Dante's Inferno Review

Written by SuperKlue Monday, 08 February 2010 08:06

Last week saw the release of a new franchise from publisher EA: Dante’s Inferno. The story is loosely based around the epic Italian poem, the Divine Comedy. You play as Dante, a man who returns home from the Crusades to find his wife murdered and her soul taken into the depths of Hell. Obviously, you’re quite displeased by this and take the express elevator downstairs to find/save her.

Hell is comprised of nine concentric circles, each representing an increased level of wickedness. Dante encounters new challenges and enemies linked with each circle; for example, in “Lust” the player will encounter seductresses with the ability to spew tentacles from their nether regions. Or more controversially, in “Limbo” the player is forced to contend with unbaptised babies with blades as arms. However, as you progress through the game, the variety of enemies will diminish, resulting in repeated battles. The soundtrack and sound effects are spot on, creating a horrifying and memorable expedition through the underworld. Visceral Games were really able to capture the terrifying imagination of Dante Alighieri's original tale. The game is very linear, with little options to actually explore the landscape. It could have been more interesting if the developers took a more open world approach and allowed the player to explore different paths, perhaps with some well placed traps if they should stray into a dangerous area. This would at least encourage multiple playthroughs to collect the numerous items.

Essentially, Dante’s Inferno is a ‘hack-n-slash’ game with a dash of platformer/puzzeling thrown in. Unfortunately, like the recent game Darksiders, Dante’s Inferno falls into the trap of being compared with God of War. The puzzle sections can be challenging and infuriating. One memorable puzzle required me to raise a platform through stages while a cauldron threatened to set the floor ablaze. Graphically Dante’s is not going to win any GOTY awards. The art style is standard and doesn’t push the capabilities of the Xbox. Most of the environments are bland and dull, and some of the character models are poorly designed. I understand the game is supposed to be based in Hell, but the place needs some serious redecorating to be terrifying. The idea of being painfully bored with your surroundings is hardly eternal damnation.

Dante’s attacks are broken into two categories: “Holy” and “Unholy”, represented by a cross and scythe respectively. Using each of these weapons to smite foes eventually allows the player to upgrade a skill tree unlocking more explosive and damaging combinations. This progression adds depth and strategy as the moves are purchased by the collection of souls during your journey. Equippable relics are scattered throughout the environment adding certain buffs to Dante. In spite of this assortment I found myself using the same three relics throughout the entire adventure. Overall, the combat is enjoyable, extremely gruesome, and chaining together huge combo’s never gets old. That being said, it can be extremely frustrating at the same time, as the AI will take cheap shots at you breaking your fluid motion. Boss encounters are straightforward, usually only requiring one specific attack and a well-timed dodge. Quick time events have been implemented to improve set pieces and finishing moves, but the lack of variety causes the player to slip into auto-pilot during these sequences.

Another game mode, Gates of Hell, is unlocked after completing the single player campaign. Similar to Gears of War Horde mode or COD:WaW Zombies mode, players are pitted against 50 waves of ever increasing difficulty. This mode is great for fine-tuning combination attacks needed to take on the game at higher difficulty settings.

Overall, although the story may be weak, it is well sewn together and I found myself empathising with Dante’s fate while being fascinated by history behind the original medieval poem. Although the story runs a mere 8 to 10 hours on normal difficulty, the promise of DLC will keep this title alive. The Trials of St Lucia due in April will allow players take on the demons of Hell in co-op as well as design original encounters and share these with others. Does Dante’s Inferno compare with the king of ‘hack-n-slash’; God of War? No, but its an original script with interesting twists that is worth at least a weekend rental.

TGV Score: 81/100

The Good

• A solid, exciting combat mechanic
• Interesting story with room for a sequel
• DLC to come
• Great combat skill tree and extra buffs through relics
• High attention to detail historically

The Bad

• Short story
• Very linear path
• Few enemy variations
• Enemy AI frustrating
• One shot boss fights on the most part

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