Diablo III is for real

[FoxBat]

Overall it may be brighter than you want, but I see nothing particularly bright, and nothing cartoony.

It's not about bright or dark.


http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/sc.../ss29-hires.jpg

Look at the gnarled tree on the far right. It's pure watercolor. The zombies aren't left white and red like say Doom, they had to add that blue-green sheen made popular in WC3. The trees remind me of Bill Waterson's (amazing) Calvin and Hobbes. The dungeon outlines are bold and blocky like the Warcraft universe.

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/sc.../ss10-hires.jpg

Here's a close up so you can see it's not just a texture resolution issue. The dungeon blocks may be full of dents, but the surface is clean, smooth, shiny. Blue and green dominates and earthier reds are absent. You can see a characteristically oversized and blocky fire pot on the bottom left. The two small pyrmaid-like points have their edges smoothed over with light shading.

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/_images/sc...s/ss9-hires.jpg

The lion statues....nuff said. But check out the oversized shoulder pads and bold armor outlines while we're here.

It is all very beautiful, but like or not it's a significant departure from Diablo. They call it a "hand-painted, epic" look instead of cartoon, but whatever it is, it doesn't communicate terror to me.