Dante's Inferno - From the studio behind Dead Space - February 9 - Demo is Out Now

[FriskyTanuki]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/43685.html

2/24: New trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/45951.html

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3172966

1up has impressions of the game up now:
The fellows at EA have got some significantly-sized cojones. That's what I concluded after seeing EA (via Kim Kardashian at the Spike TV 2008 Video Game Awards) announce a new action game based on Dante Alighieri's epic poem, The Divine Comedy. Both Matt Leone (http://www.1up.com/do/my1Up?publicUserId=5380373) and I went to see a presentation about Dante's Inferno (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3170012), and to also see how the heck EA is turning a poem about taking a walking tour of Hell into a God of War (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=2018842)-style action game.

Scooter: I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of an action game based on The Divine Comedy. I mean, I can see how something like Beowulf easily translates into both a game and a movie, because that was a roughly-3000 line poem about a Dane fighting monsters. The Divine Comedy, on the other hand, is mostly Dante and Virgil doing an Aaron Sorkin style walking-and-talking routine through Hell (or how I remember what little I read of it back in high school). What the hell game can you get from that? Maybe a graphic adventure? Even after creative director and executive producer Jonathan Knight talked at length about the importance of The Divine Com (yes, it's a canonical first person narrative written entirely in Italian as opposed to Latin, but that still doesn't quite explain the "why a game?" question), he then admitted that due to its talky nature, the story had to be "adapted" quite a bit to fit the game. This is most evident when he showed the opening scene, where Dante fights Death in order to nab the iconic scythe for the journey down to Hell (which will be a gameplay scenario, but it wasn't implemented yet, so there was a big "DANTE FIGHTS DEATH HERE" placeholder instead), and then Knight launched into the game demo proper. At that point, I'm like, "OK, I'm overanalyzing things, I guess I'll just take it as it goes." What were your first immediate thoughts/impressions?

Matt: Like much of the Internet, two weeks ago I saw UK magazine PSM3 call Dante's Inferno "Dead Space (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3163490) Meets God of War (http://www.1up.com/do/search?st=god+of+war) in Hell." Thinking back now, that line annoys me, because I saw the same demo they did, and I can't think of anything that seems remotely inspired by or similar to Dead Space. It's being made at the same EA Redwood Shores address, but even with that, there's a different team of people in charge. That's not to say that nobody who touched Dead Space will touch Dante's Inferno -- many of them will -- but it's as relevant to compare the game to Dead Space as it is to compare it to The Godfather 2 (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3168867).

So really, it's God of War meets God of War in Hell -- and man, is it. I imagine most previews will make that comparison, because I just went through my notes and found roughly 30 things that are almost exact parallels to the God of War series. To name a few: you fight with a ranged weapon that can shake the ground to knock over enemies, you have a fixed camera, you evade with the right analog stick, you stretch the scythe to grab blue grapple points, you climb walls with the exact same hopping side-to-side animations, you weaken enemies to the point that a button-pressing minigame option shows above their head, you jam on Circle to open doors, you split your time between solving puzzles and fighting enemies, you pull oddly familiar looking levers, you rotate waist-high rods to raise platforms you're standing on, you traverse hand over hand across horizontal vines, you fight "flying demon pests" that look like harpies and "beasts" that look like colossi, and you can even ride on enemies like Sony just showed as a feature for God of War 3 (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3157966).

Oh, and I'll throw in one more: you have a Holy Power in which a blue area-attack surrounds your character while you levitate with your head and shoulders thrown back. And jamming on Circle increases the size/damage of the move. When something gets that similar it moves from inspiration to blueprint, but to EA's credit, the 15 minutes I played of Dante's Inferno felt better than any of the other God of War clones I've played -- like Conan (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3157648) and Heavenly Sword (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3140602).

Scooter: Yea, that holy power was the Lust Storm, though for the longest time, I thought it said "Just Storm", in the sense that it's a "justifiable storm." Whatever that means. Anyhow, the God of War analogy is pretty head on -- the "cranking the giant circular rod" was the single moment that really finalized the "this is EA's take on God of War." It probably helps that one of the guys on the Dante's Inferno team, Michael Cheng, came from God of War II (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3148722). I can only relegate myself to making superficial comments about the combat, such as how I just hit Triangle (the game will hit both 360 and PS3, but the developers just randomly chose the PS3 version to show off) a whole lot to pull off some sort of strong attack combo that gets me through most fights. As our God of War guru, what makes Dante's Inferno combat feel better than other GOW clones?

Matt: Mostly the animations and timing. I liked lifting enemies into the air and continuing combos up there, extending the scythe to grab drones from far away and pull them closer, and using the parry system -- which was only half-implemented in the version we played, but had a good feel to it and showed a lot of promise. Unlike the other clones I've played, this one doesn't feel like it's struggling (and failing) to copy God of War. I could note a few imperfections, though, such as how evading seems to have a slight delay compared to God of War, and how enemy reactions seem a bit off at times. But that's getting pretty specific for a game that's roughly a year away from release.

