Game #873: Dante's Inferno

  Talk about edgy reimaginings....

 Remember that book, y'know, the one which nobody ever read past the first part, and whoever says otherwise is lying, the Divine Comedy? Well, what about making a God of War clone out of it? Lo and behold, Dante's Inferno, specifically designed to make Dante Alighieri turn in his grave. Plus, the game is demonic as sin, which made it a prime candidate for this year's Halloween Season.

 Yeah.... I don't think using the Divine Comedy license was a good idea. I mean, they could've used the same characters with other names, while keeping the script intact, and just call it a homage, because this has jack all to do with the original book. What's more, they turned Dante into a righteous prick, which is a bit awkward considering he was a real person.

 What I really appreciated about the game is that it was a God of War clone through and through, and a really good one at that, not only proving even further how versatile Visceral Games were, but also being an enticing alternative for Xbox fans curious about God of War.

 Controls and gameplay is very simple, and executing your moves is fairly easy. The right analog stick dodges, Square and Triangle are your basic Scythe attacks and Circle is your 'I win Button', the Holy attacks. You can purchase new moves, most of them executed by holding L2(block) and pressing any of the face buttons, and sometimes, holding L2 and pressing another face button as soon as your last L2 attack finished. You've got aerial combos, a launcher by holding down triangle, unnecessary and obnoxious QTEs and even parrying, everything that makes GoW good is here and it works well. If anything, it's a bit disappointing that Dante doesn't get any new weapons....

 ....but you do get a few nifty ways to customize your Dante. For instance, you can equip up to four different Spells, which are obtained through your skill trees or just by progressing through the game, and you can also equip Relics(2 at first, but the skill trees hold 2 more optional slots) to get some passive bonuses. From garbage such as bonus Holy/Unholy XP to more interesting abilities such as some super armored-attack frames or even undodgeable scythe attacks.

 The game revels in its edginess. Dante wears a torn cloth in the shape of a cross he sew himself to his chest to remind him of his sins. Beatrice showcases her beasts proudly, and pretty much every female in the game bare their breasts. Oh, and a few fat, rotten, nasty guys too! Oh, and Dante's main weapon, his scythe? It used to be Death's, but Dante murdered Death itself with its own scythe. Oh, and Lucifer's penis is a thing. Words can't explain just how edgy this game is... for good or bad.

 Back when the game first released I went out of my way to avoid it. Every review, every bit of footage, heck, even when I played a bit at a friend's house.... I thought the game lacked environmental variety. It takes places inside Hell after all. But thinking like that was a disservice to the game, for the developers managed to make each circle of hell look different enough.

 The circle button produces Dante's ranged Cross combo attack. It starts off as a single projectile, but you can upgrade it into a 3-hit combo or a 5-hit combo. This thing, at least on the Normal difficulty setting, makes mincemeat out of pretty much 90% of your enemies. It's a bit less useful during boss fights, but it's a bit silly how useful this weapon is. Particularly because enemies are supposed to have different weakness, either to Holy(Circle) or UnHoly(Scythe) attacks, but while you may come across enemies that can power through your scythe, your cross is good every time, all the time.

 The difficulty is a bit uneven. The game itself is pretty easy, but a few bosses may prove tough roadblocks, even when you've learned their gimmicks. On the other hand, while battling basic enemies isn't hard, I feel like too many enemies have too much super armor and can all too easily interrupt your combos with their shields. Or just, y'know, spam your circle attack and watch everyone go down in a shower of souls(XP). There were a few puzzles that didn't involve combat that really got my noggin' joggin'.

 85% of the game is super enjoyable, but the 8th circle was a very lame cop-out. Basically, it's a collection of about 8 challenge rooms. No interesting vistas, and very basic, to the point of boring, platforming to get onto each challenge platform. The 9th, and final, circle, starts off with a battle on top of an icy platform from which you can slide off, and alongside your enemies you also have to deal with a giant who'll periodically try to blow you away. I died SO many times on this part, because it's so unfairly tough. You can fall off by sliding after pulling off a parry, you can slide off because you initiated a finished and the giant decided to blow, and you can simply slide off because you're getting frustrated, making you clumsier which means enemies could land a lucky hit in and throw you off the platform. Ridiculous.

 Despite having a few boring and, in my opinion, poorly designed segments near the end of the game, the game is really good, and very enjoyable too. I think there was potential in the engine, and this could've been a really good starting point... of only EA didn't have to be EA and shut them down. As simple as giving Dante at least one alternate weapon, adding more combos, the potential for something amazing was there.

 7.5