Girl Gamer

Dante’s Inferno starts off with your learning the combat system and then encountering your first major fight: DEATH, himself. After you kill Death (yes, yes I said kill Death himself) you receive a little souvenir that you use throughout the game; his scythe. Once you learn all the combat and functions of Dante, the real story begins.

Dante comes home from the Crusades, only to find his home ransacked and his true love, Beatrice killed. While holding and mourning the death of Beatrice, Lucifer appears to tell Dante that Beatrice’s soul belongs to him and drags it down to hell.

So begineth your epic journey!

Normally someone would count their losses, but not Dante – he descends into Hell to rescue Beatrice from the evil clutches of Lucifer. The story of this game is quite unique; once you enter Hell, you see all the sins that Dante committed while fighting in the Crusades. The CG and animated scenes depicting this story were done quite well. I found myself loving the story of the game; even having read the book and knowing that it is a completely different story.

As you travel through each circle of Hell, you see the sins and hear the wailing of the damned souls. You will fight your way, either killing demons or absolving their sins. Each time you kill or absolve a demon you gain their soul. The soul is used as a currency for a talent tree in the game which allows you special attacks and abilities, increased health and mana, counter moves, and the ability to regenerate mana. There are two separate trees: the Holy and Unholy tree.

The Holy Tree makes your cross attacks stronger and knocks back your enemies, giving you some room to breath. (Hell is crowded, apparently) The Unholy Tree will give you attack combos for your scythe; making the attacks do more damage and even more knockbacks. If you haven’t heard yet, this game’s combat system is almost the same as the God of War games. If you know that system, you’re already a pro in this game.

Throughout the game, you will find relics which can do different things. For example, if you kill an enemy with a Holy attack, you gain health. Gain more souls for killing a demon with an Unholy attack. (These are just a couple of examples.) Although the combat is simplistic, the overall flow of the game is entertaining; but the combat does get boring due to the repetitive combos. The camera angles can be annoying at times and since it’s fixed, there is no changing that.

Gamer Discretion is Advised

Dante’s Inferno is rated Mature, and for good reason. There are many scenes that depict nudity, not to mention you’re in Hell; you’re not killing demons with love, you’re kicking ass and taking names…so cowboy up. Again, this is a game where you’re in HELL so you will see a lot of things that are pretty graphic. I found myself with my jaw dropping many times saying, “Really…wow.” You will fight naked female demons which, ummm…(how do I say this) use their genitalia as a weapon.

Go ahead and giggle, we can take a break.
Take your time.
Ahemm.

To Forgive, or Not to Forgive

There are certain historical characters in the game where you can choose to punish or absolve. If you choose to absolve them, ::yawn:: there is a mini game that starts where you have to time hitting certain buttons to capture their sins. If you’re good at it, you can gain more souls (experience for the Unholy/Holy tree) which are always a good thing. (It’s basically a Dance Dance Revolution except there’s no upbeat music and you don’t have to look like a fool in public just mashing the buttons when you’re suppose to.)

The eerie music and the environmental sound will make you feel like you’re in Hell, but the wailing makes you want to attack the damned souls just to shut them up!

On a side note, the PS3’s Divine Edition of the game comes with some special features that the Xbox players won’t get. You’ll get exclusive videos, the digital version of the poem, free downloadable content, game soundtrack, and digital artwork.In April there will be a download of the game called Trials of St. Lucia where you make your own level and fight with friends online and compete with other players.