Diablo III marks the return of one of the all-time great PC game series. Ten years in development, the game is now live and ticking along nicely on PCs the world over.
It's available in several different versions, but for the true fan there can be only one choice; the collector's edition. Pocket-lint has got one of the epic boxes and has put together a hands-on for you, so you can decide whether the £170 set is worth it.
So what’s in the box? First, there's a full version of the game for either PC or Mac. We have been getting our teeth stuck into it for a while now and will have a review once we get closer to tackling the vast gameplay load it contains.
The collector's edition also throws in some exclusive in game items in the form of angel wings, an exclusive banner and special dye with which to colour your armour sets. For World of Warcraft fans, you get a special Diablo III style pet called a fetish shaman. If you play Starcraft II, then there are unique battle.net portraits based around Diablo characters.
Just as the collector's version of Starcraft II came with a rather awesome USB key, Diablo III takes it one step further. A rather hefty Diablo skull, with a 4GB USB soulstone rammed inside it, is included. This is cool enough by itself, but it goes one better, as the soulstone USB comes preloaded with Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction.
Satisfying your Diablo lust even further is a two-disc behind-the-scenes DVD and Blu-ray set which features more than an hour of interviews with the folks at Blizzard who put the game together. We've watched it, and for the hardcore fan there's nothing better. Adding to the Diablo III media is a CD with the entire game’s soundtrack, should you want to listen to its sounds while away from your PC.
The real highlight, apart from the actual game, is the game artwork book. At 208 pages it is a fairly meaty read. It goes all the way from pre-development concept art to 3D renderings of characters that appear in the game. The majority of it is seriously impressive and would take pride of place on any Diablo fan’s mantlepiece
That’s it, plenty to play with in the collector's edition as well as it being one of the best PC games released in a long time. For the true Diablo obsessive the collector's edition seems more than worth it and will retain a lot of its value should you plan on selling it later. Otherwise, just go and grab the game: we can see the allure of a huge Diablo skull USB key in terms of looks, but for practicality, there is no chance it’ll fit in your pocket.
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