Initial Impressions of Dante’s Inferno

For those busy with all the holiday hustle and bustle, the Dante’s Inferno demo launched on PlayStation Network last week. Needless to say, we downloaded it as soon as it was available and, so far, we’re pretty impressed.

Let’s get the dirt out and cover up what we don’t like so far. It’s not much, but we want to be thorough.

With all the great cinematic trailers in the game, we were VERY surprised to see traditional 2D animation sequences in the game. Being pulled from a 3D world to a 2D one for the backstory is a bit jarring… Thankfully, the cutscenes are pretty short, but we were a bit surprised.

Some of the action sequences also took us a while to figure out… For example, when you’re fighting Death, which seems to be the first real boss battle, a stick would start moving up and down prompting us to end up. move (or the first step in a finishing move). After several unsuccessful attempts, we noticed that there was an “O” on the top of the stick, which meant that we didn’t have to move the stick, we had to repeatedly press the “O” button to perform the action. Once we figured this out, the game became a LOT more fun.

Based on what we saw in the demo, Dante’s Inferno is rated “M” for a reason. There was no attrition in the game, but there was nudity and a lot of blood. It’s definitely one of those games where you’ll need to get the kids out of the room while playing (we certainly did).

At first glance, Dante’s Inferno looked like a real button masher with combos, chain attacks, etc. That was until we discovered the RPG elements of the game. As you level up Dante, you gain new attacks, combos, abilities, etc. This, in and of itself, isn’t new, but the development team took traditional leveling and put a nice little twist on it. If you have played any of the God of War series, the gameplay is VERY similar.

As you finish off enemies (by grabbing them, stabbing them with your scythe, etc.) you have a couple of options. You can “Absolve” them of their sins, in which case you release their spirits and gain “Holy” experience points, which will be used to unlock “Holy” items and level up/skills.

If you have a bit of a mean streak in you, you can “Punish” them and finish them off in a pretty brutal way (heads and torsos everywhere). if you choose to “Punish” them, you gain “Unholy” experience points to be used for more dark/attack related items.

It seems that the main difference between “Holy” and “Unholy” is that one is for melee/melee attacks and the other (“Holy”) is for ranged attacks, healing, etc.

According to the developers, the choices you make will also affect the story, but we’re not sure to what extent.

In the demo, you walk through what appear to be parts of two levels of the game. The first one is outside, during the crusades, so you can familiarize yourself with the attack buttons, controls, etc. Your beloved Beatrice is killed while you’re away and you’re stabilized in the back, leading to your first boss battle, Death herself.

Once you beat him up a bit, take his gun and split him in half with it, you return home to find your fiancée dead and her family. This begins your descent into Hell as you make your way to the Gates of Hell and the demo’s second Boss Battle, the Gatekeeper.

For those who don’t have a PS3, the Xbox 360 demo is coming to Xbox LIVE on December 24, just in time for Christmas!

So far we like Dante’s interpretation of the original Inferno story (they changed him to a warrior instead of a poet to make it a bit more action oriented), and it was SO much fun to play. This is definitely one of the games to watch out for in 2010.

Dante’s Inferno is based on the immensely influential classic poem, Dante’s Inferno takes you on an epic quest for revenge and redemption through the Nine Circles of Hell. You are Dante, a veteran of the Crusades who must hunt down his beloved Beatrice and try to free his soul from the clutches of Lucifer. As his search for him takes him deeper into the abysses of Hell, he must battle increasingly ferocious and hideous monsters, all the while confronting his own sins, a dark family past, and his unforgivable war crimes. It will be available for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on January 10, 2010.