Dante's Inferno review page 2

03 Feb 2010 at 18:01:49 by Staff Writers
Systems used to review this title: (PS3)

As well as the upgrades, you're also able to unlock magic abilities. These are usually awarded after defeating a boss, and will afford you uber power in tackling the damned. Because you've got magic power, you have a mana bar too, and you're only able to use your magic within these parameters. The different types of magic attacks use different amounts of mana, but they're worth keeping topped up as sometimes you will need your magic abilities to take down the damned. Favourites of mine are the Righteous Path, a dash attack leaving a trail of ice behind, and the Sins of the Father attack in which your father's pendant attacks nearby enemies. Magic powers too are split into Holy and Unholy but, beyond their visual appearance, there's not a huge amount of difference betwen the good and bad versions. 

Both health and mana aren't regenerative, and you'll have to collect green (for health) and purple (for mana) orbs from different fountains in the game world. There are enough of these around and, if you use your combat skills effectively enough, you'll find that you won't need to top up your health as often as you think. You'll also be able to pick up souls from fountains, as well as Judas' silver coins and Beatrice stones along the way too. These are collectable items, and offer some help in the game. They're not vital to collect and have no bearing on the story or Dante's journey. There are other collectibles which can help your progress and these can be acquired from both Virgil and gargoyle-like demons within the world.

These relics can be used to enhance pretty much any aspect of Dante's abilities. Whether it's to make his scythe more powerful, or to offers better defence from enemy attacks, relics are incredibly useful and really do make a difference when equipped. You have four slots which you can employ, and each relic can be upgraded to a maximum level of three, giving you more power from the relic. Some relics can only be used when you're a certain level on the Holy or Unholy Righteousness scale.

But it's the combat and the enemies which support this rich and varied game world that really make Dante a game worth playing. Dante's Inferno is not the kind of game which recycles early bosses into mid-level obstacles later in the game . Each damned soul and boss is different, meaning you'll have to constantly adjust your playing style to progress. Luckily there's a varied combo system at work and experimenting with different combos can be hugely satisfying, especially when you get the hang of the righteous and unrighteous attacks. Sometimes the Holy attacks do feel a little overpowering and on too many occasions I found myself taking the easy route out by just mashing the Holy Cross attack (B button on 360 and circle on the PS3). Heavy attacks and light attacks follow the same button mapping as most hack 'n' slash games with the X or square button being the latter. A or X is for jumping, while the start button takes you to your menu where you can equip relics, check your progress on the map and upgrade Dante's ability. The right bumpers are used to interact with the environment, the right trigger grabs enemies while the left trigger blocks and the left bumper opens your magic menu in-game. It's a straight-forward affair.

To vary the monotonous beat-this-up and defeat-that-thing gameplay you'll find there are puzzles around every corner. Sometimes the puzzles are easy enough to figure, while other times they may seem a bit more convoluted, but they're never difficult enough for you to give up.

Dante's Inferno is a title which I was quite sceptical about, but having spent the time playing it, I enjoyed my time with it. As far as playing it again, I'd probably go back and play it on the harder difficulty just to see how it varies, but that would be it. The story is engaging, and despite it drawing more from the Divine Comedy on the whole than from Dante's Inferno itself, it's something which is probably easily overlooked by gamers. Almost a shame though, because one would have thought there was room for two sequels here to mirror the texts, but Visceral may take a different route if a sequel is on the cards.

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