From its opening scene, Dante’s Inferno, the latest game from Visceral Studios, will seem all too familiar to those that have played a God of War game: from tone to gameplay, both series offer a similar task for players, put in control of a very angry man as he hacks and slashes his way through numerous creatures of the underworld. You’d nearly think hacking and slashing was some sort of genre… For some, this might seem to be a lack of originality, but Dante’s Inferno offers a unique art style and some interesting gameplay hooks making the game a fun, albeit short gameplay experience.
Despite being named after the first part of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, Dante’s Inferno takes the theme of its source and then goes in a whole other direction. The “hero” is Dante, a violent and unapologetic soldier who returns from The Crusades to find his love Beatrice murdered and her soul promised to Lucifer. Dante is guided by Virgil, pursuing Beatrice and Lucifer to the nine circles of hell where he faces undead souls, demons and sinful comrades as he moves through the Hellish landscape. While the story may be simple with a relatively shallow protagonist, the story is brilliantly told through a mixture of Heavy-Metal-inspired hand-drawn animation during flashbacks and impressive graphics during other cut scenes. While the beauty of those graphics don’t always transfer over to the main game, the art direction and style remains constant, and becomes one of the game’s strongest factors.
Each of the nine realms of Hell are uniquely styled and the further Dante descends the more horrific it gets; whether it’s the knife wielding unbaptised children of Limbo or the overly sexualized vixens of Lust, the game offers quite a lot of imagery that may have players cringing in disgust, whether it’s the genital-style architecture of Lust or the fatty walls of Gluttony. The game’s goal, unlike God Of War, is to highlight the horrors of this Hellish environment, rather than simply throwing as much imagery at the player as it can to make Dante seem more “bad-ass.” But that also means that this art style works, feeling far less forced and all the more interesting because of it.
Gameplay-wise is where the similarities between Dante’s Inferno and God Of War are most apparent: through a variety of light, heavy and magic attacks players hack their way through hordes of the undead before facing off against a boss character. Bosses and “regular” enemies alike can be finished off with a QTE-style kill scene once they’ve taken enough damage (although with bosses, this is necessary to defeat them.) Controls are pretty much identical to God Of War, with similar (lack of) camera controls, “puzzles” (involving dragging a box to the right place in a room) and button sequences, but Dante’s Inferno also adds a little zest to the mix, providing a karma system of Holy and Unholy attacks that are unlocked through good and bad deeds (namely, absolving or punishing the souls found throughout Hell.) While it makes the game more customisable, it also serves to block off a chunk of powers until a second play-through.
Indeed, Dante’s Inferno is a game that expects players to want to pick it up a second time, and while it’s an enjoyable experience, easily provides some disappointment on that first play-through. Resurrection Mode allows Dante to carry over experience to another playthrough, but the game’s difficulty level feels forced to encourage players to do this: Classic Mode (the easiest option) will take players roughly 6 hours to complete and veteran players will breeze through most of the game, but even hardened hack-and-slash gamers that attempt medium difficulties on their first playthrough will have a frustrating experience, due to enemies which seem to absorb far too many hits and constant death.
Unforgivable platforming elements also litter levels, with the game undecided where and when it will allow Dante to fall and where an edge can’t be crossed. The invisible walls are made only slightly bearable by the fact that the game won’t push you back too far if (and when) you die, but that can prove frustrating in itself at some times. The game provides relics, purchasable upgrades and Hell even has famous historical inhabitants who can be doomed or saved through a mini-game: do any of these elements and then fall off a ledge, the game will have you repeat everything.
With a cliffhanger ending that feels very tacked on, Dante’s Inferno feels somewhat uneven and unfinished, but enjoyable. Its art direction may be impressive but its repetitive gameplay and game design faults make for a less fluid experience. It lays the groundwork of what could eventually be an impressive franchise but will need more innovation and less imitation before it attains the heights it aspires to. That’s not to say there isn’t fun to be had with Dante’s Inferno, it’s just disappointing that it’s valued more for its looks than its playability.
Zombie Rating: C+
Dante’s Inferno is available now for Microsoft XBox 360, Sony PlayStation 3 and Sony PSP.
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