Preview: Dante’s Inferno

Being an avid reader of religious mythology and stories, I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am about a game based on Dante Alighieri’s epic poem Inferno. I’ve owned 2 copies of the book, and read it multiple times, so when I heard news months and months ago about a game based on it, I wet myself a little, and coughed a little sulfur with joy. The storyline of the game is written by Will Rokos, who’s claim to fame was the Academy Award winning film Monster’s Ball, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Peter Boyle, and Heath Ledger.

I’ve now had time to forget about the game, and recently rediscovered it and multiple trailers online. I’ve watched the trailers, I’ve watched gameplay shots, and I’ve been very pleased thus far. The first things I noticed about Dante’s Inferno were the similarities in the gameplay style to that of Ninja Gaiden and God of War. That’s how it looks to play in my opinion. I hate comparing games to other games, but I was a big fan of both series of games. I’m hoping that the difficulty is not QUITE as impossible as the Ninja Gaiden games, but if it is, I’ll still play the hell out of this game, no pun intended. The graphics look very smooth, and the combat action seems very fast paced and fluid.

 
Dante’s weapon of choice, which looks like a giant scythe made out of bone, rumored to have been taken by Dante from Death himself, is ginormous, and can reach pretty much all the way across a map to eviscerate your demonic enemies. From the trailer, it also looks like the scythe is segmented, which means you can whip your enemies Castlevania style, and also use it like a grappling hook, kind of like a devil splattering, medieval Batman.

There also seems to be a spell system incorporated into combat, which I’m excited about, especially if your spells can be flowed with weapon attacks to make for vicious combos.
Electronic Arts is set to release this game in February 2010, for the PS3, PSP, and X Box 360, and I’m eagerly awaiting the chance to play it. There is also a direct to DVD movie that will be released simultaneously with the game by Film Roman, the folks who brought us Deadspace: Downfall. It’s December now, but I guess I’ll have to patiently wait 2 months to go to Hell, pun very much intended.