Within minutes of starting Dante's Inferno you've defied and slaughtered Death himself, taken his weapon, and delved into the very depths of Hell to save the soul of your beloved. The opening act makes a strong first impression, but Dante's Inferno goes back to same ideas far too often, and doesn't do enough to stand out amongst the increasingly crowded hack-n-slash action genre.

The game is based on the epic Italian poem that bears the same title, and I was impressed by how it drew from the source material for more than mere inspiration. When Dante (your hero) isn't hacking and slashing his way through the tormented souls of the underworld, he's passing judgment on many of the characters from the poem (in particular the heroes and villains of ancient Greek and Roman mythology).


Choosing whether to punish or absolve these characters based on how you feel on a whim isn't the best plan, since this mechanic translates directly into Dante's character progression. It's a shame that the character advancement system isn't more evolved: Despite two trees that you can go down to unlock powers -- Holy and Unholy, based on whether you punish or absolve -- Dante's moves aren't as multi-faceted as God of War's Kratos, his spiritual predecessor, or fellow action newcomer Bayonetta. Comparatively, Dante's attacks feel strictly limited.

But while the move set isn't particularly inspired, the game does an excellent job in its transporting the player to hell. Developer Visceral Games did a great job of taking the conventional elements of action game character and level design and experimenting with them to bring a truly nightmarish vision to the screen. One particularly clever visual effect utilizes video in place of a standard texture, so that the tortured souls trapped within Hell's walls appear to reach out, grasping for a chance at reprieve from an eternity of pain and torment.

Visceral didn't pull any punches when it came to enemy design either. I'm sure we'll hear plenty about one controversial enemy type: the unbaptized children first encountered in Limbo, condemned to an eternity of damnation. These little monsters are ghastly to behold, with their umbilical cords wrapped around their waists like belts and their arms ending in cruel blades. Other enemies are also absolutely revolting to behold, like a boss where the artists toyed with graphic, sexually explicit imagery that elicited a strong reaction from even my own desensitized sensibilities. Despite not caring for all the game's imagery personally, I can appreciate that this is Hell, and it's supposed to be disturbing.

The excellent sound design also helps drive this bleak, oftentimes frightening vision into the deepest recesses of your mind. The incessant wailing of the damned set my nerves on edge, while the coos and giggles of those unbaptized babies -- and consequently their screams as they felt Dante's scythe -- was always downright creepy.


Graphic visual setpieces and ominous sounds set the tone for this literature-turned-videogame, but it's the way the game incorporates the characters and stories from the classic work that keep it from being just another God of War clone. Meet a member of the damned's supporting cast and you're treated to a well-animated short film that graphically reveals the depths of moral depravity that barred these souls from heaven. These videos aren't for the meek either, as most sequence incorporate nudity or gore (and often both).

Despite its flaws, Dante's Inferno is definitely worth checking out, if only because it presents a unique visual take on one of literature's greatest works. It's occasionally shocking and often annoyingly repetitive, but the action is good enough to keep you engaged through what is a thought-provoking experiment in converting classic literature to a game.