Dante's Inferno is rated M for Mature, and for this game I can not stress that enough. This game pushes the mature factor in depicting hell.
Story
Dante's Inferno is loosely based on the first part of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. In the original version the poet Dante is in a dark wood chased by beasts and he is unable to find the right path. He finds the poet Virgil who helps him find his way, but the journey goes straight through the nine levels of hell.
This version is a bit different. In this one Dante is a knight from the Third Crusade, during which he faces and kills Death (that's how he gets the scythe). Weary from the war he returns home to find his father, Alighiero, and fiance, Beatrice, both killed. While morning over Beatrice's body her soul appears to Dante, only to be taken by Lucifer. This starts the quest for Dante to save Beatrice from hell. Along the way we learn as Dante passes through sections the sins he committed that have brought about this situation. You will also meet the ghost of Virgil, he will describe each level during your journey.
Controls
Well lets get the bad part out of the way. Controls for the most part are ok, but there are problems. Not only is Dante going into hell, but the player is going into gaming hell. Part of the problem is they went with a fixed camera, which understandably was done to help tell the story. Problem is it tends to ruin game play. I don't know how many times I died making blind jumps, bad angle jumps, or misjudged distance jumps, but it was a lot. Then there is enemies that are off screen, which wouldn't be bad if it was just them. When you're knee deep in a bunch of them on the other hand, well they can be down right deadly.
Not helping matters is the fact that the right thumbstick normally used for camera controls is now the "evade" stick. Now once you get used to the fact it's for evading it's fine. You move quickly in the direction you tilt the stick. The problem is getting used to it. I jumped to my death quite often trying to "spin the camera" so I can get a look at my surroundings.
Another problem with the controls is animation lag. You fire off a combo to beat on the enemy in front of you, which is great, until he decides to move. You then try to start a new move to counter what he's doing. Not always gonna happen. Some times it works, sometimes you're stuck watching Dante finish off his combo as a nasty demon moves round to the side to turn his face into goo.
The last problem is the controls sometimes don't realize you are doing something different. For example in one instance I'm climbing a crumbling tower. At one point I have to jump from one tower to another. First time worked fine. A little further up though I have to jump back. I make the jump, but now I want to continue climbing up, problem is the game seems to not realize I have the thumbstick pointed up. I'm moving side to side but not up and the tower falls taking me with it. The second try it seemed to figure everything out this time, but then again I paused after every jump, letting the thumbstick center itself before moving on.
Controls were not fun.
Gameplay
Dante's Inferno is a third person beat 'em up. If you've played God of War, then you'll be right at home here. Beat up bad guys, quick time event, rinse, repeat. While that might sound a bit repetitive, and really it is, it's not completely boring. They have a decent amount of bad guys, each with a different style of fighting them. The problem is after a while they don't really offer any new bad guys, just more of them. Wave after wave, just when you think you finished them, more pop up. The quick time event, if you aren't expecting them they will throw you off. Thankfully in most cases the ones while fighting a bad guy don't always kill you.
As you journey through hell take the time to see the sights. There are condemned souls to absolve or punish, depending on how you want to level up Dante. If you decide to punish it's quick and brutal. You get a set amount of souls and Unholy points. If you decide to absolve them you get a set amount of Holy points and it opens a mini-game where you "absolve each sin." With each successful sin absolved giving you bonus souls. The souls are used to buy various upgrades to Dante's combat repertoire. The Holy and Unholy skill trees have different abilities that can be unlock with X amount of souls that you get not only from condemned souls but from defeating bad guys, various pools, and occasionally from destroying parts of hell itself.
There are also relics to be found (some are Holy or Unholy), 30 pieces of silver, and 3 Beatrice stones for her cross that you carry and use for absolving. Find all three stones and you can bypass the mini-game, but you don't get any bonus souls either.
One curious thing about level layout was the Malebolge. Each Bolgia was a challenge level. It just seemed an odd placement to group together challenge levels all on one circle of hell. You'd think they would have laid it out with each circle of hell having it's own challenge level tailored to it's theme.
Graphics and Sound
Visually the game is a treat. Each level is tailored to it's theme. Lust has various....um....personal body parts subtlety used in it's construction.......OK some aren't so subtle. My inner 13 year old did sound off at a couple points. Not to mention the bad...girls of this level. Gluttony used a lot of guts and mouths for it's layout. The final boss was big fat thing with mouths. Greed used a lot of gold.
Sound was very good. The music never overpowered, and just right. The most present sound was the constant suffering for the damned. Mostly is was screaming and wailing, but if you stopped and listened you could hear people talking. Sometimes the talking was more noticeable, and sometime kind of humorous. For example while climbing down a wall of souls I suddenly heard, "Ow, you clawed out my eye, why, why?"
The voice acting was very good too. I wonder if they were going for a certain style. While Dante, Beatrice, Virgil especially, and others spoke almost prose-like, Lucifer spoke in a very modern style. I kind of liked it, giving Lucifer an interesting character. Almost smart-alecky in some parts.
Overall
I think this game could use a sub-title, Dante's Inferno: Cheap Death Hell. I lost track of the number of times I died from cheap deaths. The game went from fun to frustrating quickly. I like that EA took a huge chance, basing a game on a poem written over 700 years ago. Controls and cheap deaths aside I see a good story that's been well acted and placed in some great set pieces, but then it all falls apart when a jump gets misjudged multiple times. And having the game tell me I could set the difficulty lower after I've died dozens of times in the same spot, while a nice reminder, it does not do my ego any good.
Some things they can fix with an update if the choose to, such as the various control lags. Other things like the camera, the player is going to have to get used to. That was a creative choice that they made. I personally don't like it, as it hinders game play and exploration. Which is something this game tries to encourage with it's hidden relics, condemned souls, pieces of silver, etc. Thing is after blind jumps, areas that you think you can get to, but finding invisible walls, and just plain not being able to look around, fixed camera becomes a deterrent to exploration.
I think the only reason I finished it was I got so far into it I was like, well I've come this far, might as well see it through to the end.
Considering the amount of money EA put behind the promoting of this game (Super Bowl commercial time is not cheap) I was really looking forward to a great game. Sadly the bad out weighs the good. Dante's Inferno gets a 3 out of 5 from me. I say rent it first. If you get into it, then by all means go buy it.
Dante's Inferno is rated M for Mature for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content.
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