Game Card
Dante's Inferno (PC)
- Publisher:
- EA Games
- Developer:
- EA Games
- US Release:
- 09.02.2010
- EU Release:
- 12.02.2010
- Minimum System:
- n/a
- Perspective:
- Third-Person
- Blood Level:
- Bloody
- Reality Factor:
- Fantasy
- Type:
- Action Adventure
Preview
Dante's Inferno Preview
You can’t knock EA’s Redwood studio for their ambition in attempting to adapt the first part of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy into a videogame and their brazen stance in telling us all to ‘Go To Hell’ in the accompanying trailer. Such a highly regarded, intricate text is only going to attract negative criticism too if the game fails to live up to expectations, so what have the dev team done to ensure that this is more than an action game draped in fancy literary clothing? From our brief hands-on with the game, it looks as though this might be precisely what Dante’s Inferno will turn out to be and it’s virtually impossible not to immediately draw comparisons with Sony Santa Monica’s God of War upon first sight.
It might be grossly unfair to highlight such comparisons after such a short preview, but they’re difficult to ignore, especially when they’re so glaring. Dante himself has had a badass makeover, transforming him into a scythe-wielding warrior, a veteran of the Crusades who is as comfortable skewering demonic babies as he is decapitating malicious, goat-horned hellspawn. This is all very well and good, perfectly understandable and in keeping with the balls-out action vibe of the game, but what isn’t so apparent is why Dante is animated just like Kratos, right down to his double jump, his climbing, leaping and circle-hammering QTE actions. Dante’s Inferno is every bit as violent and visceral as God of War too, although much of the imagery on display is quite provocative and in some cases – such as those frightening blade-limbed babies – hauntingly disturbing.
Still, the game does exactly what it sets out to and it certainly can’t be a bad thing to have two blood-soaked hack-and-slash action games on the horizon, each boasting sky-high production values. The Dante’s Inferno dev team have even employed the services of Hellboy’s visual designer Wayne Barlowe to help fully realise the nine circles of hell for the game based upon the detailed original sketches that accompany the 700-year old poem. From what we’ve seen thus far, Dante’s Inferno is certainly hell, but whether it actually matches Alighieri’s original vision of the fiery pit of damnation is anyone’s guess at this point and will require a far more thorough playthrough to ascertain just how much of the poem’s imagery has made it into the game. Realistically, the majority of gamers aren’t going to care whether it’s faithful to Dante’s work or not – and we’re assured that it is, save for a few tweaks having been made for gameplay purposes – what’s more important is the game beneath the elaborate source material.
Essentially a third-person action game set firmly in the same mould as Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden and the aforementioned God of War; Dante’s Inferno casts you as Dante himself, albeit decked out in armoured regalia rather than the red robes he’s normally depicted in and wielding Death’s Scythe and a Holy Cross to boot. Dante’s scythe is as lethal as you’d imagine, able to lop off heads and limbs with each swing, but it also doubles as a device for swinging around your environment wherever there’s a glowing purple spot to latch onto and much like Nero’s Devil Bringer grab in Devil May Cry 4, it can also be used to snare foes in mid-air and slam them into the ground. The camera perspective is fixed at an isometric angle, adjusting itself dynamically to give you the best view of the action at all times (just like God of War. Again) and works very efficiently even at this relatively early stage. Your moves using the scythe are mapped to the PS3’s square and triangle buttons, with square swiping downwards and triangle launching horizontal swipes and short-ranged projectile attacks. It’s all very nice and fluid, enabling you to effortlessly chain together stylish combos to damage the game’s demonic hordes. Once the larger foes are weakened, a large R2 icon will appear above their heads prompting a fatality animation by bashing circle rapidly. In the case of the nasty looking half-human, half-goat abominations, it’s a slow and agonising decapitation followed by a bursting gush of arterial red.
It’s Dante’s Holy Cross that offers the most intriguing side element to the game in the form of a dual moral choice, a la BioShock. At certain junctures, you’ll come across damned individuals who have been twisted and deformed through having to endure the painful torture of hell and it’s up to you whether to either absolve or punish them for their sins. The preview code we were shown only allowed us to choose the punish option, which sees Dante plunge the Holy Cross into the sinner’s face, bludgeoning him to death in a screaming fit of agony. Lovely! We’ve yet to see what happens if you absolve someone, but we’re thinking something along the lines of a bubble bath and a fragrant bouquet of flowers might be nice. We’re also unsure of what effect your choices will have on the rest of the game, but expect alternate endings to be a likely outcome.
As is also standard practice for this kind of genre and all its sweeping, epic trappings, there are enormous bosses to defeat, one of which we got to confront during the latter part of our hands-on. The Judge of the Dead is a gargantuan demon with a whip-like tongue and a tail that can burrow underground, lashing through the surface where you’re standing. He slams the ground with his fist too, giving you a prime opportunity to run up his arm and jam the blade of your scythe into his gaunt, scabbed over eyes. Once again, our Kratos alarm goes off for much of this encounter, but in the best way possible. One of the best things about the God of War series are the immense boss battles, which pit you as a miniscule David to their towering Goliath in exciting battles of attrition played out on a vast scale. Dante’s Inferno looks as though it’ll perform a similar trick in presenting players with enemies of seemingly insurmountable size and tasking you with bringing them down using a combination of slicing, dicing and violent QTE action.