Which actually brings up another point. I was asking one of the developers what makes Dante's Inferno's mechanics different from God of War's, and -- in addition to pointing out the cross and how you'll have moral choices like being able to "absolve" or "punish" certain characters ("absolving" gives you twice the orbs, which you use for upgrades, but puts you into a minigame that you may fail at) -- he suggested that we'll see some features around E3 time that will differentiate the game more.

Scooter: To pick up on the "roughly a year away", Knight repeatedly emphasized how early the version we're looking at is. He also made a comment about how Dante's Inferno is doing a "gameplay first" iteration before making any sort of headway into art, and that there's a lot of polish left to do, on the graphics front. For now, that explains why it doesn't quite have the visual polish of, say, a Dead Space. From what I saw, it seemed like a fair bit of detail and animation is just plain missing. At one point, he showed the most recent revision of the area being demoed (which was Limbo, more on that in a bit), and it did have a few extra fire effects. But it seems implied that we won't get a "real" representation of the game until, say, later this year.

Matt: Yeah, technically Knight mentioned that the game's release is "at least a year off," so given how many times they mentioned that these visuals were early and they were trying something different, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt there. But he also mentioned that the dev team has committed to 60 frames per second performance, which will likely hurt the level of detail a bit.

Scooter: Speaking of what was shown, Knight commented that Dante's description of the nine circles of Hell provided a really good template for how the game is going to progress, and all they showed today were parts in the first circle, Limbo. So if you happen to have a copy of The Divine Comedy that has some sort of illustration of Hell, you basically have a future walkthrough. Besides pointing out that characters like King Minos and Cerberus will be boss ones, Knight showed a sequence where you fight aboard Charon's boat. EA's version of Charon isn't just a guy hanging out in a dinghy, but rather a giant vessel with Charon's giant head as the bow. I found it amusing when you end that sequence by tearing off Charon's head and chucking it into out into the Acheron. That was pretty cool.

Matt: And I like how the team plans on throwing Death at you as a boss right as the game starts, and how the sense of scale looks impressive. These are all God of War tricks, but help show off the story and universe, which is a big part of Dante's appeal. As a famous Bruce Jenner daughter once said, "It's based on a book."

Scooter: Quite loosely based; the only plot elements that Knight talked about include how apparently, the different levels/circles of Hell that Dante goes through will reflect on some shady, "sinful" stuff he's done in the past. He remarked that it turns from a rescue story, where Dante just wants to go down and grab Beatrice, into a redemption story. I'm curious to see more of what the other circles of Hell look like, and how well this rescue-to-redemption story gets pulled off. That, and see what Death looks like, as I'm wondering if he will be as radically redesigned as Charon is.

[FloodsAreUponUS]

If you enjoyed Fetch Quests in space, please enjoy them in Hell. Thanks.

[bardockkun]

So I'm out to save souls in hells by jamming a crucifix in their eyes or what?

[SoulReaver]

looks kinda corny...



Whatever happened to the supposed Deadspace Trilogy?

[hostyl1]

I just wonder how they are going to handle the giant Satan and the frozen lake that is supposed to be in the ninth circle. (according to Dante, hell has already frozen over:evil:)

Seriously though, there is no real 'battling' in the poem (yes for those that didnt know Dante's Inferno is a poem). If you're just gonna traverse levels shooting (stabbing?) zombies, it seems to be a waste to use this setting. Those who just want to blast zombies are unlikely to be real familiar witht he work. And those who have read the classic are going to be looking for a deeper experience. This seems destined to foster feelings of "anticipointment" all around.

But what do I know, it's only a trailer.

[Malik112099]

im just glad someone is trying out new ip's

[Rusty Ghia]

I'm interested, if only because I liked Dead Space.

[BREVITY]

Concept and trailer are awesome. Cant wait!

[paz9x]

redwood has proven the can make a AAA game im looking forward to their projects regardless of what they are. sorta like bioware.

[FriskyTanuki]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/45951.html

[Aceboogz]

looks sweet considering i read the book

[elsnow77]

AHAHAHAHA a video game based on an epic poem bigger than most novels. ill pass

[Guerrilla]

Sort of want.

[Megalith]

Is the lust level going to have zombie girls slapping you in the face with their tits?

[ihadFG]

AHAHAHAHA a video game based on an epic poem bigger than most novels. ill pass

...why would that make you not want to play it?

