Dante’s Inferno has been one of the most hyped up games of the year. Along with being a huge release for EA Games, it’s received a lot of controversy for its marketing campaign and it’s similarities to some other popular franchises. Does the game live up to the hype or will it be forgotten as a cheap imitation of better games? Here now is my review of Dante’s Inferno…
Story
The game follows Dante as he travels through hell. While Dante is off fighting the crusades he is caught off guard and killed. Just as the Grim Reaper is about to take his soul away, Dante tells Death he has his true love waiting for him and refuses to go quietly. After fighting Death and winning, he comes away with the very cool looking Scythe of the Grim Reaper as a prize. As Dante approaches his home he sees that something terrible has happened. He sees his true love, Beatrice, has been killed and Lucifer himself has come to take her soul. Dante, now armed with the Scythe, refuses to let his true love go and follows Lucifer into the underworld to free his love Beatrice.
Dante is now forced to travel through the rings of hell and fight off lost souls for each of the 7 Deadly Sins. He encounters Virgil the poet in each ring, who acts as a guide through hell and tells Dante information he needs as he moves through each level. He also encounters Beatrice many times throughout the game, and she seems to know a lot about what Dante was up to while he was off fighting in the Crusades. It becomes clear to the player that Dante was not as loyal to Beatrice as he should have been and as a result, made her a target for Lucifer, who now hopes to take Beatrice as his lover
The game does a good job of only taking what it needs from the poem and filling in the rest to make it a good story for a game. The characters are engaging and each sin tells us a different story about the true nature of Dante. The story carries the player through each level at a fast pace without ever feeling tedious. It gives the player a reason to keep going just to see what is around the next corner.
Game play
If you read my preview for Dante’s Inferno, you know I feel this game is pretty much a God of War clone. That opinion hasn’t changed but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The main weapon Dante uses is the Scythe. At first the Scythe seems s like a cumbersome weapon but as you begin to upgrade it, it becomes very fluid and useful when trying to chop a room full of demons in half. Along with regular upgrades, you also get a chance to find a lot of relics which can augment your weapons. This not only helps the game play, it also gives the player a reason to explore and look beyond the VERY linear path.
Along with the Scythe, Dante also has a holy cross and magic spells at his disposal. The holy cross acts as a long range weapon and can also be used to absolve the enemies Dante encounters. By absolving enemies with the cross or punishing them with the scythe, the player increases his powers in both the Evil and Holy power trees. The player can collect souls as Dante kills enemies, which can be used as currency to buy new moves and abilities. All this makes for a very enjoyable action game with plenty of action sequences.
Presentation
The look of the game is both awesome and disturbing. I don’t want to give much away but nothing can prepare you for what you see in EA’s representation of Hell. From Limbo babies to vomiting monsters in the Gluttony ring, it all looks creepy and amazing at the same time. More interesting than what the player has direct contact with is what you see in the background. Souls in agony are everywhere! Whether they are behind the walls asking for help or flowing out of a “soul waterfall” at the gates of hell… the images of suffering are everywhere. The characters all look incredible and the bosses are massive in scale. Much like the poem, every sin has a tendency to punish its inhabitants with a sense of irony. This makes for some pretty impressive scenes and never gets boring.
Overall
Dante’s Inferno is a great game. It has a lot in common with God of War, Heavenly Sword and Devil May Cry but if you liked ANY of those games, there is no reason not to pick this one up. There is a great story here and the graphics are top notch. The game play is fun with plenty of reasons to keep searching for ways to upgrade your character. The areas that are more challenging never seem tedious. While there are some areas that seem to be killing you with cheap hits, it’s nothing that’s unavoidable with better focus on the player’s part. With well placed save points, you will never have to repeat anything major if you do happen to get killed. As far as I’m concerned this game is a definite buy and can’t wait for some downloadable content and with any luck…a sequel.
Rating – 8.5
By Dan Ramirez
