Diablo III has taken one step forward (gameplay) and about a dozen steps backwards (everything else).

I'm too upset to right out a long-winded review, so I will just list points where I feel Activision-Blizzard has failed.

-The removal of any character choice.

---No longer do you have the freedom to experiment with fun/different builds. If you want to survive past normal difficulty than you are pigeon-holed into selecting certain abilities that a lot of times you just don't like. Now, just like in WoW, you don't even get to decided ANYTHING when your character levels up. Everything is done for you. You don't even get to decide how you want to spend your stats. Your spells and runes are unlocked CoD style.

- The removal of open world PvP

---I cannot stand the idea of Arenas in a Diablo game. WTF is this? The worst part though is it's not even implemented yet. There is no more dueling, and no more hostile. Im sorry but the thrill of someone joining your game in the previous Diablos and hunting you down via hostile cannot be replaced with arenas. This is pulled straight out of WoW, and won't even be ranked.

-"It's ready when it's ready", or even "No one will remember if this game is late, only if its great " (Jay Wilsion)

---What the hell happened here? Sometime earlier this year that philosophy was completely dropped and somehow the game feels rushed. Instead of sticking to their guns they decided to strip the game left and right of unfinished features and just totally scrapped em. Mystic? PVP? Gems? Rune drops? I'm completely dumbfounded by how rushed this game feels. It was in development forever, and anyone who has completed normal is wondering WTF took this game soooo long. There is no depth, the levels are not even close to random like the previous diablos, and everything is streamlined from point a to point b throughout the whole campaign.

-One word, Corny!

---Diablo III is almost cornier than WoW. Diablo I and II were freakin serious business, burning crosses, pentagrams, anything remotely hellish was taken out sadly. Diablo III has such a lighthearted take to it I found it embarrassing. I miss actually feeling like I was fighting my way through Hell's minions, now I feel like I'm playing some random dungeon crawler w/ WoW mobs. Again-for WoW players. The amount of Corniness in this game is astounding. The weapon and armor looks/effects are sooo bad as well. Everything is oversized, glowing, and dumb looking, Which adds an even more light feeling to this game.

We all knew this game was going to be targeted to WoW players, but not this bad. Hell, they even locked their own DIABLO forums to members who had active WoW accounts. Meaning, that anyone who didn't play wow couldn't give feedback on the game. I'm sorry but this made no sense to me, if you are making a new Diablo why wouldn't you let the Diablo playerbase post on the official forums? No. Sense. At. All.

The Diablo series is no a shell of what it once was. This game had great potential but didn't come close to the mark. This is the first video game that has ever made me feel this upset/confused/frustrated.

GameInformer's 9 rating is fitting for the first 5 minutes of the game (or MAYBE even one quick playthrough) but makes no sense when compared with the previous Diablo's. I have no qualms over someone else's opinion of the game, I just disagree is all.

Diablo III will not last half the time Diablo II has and it is hard pill to swallow, especially knowing how long this game was in Development.

*Sorry for the Scattered thoughts/not the best writer.