[elsnow77]

...why would that make you not want to play it?
uhhhh read it and get back to me on that one. You'll see

[FriskyTanuki]

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3172966

1up has impressions of the game up now:
The fellows at EA have got some significantly-sized cojones. That's what I concluded after seeing EA (via Kim Kardashian at the Spike TV 2008 Video Game Awards) announce a new action game based on Dante Alighieri's epic poem, The Divine Comedy. Both Matt Leone (http://www.1up.com/do/my1Up?publicUserId=5380373) and I went to see a presentation about Dante's Inferno (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3170012), and to also see how the heck EA is turning a poem about taking a walking tour of Hell into a God of War (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=2018842)-style action game.

Scooter: I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of an action game based on The Divine Comedy. I mean, I can see how something like Beowulf easily translates into both a game and a movie, because that was a roughly-3000 line poem about a Dane fighting monsters. The Divine Comedy, on the other hand, is mostly Dante and Virgil doing an Aaron Sorkin style walking-and-talking routine through Hell (or how I remember what little I read of it back in high school). What the hell game can you get from that? Maybe a graphic adventure? Even after creative director and executive producer Jonathan Knight talked at length about the importance of The Divine Com (yes, it's a canonical first person narrative written entirely in Italian as opposed to Latin, but that still doesn't quite explain the "why a game?" question), he then admitted that due to its talky nature, the story had to be "adapted" quite a bit to fit the game. This is most evident when he showed the opening scene, where Dante fights Death in order to nab the iconic scythe for the journey down to Hell (which will be a gameplay scenario, but it wasn't implemented yet, so there was a big "DANTE FIGHTS DEATH HERE" placeholder instead), and then Knight launched into the game demo proper. At that point, I'm like, "OK, I'm overanalyzing things, I guess I'll just take it as it goes." What were your first immediate thoughts/impressions?

Matt: Like much of the Internet, two weeks ago I saw UK magazine PSM3 call Dante's Inferno "Dead Space (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3163490) Meets God of War (http://www.1up.com/do/search?st=god+of+war) in Hell." Thinking back now, that line annoys me, because I saw the same demo they did, and I can't think of anything that seems remotely inspired by or similar to Dead Space. It's being made at the same EA Redwood Shores address, but even with that, there's a different team of people in charge. That's not to say that nobody who touched Dead Space will touch Dante's Inferno -- many of them will -- but it's as relevant to compare the game to Dead Space as it is to compare it to The Godfather 2 (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3168867).

So really, it's God of War meets God of War in Hell -- and man, is it. I imagine most previews will make that comparison, because I just went through my notes and found roughly 30 things that are almost exact parallels to the God of War series. To name a few: you fight with a ranged weapon that can shake the ground to knock over enemies, you have a fixed camera, you evade with the right analog stick, you stretch the scythe to grab blue grapple points, you climb walls with the exact same hopping side-to-side animations, you weaken enemies to the point that a button-pressing minigame option shows above their head, you jam on Circle to open doors, you split your time between solving puzzles and fighting enemies, you pull oddly familiar looking levers, you rotate waist-high rods to raise platforms you're standing on, you traverse hand over hand across horizontal vines, you fight "flying demon pests" that look like harpies and "beasts" that look like colossi, and you can even ride on enemies like Sony just showed as a feature for God of War 3 (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3157966).

Oh, and I'll throw in one more: you have a Holy Power in which a blue area-attack surrounds your character while you levitate with your head and shoulders thrown back. And jamming on Circle increases the size/damage of the move. When something gets that similar it moves from inspiration to blueprint, but to EA's credit, the 15 minutes I played of Dante's Inferno felt better than any of the other God of War clones I've played -- like Conan (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3157648) and Heavenly Sword (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3140602).

Scooter: Yea, that holy power was the Lust Storm, though for the longest time, I thought it said "Just Storm", in the sense that it's a "justifiable storm." Whatever that means. Anyhow, the God of War analogy is pretty head on -- the "cranking the giant circular rod" was the single moment that really finalized the "this is EA's take on God of War." It probably helps that one of the guys on the Dante's Inferno team, Michael Cheng, came from God of War II (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3148722). I can only relegate myself to making superficial comments about the combat, such as how I just hit Triangle (the game will hit both 360 and PS3, but the developers just randomly chose the PS3 version to show off) a whole lot to pull off some sort of strong attack combo that gets me through most fights. As our God of War guru, what makes Dante's Inferno combat feel better than other GOW clones?

Matt: Mostly the animations and timing. I liked lifting enemies into the air and continuing combos up there, extending the scythe to grab drones from far away and pull them closer, and using the parry system -- which was only half-implemented in the version we played, but had a good feel to it and showed a lot of promise. Unlike the other clones I've played, this one doesn't feel like it's struggling (and failing) to copy God of War. I could note a few imperfections, though, such as how evading seems to have a slight delay compared to God of War, and how enemy reactions seem a bit off at times. But that's getting pretty specific for a game that's roughly a year away from release.

