Dante's Inferno Review

Is Dante's Inferno good enough to contend with the kings of action games? Is it even good enough for you to play? Read on to find out!

 
 
What's Hot:
- Story is presented in an interesting manner.
- The game runs beautifully.

What's Not:
- Combat is very basic.
- Story is uninteresting.
- The world is never fully realized.
- Very short with little to no replay value.

The Verdict:
Dante's Inferno is a peculiar beast. It's extremely difficult to avoid comparisons to God of War, and after playing it for even an hour you'll understand why. It plays almost exactly like Sony's flagship action title. And herein lays the problem. Dante's Inferno is nowhere near as good as any God of War game currently available.

It's not all bad though. Dante's Inferno does have some strong points, mainly in the presentation. There are almost no graphical issues to speak of. Even with the screen full of enemies Dante still slices and dices without so much as a hiccup or slow down in the frame rate. It's a silky smooth ride from start to finish. The story is told in a pretty unique fashion. While main story is told by in game and CG cut scenes, most of the back story is told in a well designed hand drawn style. It's not something you see a lot in today's games, and it is a well appreciated change of pace.

Unfortunately that's where the good stuff ends, and the less impressive parts of Visceral's title shine through. While the story-telling is done in an interesting way, the story itself does not follow suit. It's incredibly convoluted and predictable. There are almost no similarities between the game and the original literature it is VERY loosely based on. I can't say I blame Visceral for taking liberties with the source material. After all, The Divine Comedy wouldn't exactly translate well in to a game. With that said the story that is here doesn't really leave much to the imagination. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy tries to get girl back, so he decides to travel through hell to do so. Pretty standard stuff.

The gameplay is not much better. You have one weapon at your disposal, which you will use to button mash your way to victory. There is some sort of projectile cross, but you will most likely find yourself using it only to fight enemies you can't reach with your scythe. You've still got your blocks and counters, as well as a few powers; let's call them Catholic magic; however I found pretty much all of them completely unnecessary. It is very possible, at least on the default difficulty, to go through the entire game with pretty much one button.

Another issue I have is with the world itself. Throughout your journey you are shown these huge, vast expanses with massive underworld creatures, yet when it actually comes time to play you do little more than run through narrow, linear hallways en route to your next checkpoint. And while the levels do a good job of distinguishing themselves from one another, it would have been nice to see something other than the browns and grays that plague every stage.

Dante’s Inferno is not a terrible game; it just doesn’t do anything to set itself apart for the litany of other action titles available. If you’re in dire need of an action game and you just can’t wait until March, or you don’t own a PlayStation 3, give Dante’s Inferno a try. It’s hard to recommend buying a game that is 6-8 hours long with no replay value. Upon completion you'll unlock an arena battle mode and a new game plus option, as well as an additional difficulty setting, but none of these things offer any substantial motivation to continue ripping creatures apart. Dante's Inferno is worth renting if you’ve got the itch for an action title. Just don’t expect anything you haven’t seen before.