Dante's Inferno Hands-On Preview
Dante's Inferno is the latest game to come out of Visceral Games, the studio behind the critically acclaimed Dead Space franchise. It's loosely based around part of Dante's Divine Comedy, with the script being written by Will Rokos, who wrote Monster's Ball.
It definitely has a lot of potential, and Gaming Union were fortunate enough to get some hands-on time with the PlayStation 3 version of this title. It's also coming out for the Xbox 360 and Sony PSP, although the PlayStation Portable version is being developed by Artificial Mind and Movement.
It has to be said, but the gameplay bears a strong resemblance to the God of War franchise. Dante, the main character, can perform a standard attack with his scythe, which leads into a combo. He can also perform a move which lifts the opponents up into the air, as well as being able to dodge using the right analogue stick. There are a few differences though, including the use of magic. Since Dante is fighting in Hell, he can use the Crucifix to harm his foes and this can be combined with the other moves to make long combat chains. It can also be charged up to perform a more devastating holy attack.
The combat seemed pretty fluid, although given the nature of the game, Dante's weapon didn't feel overly damaging. Hopefully more can be done to make the hits feel like they have much more impact, as it would definitely make it feel more satisfying. The gore is very much present though, and with the larger enemies, quick-time events can be used to dismember them in some way. Quick-time events were also present for the boss encounters too, as a way to stun them so that more damage could be inflicted.
Graphically, the game looked rather impressive. The level design is very appealing and shows a lot of imagination, as do the enemies. Dante doesn't just have to fight against tiny Stygian Dolls and Minotaurs, no, he has to fight against huge Lava Giants at the same time. It makes the combat really frantic, and it's good to see that the developers have tried to make the gameplay much more interesting by making the environment effectively come to life.
Overall, Dante's Inferno looked like it's on the way to being quite a solid title. If the gameplay gains some polish, it could definitely become an enjoyable experience. However, based on the evidence of the demo, it looks like the game might struggle to escape from God of War's shadow. Here's hoping that the final product shows much more content which will help to differentiate it.
It's currently penned in for a release towards the start of February, 2010 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Sony PSP.