Which actually brings up another point. I was asking one of the developers what makes Dante's Inferno's mechanics different from God of War's, and -- in addition to pointing out the cross and how you'll have moral choices like being able to "absolve" or "punish" certain characters ("absolving" gives you twice the orbs, which you use for upgrades, but puts you into a minigame that you may fail at) -- he suggested that we'll see some features around E3 time that will differentiate the game more.

Scooter: To pick up on the "roughly a year away", Knight repeatedly emphasized how early the version we're looking at is. He also made a comment about how Dante's Inferno is doing a "gameplay first" iteration before making any sort of headway into art, and that there's a lot of polish left to do, on the graphics front. For now, that explains why it doesn't quite have the visual polish of, say, a Dead Space. From what I saw, it seemed like a fair bit of detail and animation is just plain missing. At one point, he showed the most recent revision of the area being demoed (which was Limbo, more on that in a bit), and it did have a few extra fire effects. But it seems implied that we won't get a "real" representation of the game until, say, later this year.

Matt: Yeah, technically Knight mentioned that the game's release is "at least a year off," so given how many times they mentioned that these visuals were early and they were trying something different, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt there. But he also mentioned that the dev team has committed to 60 frames per second performance, which will likely hurt the level of detail a bit.

Scooter: Speaking of what was shown, Knight commented that Dante's description of the nine circles of Hell provided a really good template for how the game is going to progress, and all they showed today were parts in the first circle, Limbo. So if you happen to have a copy of The Divine Comedy that has some sort of illustration of Hell, you basically have a future walkthrough. Besides pointing out that characters like King Minos and Cerberus will be boss ones, Knight showed a sequence where you fight aboard Charon's boat. EA's version of Charon isn't just a guy hanging out in a dinghy, but rather a giant vessel with Charon's giant head as the bow. I found it amusing when you end that sequence by tearing off Charon's head and chucking it into out into the Acheron. That was pretty cool.

Matt: And I like how the team plans on throwing Death at you as a boss right as the game starts, and how the sense of scale looks impressive. These are all God of War tricks, but help show off the story and universe, which is a big part of Dante's appeal. As a famous Bruce Jenner daughter once said, "It's based on a book."

Scooter: Quite loosely based; the only plot elements that Knight talked about include how apparently, the different levels/circles of Hell that Dante goes through will reflect on some shady, "sinful" stuff he's done in the past. He remarked that it turns from a rescue story, where Dante just wants to go down and grab Beatrice, into a redemption story. I'm curious to see more of what the other circles of Hell look like, and how well this rescue-to-redemption story gets pulled off. That, and see what Death looks like, as I'm wondering if he will be as radically redesigned as Charon is.

[ihadFG]

uhhhh read it and get back to me on that one. You'll see

I wasn't talking about the story itself. I was asking what it being an epic poem longer than most novels has to do with it.

[bvharris]

uhhhh read it and get back to me on that one. You'll see

I've read it, I'm still unclear why the source material would make you inherently not want to play the game.

[Javery]

If you enjoyed Fetch Quests in space, please enjoy them in Hell. Thanks.

I don't get it. Dead Space wasn't a fetch quest, was it? I remember picking up ammo and other junk like med packs and stuff but it wasn't like I was searching for colored bananas, jinjos, coins, jiggies or stars...

[CoffeeEdge]

Hahahaha this looks so fucking great. I love how people are bitching about it not being anything like the source material, as if anyone actually fucking cares.

looks kinda corny...
HILARIOUSLY and AWESOMELY so.

Whatever happened to the supposed Deadspace Trilogy?
Just because they're not necessarily releasing sequels on a yearly basis, doesn't mean they won't happen. They're already working on the Wii version, so it's obviously becoming a franchise, one way or the other.

If you enjoyed Fetch Quests in space, please enjoy them in Hell. Thanks.

Did you play Dead Space? It was no fetch quest.

[LordKefka06]

Bump.

It's a close tie between this & GOW3. Hopefully DI will have major gore/blood like GOW3.

[Mospeada_21]

Dead Space wasn't a fetch quest, but somewhere along mid-game, you'll begin to tire of being the errand-boy for that bitch Kendra.

Isn't Dante's Inferno related to Rodin's Gates of Hell?! [too lazy to wiki at the moment]

[LinkinPrime]

Demo's up:

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802454108cf/?of=1

EDIT Fixed link...thanks BackInBlack.

[BackInBlack]

I think this is the right link LP.

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802454108cf/?of=1

[icedrake523]

Demo didn't do much for me. Doesn't look bad, but nothing I have a desire to buy immediately.

[LordKefka06]

Demo wasn't too appealing to me. However I really liked the GOW3 demo, and I still have yet to try the Bayonetta demo.

