Score: 10.5/13
Written by Drunken Gamer
OK, you can take that quizzical look off your face, just because I’m known as the DrunkenGamer does not mean I not cultured.
The guys at Visceral Games & EA have released Dante’s Inferno, to allow us to play out their take on the epic journey of Dante through the various circles of hell. Now, if you know your Divine Comedy from your left elbow, do not go in expecting a direct interpretation of the original works. It’s based on the epic, but has definitely taken artistic licence with it.
This is only to be expected, as the epic’s Dante is a scholor who is just traversing the circles, and that would not exactly make for great gameplay.
Viscerals Dante is a kick-ass warrior who fought in the crusades, which included a fight with the Grim Reaper for.. some.. reason. After the fight with death Dante takes his scythe and heads home, wrecked with self-doubt about what he has done while away, but semi consoled by the fact that the church had absolved him of his sins.
He arrives home to find that his beloved Beatrice has been slaughtered. As he kneels there holding her dead body, Satan makes his appearance to claim her soul and take her to into the inferno. You see, in return for his safe return from the crusades, she had made a deal with the devil. Dante, not wanting to see his beloved lost to the fires of eternal suffering on his behalf, instantly sets off for the 9 circles of hell in order to save her soul and guide her to her rightful place in paradise. Thankfully, to help you on your travels through hell you are not alone, as you are guided by Roman helper Poet Virgil.
The gameplay itself is your regular action game format; hordes of enemies will attack you and you have to give them a good old fashion whooping. As you already have the scythe of death himself, your more than prepared to give the hordes exactly what is needed.
You have three basic attacks: a light fast attack for small damage, a slow heavy attack for big damage & a ranged blast of holy energy that comes from the cross of your fallen love. As you progress through the game you can gain combo’s for these attacks to make your killing even faster. On top of the basic attacks are magic abilities that you gain. Examples include Righteous Path, which sends you hurtling towards an enemy while leaving a trail of icy shards behind, and Lust Storm, which temporarily surrounds you in a vortex of damaging dark energy. Some of the spells are gained from items you pick up on your travels, others are only available from the character upgrade system that also gives you access to the combos mentioned earlier.
Read More in Issue 24
About the game
Everyone that has done any form of literature education, and many who haven’t, will have heard of The Divine Comedy. This is the epic poem written in the 1300’s by Dante Alighieri, chronicling the journey of the poems protagonist, also called Dante, through the three realms of death. The first of the three realms is the Inferno, which is home to the various circles of hell, each specifically meant to correctly punish the souls damned there for the sins they committed.
