EA's Dante's Inferno cuts a bloody mess onto the gaming scene this week, but do we really want a game based on a poem? After all we all know what Beowulf ended up like. 

 

The first few minutes of gameplay on Dantes Inferno look staggeringly familiar to something you may have played before, in fact as you play through the game there will be many a moment of "déjà vu". The basic controls and attacks are uncannily like that of God of War for the Playstation 2 so essentially Xbox 360 gamers finally get a chance to play a game like the now classic hack-fest, but fear not as it's not quite the cookie cutter clone it appears to be. 

 

 

 

Dante's Inferno is very loosely based on a poem called The Divine Comedy. This tale is set around 1300 and is about Dante who is guided by the ghost of Virgil (a Roman poet) on his journey through Hell. The game differs slightly to allow for maximum carnage, this Dante is a Knight of the Crusade, set forth to spread the word of God in a most brutal fashion. Having thought their sins of all these deeds had been abolished, Dante and his men continued on their path of blood and it is only when Dante is slain during battle and Death arrives to collect his soul that he realises it was all lies. This leads to a surprisingly difficult but satisfying boss fight, resulting in you claiming his bone constructed and awesome looking scythe.

 

Upon Dante's return to his homestead he is greeted only by carnage and the slaughtered body of his beloved Beatrice, who's soul then gets sucked into Hell. Dante is then tasked with defeating the numerous levels of Hell, each one more twisted than the last to save his love.

 

Now there are definitely going to be a few people miffed at Dante’s Inferno as it does play almost identically to God of War, but this is by no means a bad thing. Whilst combos, button bashing finishing moves and music are similar, Dante's Inferno sets itself apart with a huge selection of devastating powers. With the collection of souls you can purchase new powers and upgrades from a huge selection split into two distinctive parts, Holy and Unholy. To unlock new tiers from either you need to finish enemies in a certain way, usually with a grab which is followed by a choice of Absolving or Punishing them. To improve these powers even more Dante is able to collect Relics that increase weapon and power stats. On top of the close attack scythe and exhaustible magical powers you also have an unlimited supply of ranged attacks called Holy Crosses, which on more than one occasion got me out of a sticky spot.

 

 

The difficulty is rock solid and the game has no fear of holding back, pitting you against some real tough characters in the first few hours of play. What makes it even harder is the lack of health refills, there are a few fountains dotted around the levels and the occasional larger baddie to Absolve but most of the time you are running around with a slither of health. Thankfully the game has plenty of save points and checkpoints to ensure you don't back track too much. To split the continual fighting are some well thought out puzzles, most of them boil down to pull this block or swing from that rope but they are all well executed and offer something a little different.

 

The visual presentation of Dante’s Inferno is not breaking any ground but is varied, from the life-like FMV and animated cut scenes to the surreal environments that are born from you nightmares, every part will mess with your head and send chills down your spine. Though a lot of artistic license has been taken with the source material there are plenty of great level and monster designs, like Charon the Ferryman appearing as a huge boat with Dante having to rip his head off, who said literature was boring? There is a good variety of baddies to take down, from exploding corpses that you can use to your advantage, huge mounted war beasts that you can capture and ride, unbaptised babies with huge blades for hands and of course some spectacular bosses.

 

Not to be seen as source material for your English Degree, Dante’s Inferno is pure hack and slash fun that offers a solid gaming experience, so anyone who is a fan of this genre will not be disappointed.