From the Vault — originally published February 27, 2010. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.
If ever there was a game that has been unfairly judged it is Dante’s Inferno, developed by Visceral and published by EA.
Players assume the role of Dante, who descends into Hell after returning home to find his beloved Beatrice murdered, with Lucifer seducing her soul into the underworld. Dante sets out on a rescue mission to save Beatrice, but he soon realizes he is also in Hell to face his own demons and ultimately to redeem himself.
So lets, get this out of the way. If you have ever played any of the console God of War games then you will feel right at home with Dante’s Inferno. Everything from the combat, static camera, and health and magic replenishes feel like it’s just been ripped straight out of the GOW series, hence the reason why a lot of people have basically called the game a total rip off.
However whilst playing through Dante’s adventure I was able to take the game for what it is, and that is a great action game in it’s own right.
First of all, the PS3 version is the best value for money. Over in the States, the game was released as the Divine Edition, and featured DLC, a digital copy of the Poem the game is Loosely based off and some other goodies. The Divine Edition exclusive to the PS3 is the States and is the same price as the standard Xbox 360 version. Unfortunately over in the UK, we got the Death Edition of the game which was released over both consoles and priced around £10 dearer than the standard edition. The DLC these editions come with is called “The Trials of St. Lucia” and allows for 2 player co-op and features a level editor. The DLC has not yet been unlocked on the disc so I cannot give my opinions on it as of yet.
The first thing you will notice about the game is the graphics. The game was built on the same engine as Dead Space, so it looks good. Not spectacular by any means but it gets the job done. It runs at a constant 60 frames per second to keep the action as fluid as possible. The cut scenes are divided up by using the in-game engine, CG and theses animated scenes which look really good. I’m glad they took this route as it’s able to switch everything up and can tell the story in more ways than one. I read one review online that stated that he hated how the game was full of dark colors and wasn’t very easy on the eyes.
C’MON SON!!!!!!!
You are playing a game that is set in Hell. Of course you are not going to see stunning vistas of mountains, water and green fields. The game does what it sets out to do and recreates a vision of Hell in a very good way. The walls and rivers of hell are filled with the screaming bodies of the damned. As you descend through Hell you will notice that each circle looks different, from the gold of Greed to the sensual purple of Lust. Each one represents a circle in a simple but vivid way.
Now, the game is rated 8 in the UK, and for good reason. It is full of violence, gore and a hell of a lot of Titties. You get nipples opening up to spit out enemies and at certain parts it looks as if Dante is ripping the insides out of a foes’ vaginal area. Quite graphic in it’s execution.
Not a game for kiddies.
The biggest comparison to the God of War series I think is in the combat. Dante is able to pull off moves that look like he just had a training session with Kratos. Either way, the moves look great and the combat is a whole lot of fun. There are tons of combos to learn and you have the ability to mix them up to keep the action fresh.
Dante has two weapons he uses throughout his adventure. Death’s Scythe and The Holy Cross. The Scythe is used as his primary weapon and the Cross as his secondary. Each one can be leveled up on two different paths. The Unholy Path (Deaths Scythe) and The Holy Path (Holy Cross). Each one can be leveled up 7 times and different attacks can be purchased within each level. In order to purchase these you have to collect the souls from the damned. These souls are the games currency.
You have two ways to fight in Dante’s Inferno, and two ways to level up the Unholy and Holy Paths. If you go the unholy route you can unleash sickening finishing moves onto your foe’s which will grant you Unholy XP. The Holy Path lets you absolve the souls using the Holy Cross. You can level up both Paths throughout your adventure by switching up your moves, so don’t think you have to be stuck with just one play style.
Throughout the adventure you will come across some famous souls that can either be absolved or punish. Either one which grant you a considerable amount of either Holy or Unholy XP as well as adding to your Soul count. Absolving these souls will take you into a mini game where you have press one of the face buttons on either corner of a Cross within the time limit. If you hit the button at the right time you will rack up your score for more souls, but if you miss you will lose some of the souls you have just earned.
Dante does a fair amount of platforming on his journey in Hell, to break up the sections between combat he will be running across beams, swinging from platform to platform and scaling the walls of the damned. Nothing to drastic but it’s nice to take a breather from the action. There are also relics to find, silver coin pieces, and other things to do to help you gain that coveted Platinum Trophy or 1000 gamerpoints.
On completion of the game you will unlock a new difficulty mode and another mode where you have to fend off against 50 waves of the damned. Using all your abilities you have acquired throughout the game. If you beat it you will earn a very nice Gold Trophy.
You can also take all your new abilities over to a new game if you choose to start one. I’m about to start my second play through as I did not finish leveling up either the Holy or Unholy paths. This gives the game a nice little replay value along with the collectibles you might have missed.
As I said at the beginning of the review, I believe Dante’s Inferno has been unfairly judged. I think that EA is partly to blame for this as they chose to release the game mere weeks before God of War III drops. With all the comparisons that can be made between the games and God of War already an established, well loved and critically acclaimed series, it was inevitable that Dante would always feel like the inferior game. However that does not stop it from being a Great action game, and I believe that if it had been released last year then the reviews would have been a lot better.
Visceral have done an admirable job at bringing Dante’s adventure to life, even if it is only loosely based on the epic poem.
There were 3 Poems within the Divine Comedy and from what I seen at the end of this game it looks like there will be a sequel and possibly a full trilogy if they sell well.I for one hope there is and highly recommend this game. The comparisons with God of War are inevitable but in it’s own right Dante’s Inferno is a great playthrough.
Bring on DANTE’S PURGATORIO!
