First Impressions: Dante's Inferno

Sometimes I feel like I'm the best hack-and-slash player in the world.

This, of course, is not at all true (especially when you take into consideration the fact that I am abysmal at all Devil May Cry games).  I'm decent.  But I've played enough games like God of War and Darksiders to feel like a pro the first time I start a new hack-and-slash title.  I destroy the first round of practice enemies, because I understand the use of heavy and light attacks.  I obliterate the first boss, because I'm already well-versed in the art of dashing or rolling away.  I solve the hell out of the first puzzle, because it know which tricks to look out for.

This is the point where I usually start feeling pretty good about myself.

Then, of course, the game difficulty catches up with me, and I'm brought back to the reality that, no, I'm not a video game god.  I've just played way too many of these action-adventure type games, and the variety between them is slim.  Now, I'm only about two and a half hours into Dante's Inferno, so I'm at the point in the game where I'm still feeling pretty cocky about my abilities.  This inner glow of self confidence may be swaying my first impression of Visceral Games' new title, so be aware that I'm basing these opinions based only on my initial reactions.

Okay, so here we go:

Dante's Inferno, from the beginning, is dark, polished, impressive...and a little disturbing.  You, of course, play as Dante (you know...like the book) as he works his way through the nine circles of hell in order to save his beloved Beatrice.  The game is wrought with Catholic themes, which (as someone who is non-religious but enjoys Biblical stories as literature) I thought gave the game a nice touch.  For example, you obtain pieces of silver ("Judas Coins" they are called) during your travels in order to gain souls, and one of your special attacks is called "The Power of the Cross" and essentially consists of a giant, glowing cross moving powerfully through your enemies.  When prompted with a special finishing attack, you can choose to either "Absolve" or "Punish" your foe (for a variety of different rewards), and you can choose from either "Holy" or "Unholy" upgradable attacks.  Every aspect of gameplay was very well thought out by the creators, which I appreciated after Darksiders' less-than-polished feel.

The graphics are impressive, and though they are not quite up to God of War standards, I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth they appeared, even though I played on an X-Box 360 consol.  The environment is dark and forbidding...perfect for a storyline that intents to take you through the circles of Hell...and the game doesn't shy away from using disturbing imagery and gruesome cut-scenes to drive the atmosphere home.  Darksiders, though a hack-and-slash, had an almost cartoon-y and lighthearted feel to it...nothing particularly chilled me.  Dante's Inferno is in a completely different ballpark, taking far more artistic inspiration from the God of War series.

And overall, I've really enjoyed the first few hours of the game.  The enemies I've faced thus far haven't been particularly hard, but there's something to be said about getting to feel bad-ass for a while.  The puzzles have been challenging, but not unsolvable.  So far, I like it.

Now for the bad:

Like I said, the bosses so far have been easy...maybe a little too easy...though I've been playing on the Medium difficulty level.  In addition, some of the battles just go on for too long.  Lengthy battles are okay, but you need to be engaged during the entire conflict.  Some of the battles (both common foes and bosses alike) become tedious and repetitive, and would have been more effective if they were more difficult and shorter.

I also get the feeling that this isn't a long game.  It took be two and a half hours (or so) to reach the end of the second circle (Lust).  Half of that gameplay was used to get Dante into Hell in the first place.  The circles themselves don't seem particularly lengthy, requiring perhaps a half hour to an hour each.  I'm anticipating that the game will take around 8-10 hours, which feels a little short to me.  Granted, the amazingly good Dead Space only took me 9 hours to complete, but it had high replay value.  I'm not certain, at this point, whether Dante's Inferno will have that.

And again, I don't want to beat a dead horse, but the similarities to God of War are striking.  This is my third hack-and-slash that I've played in a row (after this, I think I'm going to try an RPG or survival horror title), and that might be contributing to the overall feeling that I'm not getting anything particularly new out of the game.  If Darksiders felt like I was playing a cheap rip-off of God of War, Dante's Inferno sort of feels like I'm playing an early-released God of War 4, or a spin-off that used Catholicism as inspiration rather than Greek Mythology.  Enjoyable as the game may be, I can't help but feel like there has to be something new that these action-adventure game developers can come up with.

Anyhow, as I mentioned, this is just my first impression.  Maybe my opinions will be skewed after a few more hours of gameplay, either for better or worse.  Only time will tell.  All I DO know is that all this talking about Dante's Inferno has made me want to play again, so I'm going to get back to that.

Until next time!