[Soodmeg]

I am very interested in this game because of the source material (which I have read) and the art style. Other than that...the gameplay looks generic as hell and with too much GOW tribute. Me being one of the few people who thinks GOW is repetitive (not bad just repetitive) I dont see how this game can be any better. Havent played a demo but saw a tech demo being played the other night.....it looked....bland. (Other than the art style)

Tons of self served hype coming from their camp which makes me think they are either, fully confident that this game is epic in stature or compensating for something.


This could be Assassins Creed 1 all over again.

[CoffeeEdge]

Loved the demo. I really hate God of War (like, a lot), but I really like what I've played of Dante.

[bardockkun]

Is it bad when only thing that wow'ed me about the demo was it had boobs?

Other then that this IS a poor man's God of War.

[SynGamer]

Loved the demo. I really hate God of War (like, a lot), but I really like what I've played of Dante.

Ditto. I wasn't impressed (at all) with the God of War III demo...it didn't look anywhere near as good as people have been hyping it, and the gameplay felt very old. I've pretty much grown tired of the Kratos character/story. The Dante's Inferno demo, however, was a lot of fun (on the PS3 at least). Even though it's an obvious GoW clone, the subject matter combined with a silky-smooth 60 FPS really made this game shine for me. It literally went from an unknown to a potential 1st day purchase. Will definitely be picking this up over GoW 3.

[Chibi_Kaji]

Ditto. I wasn't impressed (at all) with the God of War III demo...
To be fair that was only the E3 demo so chances are the final version will look better. As for Dante, I'll probably be picking this up when it comes out(Likely on the PS3 because of the freebies). But I'm still not clear on why I'm able to shoot an infinite number crosses... maybe it was just a demo thing?

[Shrapnellistic]

Didn't think that cartoon was a good way to start the game; would be better for the story if he was tearing up [unarmed] villagers with his Crusader buddies... Edit: As in gameplay.

Entering hell was jaw-dropping, especially since the fire-wall at the cemetery [before the church] was so ugly. Overall, not living up to the kickass marketing campaign.

[sunnysky]

I have a feeling a lot of Fanboy wars will start over this VS GOW.
Seems like a lot of PS3 owners enjoyed the GOW3 demo, and a lot of 360 owners enjoyed this demo.

I think if you enjoy Hack n Slash, either game will be just fine.

[Shrapnellistic]

Hopefully they have palate cleansers like Kratos and his wings or operating the spear turret in the GoWIII demo and the mild puzzle sections; just don't think it'll be acclaimed as highly as Dead Space when compared to Resident Evil 5 (God of War III in this instance).

[whiptcracker]

I have a feeling a lot of Fanboy wars will start over this VS GOW.
Seems like a lot of PS3 owners enjoyed the GOW3 demo, and a lot of 360 owners enjoyed this demo.

I think if you enjoy Hack n Slash, either game will be just fine.

Sort of hard to not get into the VS thing with this game as it's so similar to GOW. In fact my problem with the demo was that it was too similar. I disliked in GOW having to mash a button to open a chest for health, and in this game I have to mash a button for health as well...only it looks like a drinking fountain so I don't even understand why I'm mashing a button. It seems like it's there just because it's that way in GOW.

The cross on the chest seemed stupid to me and the story felt all over the place. He's a Crusader who turns out to be doing bad things, dies, fights Death, wins, sews a cross into his chest and goes home to get answers and ends up seeing his wife dragged to hell and goes after her. Is he pissed at the Bishop? Why is his wife getting dragged to hell? How was he about to explain the cross in his chest to her? The cartoon crap was awkward and not very clear.

The inspiration from the poem seems tacked on instead of how GOW used Greek myths. I think they were also trying to be as offensive as humanly possible which should be interesting if they can release the game in Australia.

Riding the beast at the end of the demo was pretty cool though.

[dastly75]

Played the demo, enjoyed it. The game has really smooth frame rates. It may be a God of War clone but it's damned good and has an interesting premise and I'm more sold on it than I am on Bayonetta.

[CouRageouS]

I liked the demo. It has the smoothness and QTEs of GOW with the enemies and Divine Comedy relation of Devil May Cry. DI shares a lot of character names and bosses from DMC, first thing I noticed after looking at the wiki. Its kind of like the step child hybrid of DMC and GOW, but I feel like the moves are less stylish and will get stale unless there are more weapons. I'll give DI credit for its tiered leveling up system, I like it compared to just stocking up red orbs/souls to buy moves a la carte. I'd like to play through this but its not a buy, a rental should do.

[Soodmeg]

Sort of hard to not get into the VS thing with this game as it's so similar to GOW. In fact my problem with the demo was that it was too similar. I disliked in GOW having to mash a button to open a chest for health, and in this game I have to mash a button for health as well...only it looks like a drinking fountain so I don't even understand why I'm mashing a button. It seems like it's there just because it's that way in GOW.