It may initially appear somewhat derivative, but Dante’s Inferno could still be well worth a look when it’s released some time in 2010. After all, you can never have too many overly sadistic action titles to choose from in our book and EA Redwood Shores’ are most definitely bringing the pain with this, so there’s no need to abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Not just yet, anyway.
It might be grossly unfair to highlight such comparisons after such a short preview, but they’re difficult to ignore, especially when they’re so glaring. Dante himself has had a badass makeover, transforming him into a scythe-wielding warrior, a veteran of the Crusades who is as comfortable skewering demonic babies as he is decapitating malicious, goat-horned hellspawn. This is all very well and good, perfectly understandable and in keeping with the balls-out action vibe of the game, but what isn’t so apparent is why Dante is animated just like Kratos, right down to his double jump, his climbing, leaping and circle-hammering QTE actions. Dante’s Inferno is every bit as violent and visceral as God of War too, although much of the imagery on display is quite provocative and in some cases – such as those frightening blade-limbed babies – hauntingly disturbing.
 |
 |
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| Dante’s Inferno is looking very pretty, even with almost a year to go. | Your Holy Cross can ward off demons. Dante also has access to magic, which was sadly not present in the build we played. |
Still, the game does exactly what it sets out to and it certainly can’t be a bad thing to have two blood-soaked hack-and-slash action games on the horizon, each boasting sky-high production values. The Dante’s Inferno dev team have even employed the services of Hellboy’s visual designer Wayne Barlowe to help fully realise the nine circles of hell for the game based upon the detailed original sketches that accompany the 700-year old poem. From what we’ve seen thus far, Dante’s Inferno is certainly hell, but whether it actually matches Alighieri’s original vision of the fiery pit of damnation is anyone’s guess at this point and will require a far more thorough playthrough to ascertain just how much of the poem’s imagery has made it into the game. Realistically, the majority of gamers aren’t going to care whether it’s faithful to Dante’s work or not – and we’re assured that it is, save for a few tweaks having been made for gameplay purposes – what’s more important is the game beneath the elaborate source material.
Essentially a third-person action game set firmly in the same mould as Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden and the aforementioned God of War; Dante’s Inferno casts you as Dante himself, albeit decked out in armoured regalia rather than the red robes he’s normally depicted in and wielding Death’s Scythe and a Holy Cross to boot. Dante’s scythe is as lethal as you’d imagine, able to lop off heads and limbs with each swing, but it also doubles as a device for swinging around your environment wherever there’s a glowing purple spot to latch onto and much like Nero’s Devil Bringer grab in Devil May Cry 4, it can also be used to snare foes in mid-air and slam them into the ground. The camera perspective is fixed at an isometric angle, adjusting itself dynamically to give you the best view of the action at all times (just like God of War. Again) and works very efficiently even at this relatively early stage. Your moves using the scythe are mapped to the PS3’s square and triangle buttons, with square swiping downwards and triangle launching horizontal swipes and short-ranged projectile attacks. It’s all very nice and fluid, enabling you to effortlessly chain together stylish combos to damage the game’s demonic hordes. Once the larger foes are weakened, a large R2 icon will appear above their heads prompting a fatality animation by bashing circle rapidly. In the case of the nasty looking half-human, half-goat abominations, it’s a slow and agonising decapitation followed by a bursting gush of arterial red.
It’s Dante’s Holy Cross that offers the most intriguing side element to the game in the form of a dual moral choice, a la BioShock. At certain junctures, you’ll come across damned individuals who have been twisted and deformed through having to endure the painful torture of hell and it’s up to you whether to either absolve or punish them for their sins. The preview code we were shown only allowed us to choose the punish option, which sees Dante plunge the Holy Cross into the sinner’s face, bludgeoning him to death in a screaming fit of agony. Lovely! We’ve yet to see what happens if you absolve someone, but we’re thinking something along the lines of a bubble bath and a fragrant bouquet of flowers might be nice. We’re also unsure of what effect your choices will have on the rest of the game, but expect alternate endings to be a likely outcome.
 |
 |
|
| And Dante as he appears in the game. He’s a veteran of the Crusades and a force to be reckoned with. | This is just a sub boss. The main bosses are MASSIVE. You may also notice that this level takes place on the back of a gigantic demon. |
As is also standard practice for this kind of genre and all its sweeping, epic trappings, there are enormous bosses to defeat, one of which we got to confront during the latter part of our hands-on. The Judge of the Dead is a gargantuan demon with a whip-like tongue and a tail that can burrow underground, lashing through the surface where you’re standing. He slams the ground with his fist too, giving you a prime opportunity to run up his arm and jam the blade of your scythe into his gaunt, scabbed over eyes. Once again, our Kratos alarm goes off for much of this encounter, but in the best way possible. One of the best things about the God of War series are the immense boss battles, which pit you as a miniscule David to their towering Goliath in exciting battles of attrition played out on a vast scale. Dante’s Inferno looks as though it’ll perform a similar trick in presenting players with enemies of seemingly insurmountable size and tasking you with bringing them down using a combination of slicing, dicing and violent QTE action.
It may initially appear somewhat derivative, but Dante’s Inferno could still be well worth a look when it’s released some time in 2010. After all, you can never have too many overly sadistic action titles to choose from in our book and EA Redwood Shores’ are most definitely bringing the pain with this, so there’s no need to abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Not just yet, anyway.
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