Dante's Inferno

Dante's Inferno is an action game which can charitably be described as being similar to God of War. The game places you in the role of a crusader named Dante as he returns home to find his love murdered and her soul taken to hell. You will enter hell in pursuit of rescuing her and journey through the 9 circles of hell from the poem, hence the games name. The game play is remarkably like God of War, however it lacks the deep combos or strong narrative. What it does provide are some interesting art assets and styles and some good enemy fights.   
 
The story takes begins during the crusades in the holy land. Dante seems to be a virtuous man at first but its quickly apparent that over the course of his life he has committed all the sins of the circles of hell. As you visit each circle, you will see why that circle is relevant to Dante, often meeting a relative or friend who ended up there. The game also has some large and impressive boss fights. The story centres on Dante's redemption via saving Beatrice, his love interest. The problem is that beatrice is not an interesting character and neither is Dante. These 2 characters are naive, boring and do not change at all during the game. Its a fine reason for the game to take place, but is not enough to keep the players interest. The story does have a twist but again its not interesting, surprising and is even predictable.  
 

 
The game has a crisp look and a steady and fast frame rate. The graphics are good, but the style of the levels leave something to be desired. While the early levels are truly impressive and fittingly horrible, the later levels are weak and poorly designed in comparison. For example, early levels have people imprisoned in the walls naked and in pain, sexualised scenes make their way into the levels and unbaptised babies lead the visual charge. Many of the character models are great in concept, but upon closer inspection they look like they are made of plastic and lack a realistic look. This really disappointed me considering how good visceral's necromorphs from Dead Space look. Dante is the most detailed character model in the game and even he doesn't look great due to the strange eyes and strange movement. The physics are a bit off, and while this is needed for gameplay it is still a shame that they couldn't replicate God of War's success in this area. 
 
The sound of the game is very suitable to the themes and areas that the player faces. The music is haunting and dark in tone, and reflects the horror of the circles of hell. The ambiance and environmental sounds are equally well done. Enemies make disturbing sounds, such as the glutton which snorts and belches as it lumbers towards you. Screams of pain and suffering can be heard from people trapped in hell. The voice acting is nothing special, but does the job fine. The actor for Lucifer in particular comes to my mind as well done for his role in the game. Despite this, its not as good as Dead Space or God of War on any of these accounts, and is all passable, but noting is especially memorable here in terms of sound. 
 
The game plays very much like God of War. You have light attacks, heavy attacks, magic and a long distance attack. You defeat enemies to collect an energy currency to unlock upgrades. Combat is heavily focused on melee and dodging incoming enemy attacks. It all feels very formulaic, as the game has puzzle sections and combat sections. Sometimes it mixes the two, often resulting in frustration. The fixed camera can be a problem during these sections. When not in combat there are plenty of traversal sections which involve climbing walls and swinging from chains, all in a manner which blatently copies God of War. I realise that I have mentioned this several times, but it is truly incredible how closely this game has followed the structure of God of War. Its a pity that the combat is not as fun as God of War's. The controls are responsive, but it lacks the depth of the combat of God of War. While Dante's Inferno can be button mashed easily, God of War gives the option of deeper and interesing combat. Compared even to Bayonetta, Dante's Inferno has dull and derivative combat mechanics in the main.  
 

 
The real problem with this game is not the combat however, but the number of small annoyances which crop up and eventually really take away from the game and prevent it from reaching its potential. If you fall into any kind of liquid or get knocked off of a platform you die instantly.  Many puzzles involve a mechanic or gimmick that kills instantly. This combined with the fixed camera can cause serious frustration and annoyed me during the game. The 1st half of the game is much better than the 2nd, which also annoyed me and even made the game hard to play to its conclusion. The early levels are strong, have interesting enemies suited to those circles and have great bosses. The second half of the game lacks bosses, recycles enemies from the first part instead of having its own creatures and the creativity of the levels goes through the floor. Only the final boss fight saves the late game, but to even get to this you must go through 10 boring and extremely difficult trials which are pointless and among the worst things I have ever seen in a game.   
 

 
Overall,  Dante's Inferno has solid graphics and sound and a combat system that is rather shallow but is sufficient for its job. The level design is inconsistent, and the game feels rather empty and lacking the magic and scale of the God of War series which is tries so hard to resemble. Its violent themes are implemented in a really over the top and unsubtle way. The puzzles are boring and formulaic. The game is generally fun, but every aspect of it could have been better. Its a mediocre god of war clone which is ok, but should have been so much more.  
 
 
 
 
 
Pros:   

• Disturbing enemy designs 
• Early levels are very well made 
• Branching upgrade paths add replayability 
• Strong boss fights 
• Music and graphics are solid 

 
Cons:  

•  Later levels are much weaker that the early ones 
• Game loses steam half way through 
• Combat becomes monotonous 
• Story is weak 
• Puzzles are frustrating  
• Fixed camera causes problems at times 

 
Wtf: 

•  Nipple babies  

Score: 

• 5/10