The cross on the chest seemed stupid to me and the story felt all over the place. He's a Crusader who turns out to be doing bad things, dies, fights Death, wins, sews a cross into his chest and goes home to get answers and ends up seeing his wife dragged to hell and goes after her. Is he pissed at the Bishop? Why is his wife getting dragged to hell? How was he about to explain the cross in his chest to her? The cartoon crap was awkward and not very clear.

The inspiration from the poem seems tacked on instead of how GOW used Greek myths. I think they were also trying to be as offensive as humanly possible which should be interesting if they can release the game in Australia.

Riding the beast at the end of the demo was pretty cool though.

This.

QTE is the bane of the video game world especially when you use this for dumbass reason. Why do I need to need to tap X/A 20 times to open one of the many generic doors in the game? Would the game be any worse if I could just press the button 1 time?

Like I said before, I am only interested in this game because of the source material and the marketing. Unlike most people I actually enjoying marketing and will buy something based on a good marketing campaign. This is by far one of the best I have seen.

But if you take away the actually setting...the game looks generic as hell.

[LordKefka06]

This.

QTE is the bane of the video game world especially when you use this for dumbass reason. Why do I need to need to tap X/A 20 times to open one of the many generic doors in the game? Would the game be any worse if I could just press the button 1 time?

Like I said before, I am only interested in this game because of the source material and the marketing. Unlike most people I actually enjoying marketing and will buy something based on a good marketing campaign. This is by far one of the best I have seen.

But if you take away the actually setting...the game looks generic as hell.Bravo Bravo. :applause: :rofl:

I agree with you, but I'm not gonna be picking this up. However, I will be getting GOW3.

[Rodimus]

I liked it, not the best of these kinda games, but I'll rent it.

My only complaint is mearly a personal issue and not necesarily a flaw with game. It's just way too intense for my tastes. Everything from the visuals to the music is just "in your face." It just makes for a very un-relaxing experience.

[olde_english]

My only complaint is mearly a personal issue and not necesarily a flaw with game. It's just way too intense for my tastes. Everything from the visuals to the music is just "in your face." It just makes for a very un-relaxing experience.

I absolutely get that, I played this and Bayonetta yesterday and felt a little bit dazed at the end of the demos. Really impressed by the cut scenes in DI though.

[slickkill77]

Wow this is just a blatant God of War rip off. Its almost sad how little they tried. Especially coming from the studio that made Dead Space. They might as well call it EA presents: God of War.

How can you like this game but not like God of War? Its the same damn game only GOW does it a hell of a lot better.

[CoffeeEdge]

Wow this is just a blatant God of War rip off.
And GoW is a blatant Devil May Cry rip off. Who cares?

How can you like this game but not like God of War?
Because I don't like God of War. That simple.

[Soodmeg]

Well, CoffeeEdge, I think the main complaint about this game is the fact that its to similar to GOW. It also feels like certain elements are shoe horned into the game without reason. Every game is influenced by the most successful game in that genre but many parts of this game feel lifted from GOW.


I personal dislike the whole, good/evil decision. I really hate how you have to mash buttons to open simply doors and health. Like I said, other than the source material (which I know they have changed a lot) the game seems very generic. None of the enemies stood out and most of the boss fights that I have seen so far seem stupid.

I am mostly interested in how the levels will play out but I have a feeling that most of game will rehashed over and over. I have already seen 3 giant boss battles (all of which looked exactly like the boss battles in GOW) and that alone is turns me off.

[ChernobylCow]

OK, so if you're a third-person beat em' up fan that loves this shit with high production values how can having two high quality titles coming out be worse than just a single game? It's win-win.

Game looks dumb as balls and that's awesome! Can't wait to read the in-depth reviews.

[LinkinPrime]

Finally got around to trying the demo last night. At first I was underwhelmed and I was ready to quit after the first 5min but glad I kept going as I really enjoyed it. I'm debating on getting it day one now.

[looploop]

What a waste of a great license. They could've made a fascinating, epic world on the scale of Shadow of the Colossus and put out the rare game where your raison d'etre isn't just massacring every identical demon in sight, but instead they just stitched a cross on Kratos' chest, threw in more demons and boobs and called it a day.

Complete fucking waste.

[Rodimus]

What a waste of a great license.

licensed from who? It's a 14th century poem.

[Soodmeg]

licensed from who? It's a 14th century poem.


Poem, see I knew that, my friend kept saying story...

[looploop]

licensed from who? It's a 14th century poem.

This is true. It's so rare to see something besides movies made into games that I couldn't help using the term though. And there's another reason it's disappointing to see it made into a generic slasher.

[CoffeeEdge]

What a waste of a great license.
Haha, first time I've ever heard 14th-century literature referred to as a "license."

