Review :: Dante’s Inferno

Let’s get things straight, Dante’s Inferno is very similar to God of War. It doesn’t so much borrow from GOW, more breaks into Kratos house and pinches his flat screen! To name just a few comparisons: It uses a very similar combat mechanic, has a magic and health bar both refillable via fountains, quick time events for taking down foes, and large boss battles that will be very familiar.

Maybe referring to Dantes Inferno as your average house burglar is a bit unfair. It is more like a master forger who creates the basics of what he sees but it’s never going to be as good as the original. However when copied as well as Dantes Inferno you can almost forgive it.

For those who don’t know, Dante’s Inferno is based loosely on the 13th Century poem The Devine Comedy by, Italian poet, Dante Alighieri. You play Dante, a crusader who returns home to find his beloved wife dead and her corpse defiled. Her soul is then taken and the story follows Dante as he is lead through the nine circles of hell in pursuit of his love. The story is actually very well told and you do have some empathy for the lead, as he battles with his own sins and descends deeper into hell.

This is reflected in your choice to punish or absolve the enemies and sinners you meet as you go through the game. Along the way you meet different people from history such as Julius Caesar; you see their crimes and choose to absolve or punish them. In doing so, this increases your holy or unholy abilities and unlocks further upgrades. The choices you make do not influence the story in the way something Heavy Rain does, but instead is simply a mechanic to allow the unlocking of new magic, moves, increased health and the rest of the stuff you’re used to seeing. This is handled in the form of souls which you collect and these are the in game ‘currency’. It is a tiered ladder to unlock abilities, akin to that seen in Visceral’s other hit Dead Space.

Games of this nature live and die by their combat system, and I’m happy to report that this game has a good one. The combat is very satisfying with effortless transitions when moving from enemy to enemy. You start off by having an epic boss battle with Death and if successful you take his scythe. Death’s Scythe is your main weapon and it has a real weight and power to it. Dante always feels light on his feet and you use the right stick as an evade move to allow you get quickly dart in and out of the action, making it easy to pull off massive combos.

Visceral Games have done a fantastic job of creating a very dark, unsettling world for the player to explore. Each circle of hell feels fresh and different from the last. You can almost feel the heat of the flames and the smell of burning flesh. The visuals are of a good standard and the lighting effects when using the cross move are stunning.

The enemies change depending on which circle you are in and this game has some seriously twisted creatures to crave up. In limbo you get to meet the unbaptised babies with dead eyes and large razor sharp slicing claws. These little creatures work in packs and are truly nasty. You are introduced to the glutton about half way through and these huge fat creatures are horrid. They have saggy breasts that hang down and they are covered in dirt and vomit. They spew out acidic bile if you attack them from the front but that’s not the worst. Should you be unfortunate enough to end up behind one they spray liquid diarrhoea all over Dante, its enough to turn your stomach! A number of enemies allow the developers to play around with advanced light techniques, and the enemy best described as a flaming suicide bomber is a prime example. These guys are made of flames and if they get too close they explode causing massive damage and interrupting any combo you are trying to build. The effect is quite stunning as you see their form change in an instant.

The audio in this game is top draw. Your senses are bombarded with the screams and cries of tortured souls. You can hear the blood boiling and angry howls of creatures not yet encountered. Individual voices can be heard, as the damn beg for forgiveness and repent of their sins. The developers have done a superb job and the sound department should get a big pat on the back.

So we have established it is a well made game that does the basics well. Now for the not so good. Whilst the visuals seem pretty good, if you get up close to the tortured souls in the walls it quickly becomes apparent that they are a fairly basic 2D texture that is simply repeating. It really breaks the illusion that Visceral have crafted. There are some controls issues that plague the opening of fountains to get health and mana (Magic). You are expected to hold down R1 and then tap circle to unlock the fountain but as you start to hit circle Dante breaks away and fires his magic cross. This seemed to happen about 1 in 6 and over a ten hour game it really starts to aggravate.

These are not game breakers but they do rub off some of the polish. Oh course the biggest issue is that, with Kratos around the corner who’d want to pick the copy over the original.

7.8/10

Review :: Dante's Inferno, 7.8 out of 10 based on 5 ratings

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