Go to Hell - Literally; that is the tagline for this feature review, just keep that in mind as you travel with me through one of the most mature-themed video games coming to market. The first movement of the epic poem The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri relates the story of Dante himself descending into Hell for a guided tour. And though his work is regarded as one of the most important literary masterpieces of all time, it is one twisted piece of work. In his descriptions he holds nothing back, describing in putrid, horrific, visceral detail every sight, sound, and smell he encounters there. The very idea lends itself to such interesting -- if nightmarish -- mental images; it's hard to believe it's taken this long for the video games industry to make a game out of it. Dante’s Inferno from developer Visceral Games captures every bit of the literary tale, and at some times I found myself being shocked by the action-game’s content. EA's Jonathan Knight was the first developer to see the potential in Dante's classic literary story. Reportedly, he read the poem a few years ago and suddenly felt like he'd been handed the blueprint for a video game just waiting to be made. This group of developers/producers is really passionate about the game and it shows so much in the final gaming product.
In Dante's Inferno, you play a third-person action game, as Dante, who's ventured to the entrance to Hell and plunges inside in pursuit in search of his deceased true love, Beatrice. The version of Dante presented in the game differs from history's Dante, in that this hero is a darker, battle-hardened veteran of the Crusades. As the game's story goes, Dante's beloved Beatrice has been taken to Hell unjustly by Satan himself and Dante sets out to rescue her. But to do this, he'll have to traverse down all nine circles of Hell; past tormented and tortured souls, subjected to horrors beyond human imagining. And he may just have to confront his own demons (the metaphorical kind, though he'll slay plenty of the real ones, too) and balance the scales for his own sins that have been committed in the past. The story is one of the most compelling parts of Dante’s Inferno the video game, never once did I find myself bored or uninterested in what plot twists would be coming next as I progressed through the 12-15 hour campaign (on the normal difficulty setting).
One thing I want people to know (older people) is that Dante's Inferno was created for the enjoyment of this generation, it may not go over well with the hard-at-hearing gamers. The iconic nine circles play a key part, forming the primary game levels that players will traverse. And as in the poem, each one is reserved for those who have committed sins successively worse than the condemned suffering in the previous circle. They are, from least to most evil: limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. Treachery, better known as betrayal, is considered the worst sin of all in Dante's poem, and is the residence of Satan himself. Dante’s Inferno includes a total of ten levels, each one has it’s own unique look and feel pushing the game past one of my biggest issues with action games of this type – repetition. Even as I made my way to the final boss battle there were new gameplay elements unseen up to that point in the title. Because of this (and some of the techniques discussed below) the game is able to keep the player on his or her toes throughout the entire experience. It takes a skilled set of developers to create such a product and it’s nice to see such a large amount of creation time/money go into the official Dante’s game. More than once the Inferno wowed me with moments of that epic scale feeling you look for in games of this genre, where it just feels great to be playing something created with such passion.
This feature review continues on the next page, please click below to reveal our final thoughts on Dante's Inferno as well as the score.
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