They could've made a fascinating, epic world on the scale of Shadow of the Colossus
Yeah that would totally be much more faithful to the poem.

[Soodmeg]

Come on CoffeEdge, he was just expressing his disappointment in the game, is it a real license? No but we all knew what he was talking about.

And yes, maybe a Shadow of the Colossus would have been more appealing than a generic hack and slash the same 5 demons with 10 seemingly copy pasted boss battles.

He isnt the only one in this thread that seemed disappointed by the demo.

[slickkill77]

And GoW is a blatant Devil May Cry rip off. Who cares?


Because I don't like God of War. That simple.


Yes because kratos is packing heat and flipping through the air like an acrobat. And apparently not you but it makes for a pretty boring game when the developer tries nothing new.

Don't tell him that. He's one of those people that likes something and will defend it to the end no matter how bad it is.

[SynGamer]

Wow this is just a blatant God of War rip off. Its almost sad how little they tried. Especially coming from the studio that made Dead Space. They might as well call it EA presents: God of War.

How can you like this game but not like God of War? Its the same damn game only GOW does it a hell of a lot better.

Easy; I'm tired of Kratos and I enjoyed Dante's Inferno (book).

[slickkill77]

The combat has no power to it. Your just pushing buttons and guys just go away. When you hit guys in GOW you feel powerful and you feel like your kicking ass. This game is just going through the motions.

[SynGamer]

To each his own. I say potato, you say potahto...

[slickkill77]

Fair enough

[looploop]

Yeah that would totally be much more faithful to the poem.

A focus on exploration and experiencing the circles of hell as a small, helpless soul instead being a death-killing crusader wading through hordes of identical demons? Yes, that would be more faithful to the poem. It would at least be more interesting.
It's just a wasted opportunity to do something special. I love Ninja Gaiden, GoW and DMC, but I've no desire to see the original Dante become a mere super-ninja.

[sleepy180]

enjoyed the game. But will only buy when its like 20 bucks later on down the line. My 2010 gaming schedule is already booked,

Darksiders > Bayonetta > Battlefield Bad Company 2 > FFXIII > Super Street Fighter 4 > Lost Planet 2

[Survivalism]

I liked the demo a lot, but I'm also quite fond of God of War. I also liked that there was roughly one boob a minute.

[clockworkgreen]

So if you don't have a PS3, what's the harm in playing and liking this game?

[icedrake523]

So if you don't have a PS3, what's the harm in playing and liking this game?

People on the internet won't like you

[freshzen]

I want to check out the demo but my 360 HDD is booked and my PS3 hasn't been connecting to the internet for a couple weeks =\

[drktrpr1]

Delete some old DLC that you can always re-download, I really enjoyed the demo.

I want to check out the demo but my 360 HDD is booked and my PS3 hasn't been connecting to the internet for a couple weeks =\

[CoffeeEdge]

Apparently they're putting out a book based on this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0345522230/

[Rodimus]

Apparently they're putting out a book based on this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0345522230/

You mean this one:

http://herosjourneyentrepreneurship.org/dantes.jpg

[Soodmeg]

Wait, they are putting a book out on a video game based on a book?

Uhhhh.....waaaa?

[Rocko]

Based on the "click to look inside", it's Dante's Inferno with a video game cover.

[Shrapnellistic]

Watched the 8 developer diaries and they seemed to struggle a lot with the level design.

[eddie291]

Wait, they are putting a book out on a video game based on a book?

Uhhhh.....waaaa?
It's just the standard Dante's Inferno book.

I suppose its a low risk, high reward type of deal with selling it. Considering how old the Divine Comedy is, I'm pretty sure its in the public domain now. So yeah, if you're really curious about the actual story, save yourself some cash and just read it up for free on Google Books or something.

[the_punisher]

I thought the demo was a bad GOW ripoff, but most demos i play i usually hate, and then the final game is much better.

[CoffeeEdge]

You mean this one
Based on the "click to look inside", it's Dante's Inferno with a video game cover.
It's just the standard Dante's Inferno book.


O rly? Yes, that's kind of the point I was getting at.

I think it's hilarious; EA is trolling literature epicly.

[freshzen]

I'll play this eventually for achievements (basically collect a bunch of stuff and beat the game, then beat the arena mode and get a 666 hit combo) but I can't say I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure it will entertain but clearly a poor man's God of War.

[djduke316]

I'll play this eventually for achievements (basically collect a bunch of stuff and beat the game, then beat the arena mode and get a 666 hit combo) but I can't say I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure it will entertain but clearly a poor man's God of War.

A poor man's God of War and still $60. Can't say I'm NOT looking foward to this game though.

[eugaet]

Finally tried the demo tonight, thought it was pretty good. Never played any of the God of Wars, so I can't make a comparison.

