Dante's Inferno Review

9.0

Format PlayStation 3

Developer EA Games

Publisher EA Games

Genre Adventure

24 Comments

Never have we felt so dirty for liking a video game (except maybe this one). In principle we should despise Dante's Inferno for shamelessly ripping off God of War pretty much wholesale. We know this will be the sole reason many other reviews will kick it down a point or two. But we're not going to. We love God of War and, whether or not you're willing to admit it, Dantes Inferno does a pretty awesome job of mimicking it.

We WILL admit that Dante's is a more full-on copycat than most other games. Most games - like music and films - take influence from those that came before. Almost nothing is completely original. But the mind boggles over what must have been going through the collective heads at developer Visceral as they put Dante's Inferno together.

It's cut-and-paste territory. We wouldn't be surprised if the briefing went something like: "Pretend you're making God of War 3, only set it in hell and re-skin the lead character, please. Lawsuits and all. Thanks."



Imitate to accumulate
The fighting system is identical. Many of the moves and combos are identical. The way you hold Triangle to slam enemies into the air and automatically leap up to do a mid-air floating combo; the way you tap block at the last second to counter attacks or return projectile fire; the orbs that float from defeated enemies into you restoring health an magic; hammering Circle to open crates and doors; flicking the right analogue stick to parry. All identical.

Wait, we're not done. There are the crate-pushing puzzles (and your ability to give push-able objects a hearty shove with the Circle button); the slow-spinning levers that you hold R1 to grab and turn gradually; the giant bosses that you can sometimes see in the distance before you fight them; the gathering of orbs to spend on new moves and abilities in a progressive upgrade system; the QTE takedowns that have you cutting faces off and ripping eyeballs out. All absolutely, shamelessly identical.

And yet, we're not complaining. Not one bit. Like we said, it almost feels dirty to admit it, but we enjoyed every second. In a similar way that we'd be happy for Super Mario Galaxy 2, Halo 4 or Half Life 2: Episode 3 to be simple extensions of their predecessors (because we love them so much), we don't mind that Dante's Inferno is basically God of War without Kratos.

There are certain things, dare we say it, that Visceral Games does even better. This writer, for one, has never had even the slightest fascination with Greek mythology. All gobbledegook. And so I find the dark and twisted depths of hell a far more imaginative, impactful and disturbing setting than the familiar castles and chambers of ancient Greece.

A huge cathedral with stain-glass windows looks nice. But an enormous chasm full of lava, gruesome pulsating fleshy walls, skinned, squirming bodies impaled on giant blood-covered spikes and spinning blades slowing grating into the flesh of eternally alive is far more shocking. The team of artists and designers at Visceral recreate these kind of brilliantly unnerving environments in their sleep.

A flameball-throwing giant is very cool (yes, like the one in the GoW III demo). But an equally enormous, demonic Cleopatra spitting mini monsters from the nipples of her giant, exposed and extraordinarily bouncy tits is just that little bit cooler.

Welcome to Hell
The level design in Dante's really is marvellous; It's a fantastically gross and often disturbing depiction of Hell, with demonic growls and the cries of the suffering filling the air.

There's one room in which moaning bodies stick out through cracks in the walls, their protruding heads and shoulders squirming as they cry. You flick a switch and two giant blades slide down the wall, decapitating them all as they scream hysterically.

It sounds like a massacre of a small town with the speakers turned up. Then the blades raise and their heads grow back, ready for them to endure the pain once again. It's quite disturbing, but that's really what makes this game stand out.

And as you progress through the different circles of hell you realise that each does a great job of looking and feeling unique. In the Gluttony realm you can hear the sound of squelching flesh and burp-like rumbles as you run through bloody, lardy caverns - naturally patrolled by repulsively fat men who puke their flabby bellies over Dante.

The Lust zone has fleshy walls with openings that look almost like female genitalia (or are we just imagining that?). You even hear the sexual moans of women as you slice through demonic, bear-butt ladies with killer tentacles that extend from their lower regions.

If you've ever played God of War you'll know just what to expect from Dante's mental battles; Dante rapidly spins his scythe (which he robs from Death himself, like the hard nut he is) with tangible rage, before completing combos with aggressive floor-slamming strikes. He's an angry man, and you know it just from the way he moves.

Observing the attack patters of enemies and bosses so that you can block (and/or counter attack) at the right time is the secret to survival, but we warn you; it's tough.

A solitary axe-wielding demon you thought to be quite a challenge in earlier stages of the game is merely a warm-up for later levels when six of the bastards spawn in at once - with fireball-spitting bird thingies overhead just for good measure.

Just a devil woman
Beat all that and in comes that sense of relief. Shortly followed by another six demons and two of those naked ladies with the killer vajayjays. Seriously, just when you thought your balls couldn't be busted any more, Visceral Games puts on a bigger pair of boots and keeps kicking. But we like that - it's why we play this sort of game. It's not about story or exploration. That's what Final Fantasy XIII and Heavy Rain are for.

On the negative side, there is some controller confusion, mainly in the platform sections. You have to press down and hit X to fall from vertical pillars, and pressing X alone makes you climb them faster. Yet on horizontal ropes, R1 makes you shimmy faster and pressing X makes you fall (as we did, to our deaths, MANY times).

As expected, there are God of War-style puzzles in the game too; pushing crates onto floor switches, turning handles to open doors, or brain-melting teleportation tests. If you get through them quickly it's not too bad, but if you don't clock the solution instantly they'll just piss you off as you yearn to get back to stabbing brains.

But, as a package, Dante's Inferno rounds off a brilliant, tense and stupidly entertaining brawler, surprisingly living up to the God of War-level heights it clearly set itself.

That package will only get better when the Trials of St. Lucia download pack turns up on April 29, adding two-player co-op functionality and a customisable survival mode which lets players create custom waves of enemies and post their creations online. A very generous piece of add-on content, we're sure you'll agree.

God of War 3 might come in and wipe the floor with Dante. Heck, we'd like that to be the case. But having had such a brilliant time with EA's effort, it's certainly diluted our need for more Kratos action in HD.

God of War III's out in March (it's looking like the 19th, but confirmed for the 16th in US). But why wait until then - Dante's Inferno is out this Friday and it's awesome.

For another opinion read Official Xbox Magazine's Dante's Inferno review

Mike Jackson