"Dante's Inferno" Review (PS3)

Wow, what a great idea for a game. Take the classic descent into Hell, ripped from the pages of medeival poet Dante Alighieri's "The Divine Comedy," but just make it all a little more kickass -- for example, instead of Dante the poet as the protagonist, let's make Dante a scythe-wielding crusader with a cross stitched into his bare chest. And do it in the style of the classic action franchise "God of War." Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout right there! What a concept!

Well, I'd be lying if I said this game wasn't fraught with missed opportunities. But not nearly as many as you've probably heard. Critics were unduly harsh back in early 2010 when "Dante's Inferno" streeted, perhaps because it is undeniably a "God of War" clone and perhaps because the game does admittedly lose some steam near its conclusion. But as for me, I had more fun slashing my way through Hell than I've had in quite some time. Gamespot's score of a 6.5 out of 10, for example, certainly doesn't do this game justice. "Dante's Inferno" may not deliver on all of its many promises, but it comes damn close.

Again, you are cast as Dante, but not the Dante we know from history. This Dante is a deeply flawed individual who manages to earn your affections merely because of his stubborn refusal to accept his fate, or that of his lover Beatrice whose soul is condemned to Hell for having a little too much faith in his virtue. He's a dark, brooding character in much the same vein as Kratos from "God of War" (which is undoubtedly not a coincidence). And like Kratos, he's a real badass. At the beginning of the game rather than die from a should-be fatal wound, he hands the Grim Reaper his ass and steals Death's own scythe, claiming it as his own before heading south toward Hell in an attempt to redeem himself and rescue his beloved Beatrice from the affections of a very horny Lucifer. It's dark but overblown enough to still feel like a video game story instead of a somber meditation on the afterlife. In fact, peeling back the onion that is Dante's character makes for a very compelling story, and the title character is certainly one of the deeper and more interesting video game characters to come along in quite some time -- this side of the Ghost of Sparta, anyway.

It's satisfying as Hell (pun intended) to kill waves upon waves of demons with Dante's stolen scythe. But as scary as that weapon looks, it's Beatrice's crucifix (which literally shoots crosses into his demonic enemies' faces) that really gets the job done. In fact, that cross must be twice-blessed by Jesus Christ Himself, because its mere presence greatly reduces much of the game's challenge factor on lower difficulty settings, as it's a powerful ranged attack that can never be depleted. Combining this with the scythe, some very cool magical attacks, a quite fair number of combo moves, and, best of all, some tight controls makes killing things in this Hell seem like Heaven.

And the design of the game, by and large, is very inspired. Morbidly inspired, granted, but such is the source material. Sure there are a few typical horned demons to contend with as well as some flying creatures that could just about cameo in any action game ever made, but then there are the truly grotesque souls of Lust who, despite a very feminine appearance at first glance, are not shy about thrusting a huge, claw-tipped penis directly at your face. Likewise the mutant souls of Gluttony are gas-filled flesh bags who don't mind using vomit and/or shit as a weapon. Boss encounters are likewise quite memorable, including such baddies as one who rips swords from his own body and throws them at you and one which pits you against the eyeless guardian of the gates of Hell -- the decider, so to speak, of which souls belong in which circle of Hades. It's unfortunate that Lucifer, "Big D" himself, in all three of his guises no less, comes off as just plain silly. First he's a groping shadow-man, then he's a giant laughable beast with bat wings for a goatee, and finally he's your typical horned satyr whose only memorable trait is his giant swinging balls and a member that could make Mr. Ed jealous. After fighting a three-headed beast with mouths for eyes and a demonic Cleopatra with tongues for nipples, Lucifer himself just doesn't get the blood pumping.

But perhaps this boss encounter with the Devil himself best describes the "Dante's Inferno" experience. Early on, the game is amazing -- a true contender to the "God of War" throne with its epic story, cinema-quality production values, and of course its depiction of Hell. Again, you've barely been playing the game for five minutes when you challenge the Grim Reaper himself to a duel. Now that's how you kick off an action game! And despite what you've probably read, the game stays strong up until maybe the 80% completed point. After the tangled forest of Suicide, it's admittedly all downhill, but just getting to this point -- what a ride it's already been.

Unfortunately that's when the real suffering begins, as the devs clearly tried to pad out a somewhat short experience by scrapping solid level design and forcing you into a series of trials that would be better suited as bonus content. For example, you are tasked with killing a series of respawning enemies without using magic at one point, and then killing five creatures while attacking from the air without ever letting them touch the ground. It's silly, it's boring, and it feels like exactly what it is -- padding. Many reviews have mentioned this portion of the game as something of a deal-breaker, but I argue is it any worse than the final portion of "Devil May Cry 3" that forced you (again bearing the name Dante) to repeat several previous boss encounters before you could proceed to the endgame? And that game was quite acclaimed when it came out despite an equally, if not far more annoying buildup to the final confrontation. Those bosses were hard as hell to beat the first time -- fighting them again was just plain infuriating.

All this leads to the aforementioned final battle with the Devil himself, which again fails to fire on all cylinders, but the same is true of many good games. One just wishes "Inferno" didn't feel like two development teams worked on the damn thing -- one, creating 80% of the game, doing a "God of War" worthy job, while the other, responsible for that last 20% not really having much of a clue what makes a good hack-and-slash actioner work. It's this split personality that sadly prevents me from hailing "Dante's Inferno" as a modern classic, but it still comes dangerously close. The music, the voice acting (apart from a silly-sounding Lucifer), the story, the atmosphere, the cinemas, and the gameplay are all excellent. Perhaps the only other flaw that bears mentioning is the annoying 40 second long minigame one must slog through to save the tortured souls of Hell -- it makes the notion of damning them instead and salvaging those 40 seconds of your life, even if you want to redeem Dante's own tortured soul, far too tempting indeed. But virtually everything else in "Dante's Inferno" achieves A-list status, and were it not for such an epic fumble near the finale, what a ride this would be. Hell, even opening doors is fun -- you impale a fat demon with your scythe and pound a button until the stubborn S.O.B. rolls up like an iron curtain and gives you access to the next chamber. Good stuff.

So yeah, it's true that this game has some very tragic flaws. But if you're a fan of hack-and-slash action games like "God of War" or even "Devil May Cry," miss Dante's descent into woe at your own peril. This is very nearly a classic, but, as per usual, the Devil had to go and fuck it up.

Final Score: 8.0