games and Baldur's Gate series kept the look and feel — and the game generated rave reviews.

Blizzard had already made a name for themselves with the strategy games Warcraft and Starcraft, but Blizzard North's Diablo opened up a whole new market for them.

Fast forward to 2000. Diablo II entered Guinness World Records as the fastest-selling PC game, with a million copies sold in the first two weeks of release. The only games to have beaten that since are Warcraft III and World of Warcraft and its expansions — also by Blizzard.

To call Diablo III "highly anticipated" or "long awaited" might qualify for understatement of the year.

Expectations have been so high that a minor misstep could create a wave of disappointment and bitterness among fans. And as the launch date grew closer, as reports of niggles on the beta test and server issues on the crash test spread, those of us waiting in the wings grew more and more nervous.

There was only one question in my mind: Can Blizzard recreate the magic of the original. And now I have my answer: Yes, they can. And they have.

Diablo III is even better than I hoped it would be.

Reasons

The reason the new version delights me so much is because — confession time — I really didn't like Diablo II very much. I realise I am in a minority with that.

The primary reason is that the original Diablo, with its emphasis on solo adventuring through enclosed dungeons, felt very claustrophobic. It added to the horror elements of the game.

The second version, with its wide-open battlefields and emphasis on multi-player mode, felt much more like a skirmish game.

Diablo III takes us straight back to the village of Tristam and the dungeons under the cathedral. The old creepiness is back. The mood is enhanced by the mellow, occasionally discordant soundtrack, which is a clear homage to its predecessors.

The core game elements remain the same. Point the mouse at the thing you want to attack or interact with, left click for primary attack, right click for secondary attack (hey, I use a PC; I don't care what you'll do with a one-button mouse).

There are a handful of keyboard shortcuts for defensive moves, or to swallow a health potion, or open up your inventory, but that's about as complex as it gets.

You simply wade into hordes of nasties, click them as fast as you can before one of them gets you.

There's no strategy, little in the way of tactics and precious little plot. You hardly have to engage your brain.

In return you accumulate a ridiculous amount of gold, find more magic items than you can hope to use, and level up frequently.

It's incredibly soothing, almost cathartic, incredibly good fun and utterly addictive. Just like the old versions. The game will have you turning up to work bleary-eyed and unwashed, having played "just one more level" until far too late into the night.

Isometric viewpoint

The graphic interface is designed to be familiar. Although the engine is now fully 3D, the interface keeps the same isometric viewpoint of the older games — rather like Starcraft II did.

The attempt to play the nostalgia card works.

There are some changes, but they're minor and mostly for the better. You can now choose between five classes: Barbarian (melee), Demon Hunter (ranged), Monk (unarmed), Witch Doctor (magic) and Wizard (magic). Unlike the older versions, the character's sex is not hard-coded into their class — any class can be male or female in the new version.

There's also a way to get rid of some of your spare cash and useless magic items: invest money in training village craftsmen, and they can recycle unwanted items into stuff you can use.

The other big worry has been whether the Battle-net servers can handle so many people logging on. Well, it did take me half an hour and several attempts to activate the game, and the servers locked me out twice in about 4 hours of play, but on the whole I was extremely impressed with how they handled the load, given this was Day One.

The much-debated requirement for an internet connection isn't that much of a hindrance, really. It'll keep the game updated and will — eventually — add PvP functionality. At the moment, multiplayer is limited to co-operative play.

Don't ask yourself whether you should get this game. Ask yourself what possible excuse you could have for not buying it.