Religious iconography abounds, but there is little sacred or respectful about Dante's Inferno.
As previously detailed in our preview, Dante’s Inferno is based on the classic, epic poem by renown Florentine, Dante Alighieri. Although it may be more accurate to say that the game adapts the poem in its basest, most literal form. Eschewing any of the social commentary and lyricism of the source material, Visceral Games has produced a game starring an angry little man from the Crusades who descends into hell armed with Death’s scythe to hack a path through unbaptised babies and drooling demons in pursuit of his bare-breasted love, Beatrice, whose soul has been stolen away by Lucifer himself. The game’s narrative is utterly disposable, and the amount of liberties Visceral Games has taken with the source material is irksome to say the least; this is Todd MacFarlane or Frank Miller’s Dante’s Inferno, not Alighieri’s, and it is clear that Visceral Games cares very little for the source material. Quotes from the text appear on screen after every death and are devoid of context; Virgil the poet is reduced to a lame hologram, and the poem’s major players are cast as enormous boss monsters which eject demon infants from their exposed nipples.
The sheer tackiness of the game’s narrative extends further, pervading its entire presentation. The depths to which the game is willing to steep to shock or convey its apparent ‘maturity’ cannot be described, suffice to say that there are more gratuitously exposed breasts and depictions of genitalia in Dante’s Inferno than any other game one would care to mention. Technically, the nine circles of Hell are well-rendered and suitably depressing, consisting of slick, writhing masses of tortured souls and puddles of bile and lava. The game’s engine performs well under pressure, too, rendering dozens of enemies and a host of particle effects without any noticeable drop in frame rate. But after a handful of levels, the artistic design begins to wear thin, and Visceral Games has struggled to make Hell a consistently inspiring locale. Overall, there’s something distinctly unpleasant about the aesthetics of Dante’s Inferno which are, on the whole, a mixed bag. For every chilling, haunting orchestral accompaniment, there is a line of horrid voice acting which is either self-serious to the point of parody or replete with trite, anachronistic slang. For every towering, bump-mapped boss character there is a spindly, pathetic imp comprised of four polygons. The game is quick, smooth, but often bland and charmless.
Particle effects and fast-paced combat are among the game's biggest strengths.
While it would be easy to think from the preceding paragraphs that Dante’s Inferno is nothing but a crude misfire, such is not the case when the controller is in hand. Anyone familiar with the mechanics of God of War will immediately know how to play Dante’s Inferno without the aid of any sort of tutorial whatsoever. Dante has access to light attacks, heavy attacks, a grab, an evasive maneuver and magical abilities, and these abilities work in tandem to create a playing experience with the pace, intensity and rhythm of its closest competitor. It’s also an easy game to play, not in terms of its difficulty but in its quest to consistently engage and challenge the player with new enemies, set-pieces and lightweight puzzles. If not for the repetitive artistic design, Dante’s Inferno would be faultless in terms of pacing, and while its highs never approach the quality of its competitors, there is nary a dull moment to be found if one takes to the basic mechanics. Controlling Dante is an intuitive, silky experience and the combat system itself is fun despite its rudimentary nature. Visceral Games has attempted to infuse some depth into the proceedings by way of an extensive upgrade system which allows Dante to augment his abilities in either ‘holy’ or ‘unholy varieties’, and some segments which allow him to take the reins of an enormous, infernal beast, but by and large players will be using the same basic combos and powers throughout the majority of the adventure. Clearly, Dante’s Inferno is not a technical hack-and-slash to challenge the devotees of Bayonetta or Ninja Gaiden; it’s joys are baser than that, but arguably no less fun and certainly a great deal more accessible. The only real blight on the title's minutet-minute gameplay is its fascination with ‘quick time events’ as popularized by Resident Evil 4, Shenmue and God of War, which at times borders on amour fou on the part of Visceral Games. From ‘punishing’ or ‘absolving’ your foes to opening a door or collecting health or magic, players will be hammering buttons to the tune of on-screen icons for the game’s duration. It’s a wonder one doesn’t need to hammer a button to have Dante put on his underpants, and most gamers will feel the onset of carpal tunnel long before the end credits.
I'm fairly certain that this segment involved a quick time event of some sort..
Luckily, Dante’s Inferno is none too long and concludes before wearing out its welcome or causing your thumbs to snap off. Clocking in at around a dozen hours of playing time on the default difficulty level, there is certainly enough game for players to sink their teeth into, and multiple difficulty levels, unlockable bonuses and the promise of downloadable content (which is alluded to on just about every menu screen) make Dante’s Inferno a decent long-term prospect.
While Visceral Games was able to take the core elements of Resident Evil and fashion them into a product which arguably superseded its inspiration, this is a feat which it has sadly been unable to replicate. As a whole, Dante’s Inferno fails to do enough to compete the giants of the genre; a full measure of its worth may not become apparent until God of War III arrives later next month, but on its own merits Dante’s Inferno is still a solid, enjoyable, albeit unspectacular game. It may not boast the creative gusto or sophistication which elevates its competition, but it is well-paced, accessible and technically-competent. It is destined to be forgotten in the months to come, but if you can handle its often ugly and exploitative nature there is still a fundamentally good time to be had in Hell.
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