Dante’s Inferno – 8.5/10

I’m going to start this review by getting something out of the way quickly: Dante’s Inferno is very similar to God of War. Very, very, similar. It has a similar “feel”, the controls are very much the same, and it often plays quite exactly the same. That being said, Dante’s Inferno is a great game in its own right, and, while it does bear a striking resemblance to the God of War series, it gets the GoW “formula” completely right. Bear in mind that I’m not scoring or reviewing this game based on its likeness to the God of War series (like I see so many others doing), but instead taking it for what it is, at face value. No comparisons to certain other games or whatnot. This is the Dante’s Inferno review for the game Dante’s Inferno: completely standalone. That said, here’s the review:

Dante’s Inferno isn’t a particularly complex game. It involves hitting a combination of buttons to perform awesome moves. You are Dante, a returning crusader whose one and only love, Beatrice, has fallen into Satan’s hands. Being the stand-up guy he is, Dante decides to fight his way through Hell to rescue his lost love. Throughout the game, you wield death’s scythe and a magical cross to fight demons and sinners through all nine circles of hell.

The level design is top notch.

The level design in Dante’s Inferno is top notch, with each level of hell consisting of its own motif. Lust, for example, is strewn with depictions of genitalia and sex. Gluttony is modeled after the human gastrointestinal tract. And greed is lined with gold and machinery depicting industry, wealth, and power.
Each circle introduces its own enemies, as well. Gluttony has humongous fatty humanoid monsters, greed has two-sided hoarder-wasters that sling coins at you, and heresy has occultist heretics that use magic to attack you, to name a few. These enemies aren’t only housed in their corresponding circle. After you see them for the first time, you’ll surely meet them again in upcoming circles, giving the game a nice amount of enemies to fight. Of course, you have your standard fiends which are usually in the form of corpses with swords and spears, but you have some other varieties of your standard enemy (like flaming ones and exploding ones, for example). Demons are your mid-level enemies, who are black satyr-looking beasts with large swords. All in all, the level and enemy design in Dante’s Inferno are both excellent.

Yes, you can ride these.

The combat works surprisingly well. It is simple, yes, but it is visceral and rewarding. Combos are easy to pull off, and while not very “complex” like other action games, the combat itself is very fun. Dante can upgrade his scythe and cross by using “souls” he collects from killing enemies. These upgrades unlock new powers and abilities that make Dante even more of a badass. Upgrades can be upgraded in “levels”. That is to say, you can’t spend your souls on a certain upgrade until you reach that “level” in your holy or unholy (cross and scythe, respectively) path. This makes for an interesting mechanic. As, when you play, you’ll have the option to “Punish” or “Absolve” certain enemies and characters (sinners that you find in hell). When you choose to punish, you gain some experience for your unholy level, and when you choose to absolve, you gain experience for you holy level. When you reach a new level, you unlock new skills and abilities that you can spend souls to acquire. Although simplistic, Dante’s Inferno combat and upgrade system offer pure, simple fun in their design. You find yourself excited to level up your unholy or holy path to get to try out those new scythe or cross attacks. And the attacks are rewarding to pull off. You’ll have plenty of moments when you think (or exclaim) “cool” as you perform some awesome chain of attacks and then finish off with Dante quite literally ripping an opponent in half. The boss battles are pretty cool, too. And while some are your typical hack-n-slash fare, some have a pretty cool edge too them. The bosses themselves are usually massive, and even when the battle isn’t particularly creative in its execution, the battles always feel very epic.

You're gonna be in for some pretty epic boss fights.

Dante’s Inferno does feature quick-time events. You’ll find yourself hitting buttons corresponding to on-screen prompts fairly often. And, while this does get annoying sometimes, doesn’t detract from the overall experience. My only gripe is that the game uses “mash the O button” (or the B button on Xbox360) for just about everything. So, yes, you’ll be hitting the O button a lot.

The soundtrack for Dante’s Inferno fits nicely with Hell. Its a combination of eerie and epic tracks that are well scored for fighting through the Inferno. The sound design is perfect for the type of game this is, from moaning souls to the slicing of human (or inhuman) flesh. It really adds a lot to the environment and gives Hell more depth.

The story itself is straightforward but rewarding. One might expect some throwaway storyline from a game like this, but Dante’s Inferno offers a well-written tale about love, loss and sacrifice. While its not particularly original or amazing, it is quite epic and never feels like it is written to simply justify the action. Its a nice tale and offers incentive to finish the game (not to say that the combat isn’t enough already).

Dante’s Inferno does have its flaws, however. It isn’t perfect. It often gets frustrating at times, and, while it does offer plenty of save points, sometimes it throws things at you that you have to reply over and over to get right. It does have checkpoints, and in the beginning of the game, is fairly generous of where they are placed, by the end it puts them farther and farther apart. It also contains some puzzles, none of which are too difficult, and some minor platforming. Most of the platforming is fine and easy, but some is somewhat annoying. Especially some sequences that require quick-time-events. Fail those, and you will game over. And although you don’t have to start back at your last save, and usually get into the action right before the QTE, it really does break up the pacing sometimes. And while this is a minor gripe, a fast-past game like this sometimes getting bogged down by undeserved deaths gets annoying.

Other than some annoying quick-time events and some minor camera issues, Dante’s Inferno performs pretty well for an action game. Some later levels aren’t as meticulously designed as the initial ones and fighting the same enemies over and over may loose its steam for some people, but Dante’s Inferno is sure a fun game. And that’s about all I can really ask for.

PROS:
+ Great, hack-n-slash fun
+ Awesome enemy and level design
+ Straightforward, but interesting story

CONS:
- Quick-time events are sometimes annoying
- Some sequences can get frustrating
- Minor camera issues