Dante’s Inferno
by John Kalanderopoulos, Gaming Reviews
February 21, 2010
[Editor's Note: technically, this contains spoilers. Actually, technically it doesn't. The story was written 700 years ago.]
This would be my first review on Eggplante and although I have been meaning to do one for a while, I still consider it a great honour. I could think of no better game to make my introduction than Dante’s Inferno. Before we get into the game, I feel the need to tell you that I am biased right from the beginning. I have always been interested in theology and actually read Dante’s Inferno while in university just because I was interested in it. I have also read Milton’s Paradise Lost, and particularly enjoy angelology. So when I heard that they were making a game based on Dante Alighieri’s 14th century epic, I was immediately excited.
I had very high hopes with each new announcement that came out about the game. When I played the demo in December I immediately recognized it as a God of War clone, but if you’re going to borrow from another game at least they borrowed from the best. I heard that you as a player could follow two different paths, and so I immediately hoped for multiple endings. I hoped that after playing God of War the game team at Visceral Games would know how to make a worthwhile puzzle/action game. When I saw Dante’s character design, I thought that he would have suffered in Hell to have his sins literally sewed onto his chest. So what was the end result? Well, like the Gates of Hell say, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter”.
Does that mean the game itself is pointless? Absolutely not, but the high hopes (and perhaps expectations) I had were easily dashed. What the game does excel in is creating an all consuming world that brings the Inferno into vivid imagery. The story follows Dante after he is killed during the crusades led by King Richard. He finds his love Beatrice killed and taken by Satan as a prize. Led by the Roman poet Virgil (who wrote The Aeneid), Dante fights his way through demons and the layers of hell to save the one he loves. In each of the nine layers, one layer for each sin, Dante is confronted by the horrors of his past and must make amends. What is great is the inclusion of both Dante’s past, so we get a very nice character background, and classical characters such as Cleopatra and Marc Antony, or Pontius Pilate.
The scenery of Hell is very well crafted. If there is one very strong point to the game is that it’s art work and images are impeccable. I found that each layer of Hell offered something very unique (and appropriate). For instance, the Gates of Hell presented in the game seem exactly based on Auguste Rodin’s 1917 sculpture, or the Greed level seemed like there were many layers of gold everywhere, and Violence had rivers of blood flowing through it. I appreciated how they created each monster but especially the portrayal of the main characters. Dante was appropriately dressed in pseudo-armour, Virgil was crowned with a wreath and walked with a shepherd’s crook, but what impressed me was Satan. Throughout most of the game, Satan is seen as this man who is made of shadow, but when you see his true form you can see that he is more like a fallen angel, with his wings burned off, and even mentions the war in Heaven. And as someone who appreciates theology, I am glad the developers took a cue from Paradise Lost here when creating the ultimate villain.
What the problem with the game is ultimately the game play itself. The game itself is derivative, and whiles the combination of both cross and scythe as weapons seems to flow very well, it just seemed boring near the end. The puzzles themselves clearly were derivatives of God of War, down to pushing crates around. I am thankful that the puzzles were quick but it just seemed pointless much of the time. The game is also short, but near the end I was glad for that because I was just crawling to get to the end. A great addition that was added was two different paths to take. You could play the game condemning doomed souls and earn Unholy points, or absolve sinners of their fate and take the Holy path, each with their own advantages of leveling. I was hoping that we would have multiple endings depending on the path you trot but again I was left disappointed.
So is it worth it to traverse the circles of Hell? Only if you want to reach Paradise. The game was short enough that it could be an easy rent but if you’re a PS3 owner, you get the ‘Divine Edition’ at no extra cost. It includes behind-the-scenes video, a digital art book, a digital copy of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, and you also get to have the first downloadable content free when it is released in March. I can say I did enjoy my time and thought that it was worth it just to see the ending because Dante’s final triumph over Satan and path into Purgatory was beautifully rendered. It was clearly left open for a sequel, and I can only hope that we would have a much more refined game and possible follow Dante through the rest of the Divine Comedy but for now, I think you should all just…Go To Hell.
