Dante Why are You Trying to Save Beatrice?

Erik Kubik, Associate Writer

March 7, 2010

A question I kept asking myself though out the game, there has to be other women out there, jeeze Dante?!

There have been reviews about how great Dante's Inferno is, where it falls short, why you should buy it, etc. There is no dodging this gaming bullet and the possible future lawsuit that Dante's Inferno is a clone of God of War, a direct rip off, down to if developers gave Kratos a makeover with a red cross and a giant scythe, Kratos could waltz right into hell and fill Dante's sand-filled boots. If you play one game this year, play God of War III. If you play two games this year, play Dante's Inferno.

If you like how GOW works with the combos, the weapons and the ripping apart of limbs than Dante's Inferno should be right up your gaming alley. Dante lacks the weapon choices of Kratos but at least he has holy or unholy, which is more of how you play the game.

So what makes this game worth your money? Is it fun, for the most part? Is it super long, like 60 hours with epic cut screens, no. It's a short romp through hell playing off a poem.

I have to say there were two things which stood out in the game. I was fascinated by how Hell was depicted, unlike Darksiders (the other recent GOW clone) I actually found myself staring at the scenery. Recently I can think of one other game where Hell was a stop off, DOOM III, but Dante does Hell differently in his own way. As in God of War, if you stop and look there is plenty going on in the background and around you, all to make hell seem so real?

In the way of fun, this game isn't very challenging. Sure I died a few times during the Boss fights and the head inducing platform sequences, Dante you are not Mario. I never felt frustrated, which is a good thing. Although I would kill for the movable camera that Darksiders had.

Most of the puzzles are quick and dirty, I didn't have to turn to the Internet for help. Usually that's a bad sign when I have to turn to the 'net and head over to gamefaqs.com to join the pre-pubescent masses, it means two things. A, the game is too hard and I suck and I'm getting old, therefore I should never play or review games again, or B, I'm bored and I want to get to the end so I can go back to flinging nukes at Super Mutants in Fallout 3.

Speaking of easy, Dante's Inferno's boss fights are trouble-free; most gamers will breathe sighs of relief here. For most of the fights, just charge in there and combo like your thumbs demand it, and viola, victory! Or in my case, chose the holy side over the unholy, stand back and blast enemies with bright lights from my cross. Rinse and repeat, 10 hours later you are done and it's time to move onto more meaningful games.

Short of being repetitive and the sometimes containing awkward camera angles, Dante's Inferno makes a good case for the 6th man of the year award. Doing nothing amazing, and doing nothing too crappy, the game just hangs in the background hoping to coax your gaming dollars from you.