Dante's Inferno

Title: Dante's Inferno
Platform Played On: Xbox 360
Release Date: February 9, 2010
Date Played: June 2010
Time Played: 12 hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 5/5


Opinion:
Dante's Inferno is inspired by Divine Comedy a 700 year old book written by Dante Alighieri. The game itself takes some basics from that story and takes them in its own direction.

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You play as Dante, a crusader who has blood of thousands of people (non-believers) on his hands.  Once Dante finds out that back home the lovely Beatrice is killed he sets off through the 9 circles of Hell to reclaim her soul from the hands of Lucifer.

Dante's Inferno has stunningly good cut-scenes, and the game itself looks and plays great. It borrows the basics from God of War franchise, where it is a hack and slash but instead of Kratos' wrist blades Dante uses a huge scythe.

I played through Dante's Inferno is a fairly short time, as the game kept me coming back to it and constantly made me want to play more and more. The game never gets dull as each of the circles look drastically different from each other and have their own enemies.

The combat felt great, and gave a sense of freedom since you can have Dante learn different skill based on your play style.

I found it an interesting touch to run into famous people as I made my way through the circles, people such as Pontius Pilate (the person who sent Jesus to the cross), and Mordred (son of King Arthur, who betrayed his father by raising his sword in battle. Dante encounters him in the Circle of Treachery). Overall there is over a dozen of these historical figures that you encounter, and you have a choice whether you want to punish them (send them to Hell) or absolve them (send them to Heaven). Depending on if you absolve or punish the characters and other creatures in the game Dante gains Holy or Unholy power, which he can use to to get Holy or Unholy abilities. This creates an incentive for replaying the game using different powers.

Overall Dante's Inferno looks and plays great. I loved the story and the game play. I would recommend this game to anyone who likes the God of War series. Although Dante's Inferno borrows a lot of the basics from it, it does an excellent job bringing itself on par with the God of War franchise to where you can not dismiss it simply as a clone. In fact it is just as competent and stands shoulder to shoulder with the God of War franchise.