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Advent Calendar Day Eight - Dante's Inferno
Hands-on impressions from one of next year's early hopes.
Written by Jon Denton, 08 December 2009
It seems like there are two kinds of console games at the moment. If you're not ducking behind knee-high cover and popping out to shoot goons in the face, then you're probably swinging some sort of bladed implement around in a circle while mysterious orbs appear from their cleaved carcasses. Dante's Inferno falls into the latter category.
It's God Of War, pure and simple. Almost to the point where it's pointless mentioning it. So while it may wear its influences proudly on its blood soaked sleeves, that doesn't mean Dante's Inferno doesn't have a fair bit going for itself. Of course, this is from Visceral Games, the studio behind the immense Dead Space, and its production values live up to its literary pretentions.
You play as the poet Dante, transposed as a warrior who's a dab hand at spinning around in a circle with a bladed implement in his hand. He's taken it upon himself to traverse the seven circles of hell in search for his better half, and if he has to kill a few billion monsties on his way, then so be it. It's a bludgeoningly unsubtle take on the original Divine Comedy, but it makes for a good beat 'em up setting.
360Zine Issue 39
For our latest Dantes Inferno coverage, click here to download 360Zine Issue 39 for free.Our particular hands-on time took place in the Second Circle, Lust, where we took on one of the most disgusting creatures ever seen in a videogame, a huge, screen-filling naked purple lady who spewed demon babies from her exposed nipples. Visceral Games showed their knack for body horror with the gruesome mutations that inhabited Dead Space's hulking Ishimura, but this is another level. It's genuienly hideous.
Combat doesn't veer from what you'd expect of this type of game. It's fast, violent and accessible, masking depth but never requiring it. At least in the section we played. Leaping, slicing, dodging and countering is incredibly familiar, but the game looks and feels excellent as you're doing it, making for a pleasingly visceral, if you'll excuse the pun, scrap.
As for the boss herself, well, it's back in God Of War territory once again. After damaging her disgusting breasts with our aforementioned bladed implement, the game kicks into QTE and allows Dante to force her tongue onto the machinations of an elevator system, making for a truly hideous death sequence. Everyone in attendance winced and groaned. It's gratuitous, sure, but it's also uncommon for a game to actually provoke that sort of reaction, so in that respect Dante's Inferno has achieved some of what it set out to do.
We'll have continued hands-on coverage of EA's brawler in the coming weeks, before the game hits Xbox and PS3 on Feb 5th. Hellish.
Dantes Inferno coverage available in 360Zine Issue 39 - click here to download it for free!
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