Plus XP

Hack ‘n’ slash games for me are a bit yin and yang. There are some absolute gems out there, such as God Of War which execute the gameplay and story well leaving you just wanting more and more. Then there are some that just totally miss the mark of the hack and slash genre, a perfect example of this is the game Ninja Blade, it held the promise to be a great hack ’n’ slash title, but in the end it just flopped with its approach to gameplay and quite frankly, bad story.

At Eurogamer I was very excited to get my gaming mitts on Dante’s Inferno. Now in all honesty I was very skeptical that the game play may be too much like the great God Of War, having seen footage of the game and the use if quick time events I was slightly doubting this games potential. But now as I sit here reminiscing about the time I had with the game, I can tell you all that you will not be disappointed with this gem.

Just think for a second, if Ninja Gaiden and God Of War had some sort of love affair and produced the perfect offspring combining both Ninja Gaiden’s weapon play and level layout, with God Of War’s Quicktime Events (QTEs) and sheer brutality, you would have one hell of a game right? Well for me Dante’s Inferno takes those elements, twists them into its own style and then adds a sprinkle of classic Renaissance poetry. For me this game is a great combination of classic 1900’s source material with one hell of a new millennium twist.

So let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. You are Dante, you have just arrived in hell because you are after the love of your life, she has been kidnapped by Lucifer and all you have to guide you is a spirit by the name of Virgil. Hell in this game in comprised on nine circles, now I only got to play a small snippet of this game, and I got to experience about a circle and a half, maybe less. Now, when playing the demo I had really no indication of what circle I was in, but having thought about it a little bit (and please correct me if I am wrong) I think I was in the circle of Greed for the most part. The demo threw me straight into battle, I had Dante’s bone scythe to hack and slash the hell beasts, and I couldn’t help but smile at the way I was mowing these demons down with combinations of the square and triangle buttons. This game gets what Hack and slash is about, taking down hordes of foes with outlandish weapons and also giving you the opportunity to juggle their bodies about a bit with free-flowing combinations. So, after taking down those guys I was confronted with a huge hell demon which looked like a cross between a goat, horse and one very angry giant. After taking down it’s rider I could control this beast myself, I won’t tell you too much but lets just say that this was a great element, making you really feel that you were pretty much unstoppable for a short amount of time.

After that, there was some decent platforming to be had, you scaled walls God Of War style and followed QTE’s that quite frankly looked brilliant. I’ve gotta say the on-screen instructions for the QTE’s do not look out of place at all and complement the game play very well as a whole. I then had a great boss battle with King Minos, which was pretty well structured, I only have one slight problem with it mind, and that was the camera angle, having found myself at one part not being able to see what I was doing - but with that said it was an enjoyable boss battle, utilising both QTE’s and classic hack and slash boss battle game play. As a note I must say, the amount of gore and brutality in this game is insane, this is not for the faint hearted and quite frankly I think it is awesome. I mean, Hell is never a nice place to be and you can definitley tell EA have thought about that, a lot.

After demolishing King Minos I then was taken on a nice raft ride down the river Styx. Upon arrival I was confronted by a person who had been banished to hell, and I had the opportunity to either save him, so he could go to heaven, or damn his sorry ass. What I thought was odd was that the demo didn’t let me save him, I pressed the button, but nothing happened. Seeing as this is a pre release taster I didn’t hold a grudge, so I jammed my crucifix into his head and he was banished to hell forever.

The river Styx was your typical boat ride that gets invaded by flying hell beasts. At this point I noticed the circle button shot holy light from my crucifix, meaning that this was Dante’s answer to a projectile weapon. This was dead handy for attacking foes from a distance. The wonderful boat ride turned out not to be a boat at all, I was in fact riding on top of a humongous fire demon’s head, he jumped out of the water and decided crush me, this then led to a boss fight of sorts which involved a lot of dodging and some great platforming elements to boot.

For me, Dante’s Inferno is a great hack ‘n’ slash title, a worthy opponent for the genre’s top spot. It combines great game play with quite frankly stunning level design. If you have read the poem you will be quite satisfied with how well it sticks to the source material, that said it is also puts a great modern day style twist to it. This game is definitely one for my ‘I Want Now’ List.

Garv