The inventory’s potential becomes most obvious during the “challenge arena” style matches which make up the penultimate Circle, Fraud, but so too do its flaws. A few of the items could use the attentions of the nerf-gun. Combine a relic which makes Cross attacks uninterruptable with an almighty area effect move I like to call “vac-and-smack”, for instance, and you can pretty much circle-button the entire hellish pantheon to mush.
Minas is a pushover, but he's the most interesting of the game's villains.
It’s a shame this feature isn’t more watertight, as it’s probably the best reason to replay a game whose grander set-pieces, however marvelously over-conceived, fall a little flat. Boss fights aren’t short on starpower, with appearances from the likes of Antony and Cleopatra, but where God of War’s equivalents were the organising principles behind entire levels, Visceral’s two or three stage pattern-mashers are walled off at one end of the corridor.
Best of the big critters (or at least most memorable) are the three-headed dog Cerberus, who blocks access to the Circle of Gluttony with a wave of part-digested corpseflesh, and the blind giant King Minas, judging the Damned by their scent in the fortress of Limbo. Both these horrors hit the stage early on, and it’s clear long before the final, forgettable struggle against Lucifer himself that imagination is running dry.
Besides replaying post-completion (it took me eight to nine hours) at higher difficulty levels with the abilities you’ve earned, you might hold onto your copy till the arrival of the downloadable Dark Forest prequel chapter in March, and the Trials of St Lucia pack in April, the latter of which includes a standalone arena co-op mode and mission creator. But by then, of course, the real God of War III will be out.
There’s nothing broken about Dante’s Inferno, and much that’s enjoyable, but it’s more an act of homage than a game in its own right. Like the shade of the Roman poet Virgil, the Ghost of Sparta keeps Visceral company throughout its underworld adventure, but unlike the former, Kratos casts a very long shadow.
Hella confused? Check our scoring guide. Hella pissed off? Firebomb the forum.
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I must say that I’m dissapointed in your review of Dantes Inferno. Not because it was bad, but because you spent the whole thing comparing it to God of War. I can understand you wanting to compare the similarities between the two, but Inferno should be judged completely on its own merits.
I for one have never played God of War, and quite frankly never want to. That said, Inferno excels in its cutscenes and art driection from what I’ve seen and played. And I look forward to playing the whole thing.
If you want to compare the two games based on originality then you must remember that Inferno, (the poem) came out way before God of War did. So you should make it a point to say that God of War ripped off Dantes Inferno.
My comment is not meant to blast you for your review, only to remind you that we depend on you to show us what the game offers. If the gameplay is uninspired, say so. If the graphics suck, let us know. But don’t waste your time or ours telling us how much this game may be like that one.
Remember, everything old is new again, and in the entertainment industry, nothing is new.
I hear what you’re saying there, Cameron, but we’re talking about pretty damn comprehensive cross-over here. Dante’s Inferno’s merits are God of War’s merits, more or less. The only real major difference – setting and morality system aside – is that it isn’t quite as good.
If I *had* tried to judge the game in isolation, those readers who *are* familiar with God of War would have taken me to task for it. After all, most people want to know how a new release stacks up against others in the genre, even when the title in question is on the unique side.
I’m glad you’re enjoying it, mate. It’s a good, solid effort. Do give Kratos a chance, though – the God of War games are some of the best you’ll ever play.
As regards the original Inferno – last time I checked, it wasn’t a linear hack-and-slasher with copious QTEs… :p
It amazes me how people want to argue about the obvious. Any idiot can realize that this game is a God of War clone. A game considered my most (not all) to be a very good series.
Dante Inferno should be flattered to be compared to such a game. I have no problem with the review besides the score. You gave this game more credit than it deserves. EA struck out with this one.
Shut your mouth Zarbor.
I just finished this game and I gotta agree, they stole from GoW by the buckets lol, but this isnt necessary bad – I wish there were more games like these, however unlike GoW games, Dante suffers from uninspired pacing in the second half that seriously drags the game down. First 3-4 hours, great. Last 3-4 hours, uughhh…
I also wish they didn’t recycled the enemies so much, GoW2 has like triple the number of unique(not just different skin) of enemies.
Instead of trying to release it before GoWIII, they should have iterated more, the potential was there.
Im reading up some reviews cos Dante’s story interests me and every time it ends up with the God of War being the best discussion, well how about this … if there is one big rip off, its God of War being an exact copy of Devil May Cray, now why dont we hear anything about that ?
Im not saying god of war is bad, on the contrary, but ppl should stop the rip off discussion and view the games on it own, there was only one real revelation in this kind of game style wich also had a great story, and that was Devil May Cry 1 on the PS2, thats the pioneer in this genre and not at all god of war.
So let this rip off discussions plz end, cos everyone who is telling god of war was original, should dig a bit deeper into the real genre history.
Its a genre these days and not so much a copy mode of another game, so the games should be reviewed on that. Handling, story, pace, coop and fun, thats what matters.
I know I am pretty late to this discussion but I just had to say that this game deserves its title as a Gow rip off.Its not because its in the same genre comparing Devil may cry to god of war is apples to oranges.Its just like the reviewer said this game is a clone down to the character animations and level design.I am torn while a copy and paste of this magnitude is downright shameful.GoW is a damn good series so even a as an inferior knock off this game is still good.I guess my biggest gripe was releasing so close to God of War 3 which is even more disrespecful since it attempts to compete with the game it rips off.It must have been pushed by microsoft so they could have a game like this on their console.If this game would have released a year or so before when people where starved for Kratos it would have done better sales wise and would have been little more accepted.
You’re all douchebags if your biggest worry is what game ripped what off. If the game is fun and worth 40 to 60 bucks then play it you fan boy faggots and stop crying. If you can’t review it as to whether it’s a good game to buy and play then shut the Fuck up.