Review by Matthew Dykstra*

There haven’t been many games in the past few years that truly push the “Mature” envelope but Dante’s Inferno certainly does just that. No, scratch that. The game downright incinerates it.

The game follows Dante, a crusader haunted by his crimes against humanity, as he descends into the nine circles of hell: Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud and Treachery. However, Dante isn’t just on a weekend getaway. He’s fighting through Lucifer’s minions and his own personal demon’s to get back his beloved wife Beatrice, whom the Morning Star himself has decided to make his new squeeze after Dante betrays their love by bedding down with a slave girl.

If the story sounds wholly unrecognizable from ‘Inferno’, the first act of the real Dante Alighieri’s epic poem ‘The Divine Comedy’, that’s because the poem is merely used as the game’s inspiration and brief messages of encouragement when you are killed by legions of the damned. Developed by Visceral Games and published by EA, Dante’s Inferno deserves the title of 2010’s first game for Mature gamers looking for blood-bath and beyond. Unfortunately, it earns little else.

-Graphics-

Visceral Games is a masterful developer visually, from the  superbly crafted cinematic to the visually stunning rivers of blood to the gargantuan demon bosses, Dante’s Inferno is the most convincing and dare-I-say beautiful depiction of the underworld to date. Each of the nine circles of Hell feel unique and engaging mostly due to Visceral’s attention to detail and magnificently executed concept art. Greed has bubbling pools of gold, Violence has rivers of blood and Lust has enough Penis’ and Vagina’s to teach a high school sex-ed course. To put it simply, this is the most fun you’ll have in Hell this eternity.

While the environments are fully-fleshed out (literally), the character models lack the facial animations and attention to detail we’ve come to expect in next generation games. Dante, Beatrice and even Lucifer simply look entirely dumbed down between the cinematics and gameplay renders of the characters, sometimes coming closer to Xbox 1 or Gamecube graphics.

-Sound-

Dante’s Inferno has a score suitable for an epic journey through the underworld. The score is noticeably different than similar action adventure titles like God of War or Prince of Persia, using noticeably more strings than horns or drums (if that’s confusing, it’s because I couldn’t tell the difference between a violin and a cello with my eyes closed).

-Gameplay-

Heavily criticized as a “God of War” clone, I’m happy to say that Dante’s Inferno separates itself just enough not to feel too much of a copy cat. While the button layout is nearly identical, the separation of the Scythe or Unholy method of battle offsets the Cross or Holy projectiles, making the gameplay a mix of fast-paced, short and long range gameplay. Gamers also have the ability to unlock and purchase new moves for either the scythe or the cross by purchasing earned experience souls on a grid similar to the sphere-grid from Final Fantasy X.

The best part is that new levels of each side (Unholy or Holy) are unlocked based on who you Punish and who you Absolve in the game world. Throughout each circle of hell are several characters mentioned in the actual poem who you will be forced to choose whether they deserve to rot in Hell or rest in Heaven, each choice adding to either your “Unholy” or “Holy” side. Also, the breadth of magic surpasses most other action games including God of War in terms of usefulness and style.

As mentioned before, the game is only for those with a strong stomach. Here’s a short list of reasons Dante’s Inferno is a Mature title: 1) You kill unbaptized demon babies. 2) Lucifer sexually assaults your wife multiple times. 3) Lust has more breasts, penis and vagina than a college dormitory. 3) Common themes include sodomy, incest and rape. 4) You brutally dismember, disembowel and downright obliterate hundreds of the damned and the innocent. All in a days work.

Getting what feels newish out of the way early, Dante’s Inferno not only fails to bring anything new to the action formula perfected on the PS2, but doesn’t even meet last generation’s standard.  There are only 10 to 12 different enemy types, with four commonly repeated. The platforming is a generic mix of run and jumping, wall climbing and rope swinging often being so picky that death from a simple misstep is far to0 common. The puzzles consist of dragging boxes onto switches and pulling levers. In  the short run, nothing we haven’t seen before.

Also, for someone tired of quick time events, Dante’s Inferno quickly becomes overly repetitive and borderline annoying when “Tap Circle/B” is how you: A) Open doors, B) Get Health, C) Get Mana, D) Get Experience, E) Absolve Enemies, F) Punish Enemies, plus use your cross in combat. It was the first time that I grew so tired of tapping a button I had to turn off the system.

-Final Thoughts-

Dante’s Inferno is worth the seven hours it takes to stick Lucifer on a spit, but isn’t nearly worth your $60. Everything from the story to the combat to the platforming to the puzzles is all present and passable but ultimately feels like a missed opportunity to do something truly great in an already saturated genre.

Rating

C+

*I deliberately chose not to comment on the game’s obvious heavy religious ties as they have little to do with what makes the game good anyway, it seemed biased to skew the review based on issues of faith.