[freshzen]

I was kind of thinking about pre-ordering this for the figure so I could resell the figure on eBay and get the game at launch for cheap but it looks like everyone (Game Stop, Game Crazy, Amazon) all are getting the same figure, so much for that. Maybe I'll try to trade Bayonetta for it assuming I continue playing Bayonetta for another 3-4 weeks.

[Monsta Mack]

I know im late to the party but I throughly enjoyed the demo. Probably not something I'll spend $60 on but easily worth $20 the way it shamelessly clones God of War - which is a good thing in this case.

[Fjordson]

I really liked the demo, not quite sure if I'll buy it at launch but, definitely want to check it out eventually.

[Rouzhokuu]

None of the retailers list the Action Figure as a pre-order bonus, now..

Is it too late for it?

[exileinoblivion]

Just a heads up the dante's inferno premium theme is currently free on xbox live. I'm guessing it's a mistake so jump on it now.

[TC]

Just a heads up the dante's inferno premium theme is currently free on xbox live. I'm guessing it's a mistake so jump on it now.

:applause:

[FriskyTanuki]

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/offers/033f0001-0000-4000-8000-0000454108cf?cid=SLink

Here's a link to the free premium theme.

[freshzen]

I don't know if I even want a Dante's Inferno theme but I'll try it out.

[seanr1221]

C+ from 1up

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3177808

[BingoBrown]

3/5 from G4:

http://g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/57216/Dantes-Inferno/review/

Looks like I'll be waiting for the bargain bin on this one.

[LinkinPrime]

Yeesh...wonder if I can still cancel....I got mine from EA store. Maybe I'll just sell it.

[seanr1221]

Why couldn't you cancel? Doesn't it ship next week?

[LinkinPrime]

I hear its hard to cancel orders from the EA store...plus I used gift card codes, not sure how that would be refunded.

[Chibi_Kaji]

Hmmm, The game sounds decent enough for $40.

[wildcpac]

Ign gave it a 7.5

[Soodmeg]

So this game is what we all thought it was going to be. From the very first screen we all knew it was going to be a really polished GoW clone.

The most damning thing I am hearing about the game is the fact that the game play is so generic and dull. I am more disappointed hearing that they dont really focus on the scenery and presentation as much as I thought they would. Also I have heard more than a few reviewers talk about how repetitive the game gets towards the end.

My only motivation for playing this game is the design and presentation, which apparently seems to just be about tits.

[Shrapnellistic]

I hope this doesn't foreshadow Dead Space 2.

[bmachine]

Ouch. Those review scores aren't terribly inspiring.

[icedrake523]

On another message board I go to, a guy in Australia got it. He's 6-8 hours in and already on the last boss (who he said is hard. He changed the difficulty from normal to easy to beat him).

He liked the level designs, use of CGI/in-game/anime cut scenes, voice acting, story, setting, and being able to vary combat style between the scythe and cross.

He didn't like that some circles are really short, some just a boss fight. Fraud is basically 10 arena matches. No good puzzles, cross is broken, and boss fights are bland.

He was looking forward to it going in. Not someone who hated it or didn't think much of it.

That said, I'm not touching it until it's $30 or less. Maybe $35 if I'm bored. I was going to try to price match at Best Buy for $40 but not anymore.

[aroundthefur33]

Wow, I just finished Dante's last night...over all it was ok...but it was repetative...some of the parts were so damned hard, i had to replay them a few times...

I actaully enjoyed all of the animated cut scenes and alot of the fighting...
The story wasn't aweful, the fixed camera was terrible at times...The backdrop of the game was completely creepy and disturbing...if that is infact what hell is like...not sure I would want to go....probably on my way regardless

If your looking for a mindless game to check out and possbly max it out on achievments...i would check it out...alot of nudity(only spoiler)... I got 660/1000 in first play through

8/10

[uglyteradon]

Did the Devil get his hands on a ripe-ass pair of tits?

[Sofa King Kool]

I think I'm probably the only person who bought this for full price and is loving it.

Admittedly, I'm a little unhappy that I spent $60 bucks on it because it's really short, but that first night of playing it for hours with a group of friends made it worth it, (some of the stuff in this game is so wonderfully fucked up. Bosses vomiting bodies, giant tits with mouths for nipples, slaughtering babies with knives for arms, etc. So awesome).

It probably helps that I only played the first God of War once several years ago, so this gameplay is fairly fresh to me, but from what I remember, I prefer the action/setting in Dante's...

[mike.m]

Its worth a rental. Decent game, nothing groundbreaking, frustrating platforming at times.

[Thorgouge]

The best part about this game are the death cutscenes of the huge bosses that you fight. Some of them are just plain hilarious with the over the top gore and insane dismemberment. DI is a good rental, nothing more though.

[Sofa King Kool]

The best part about this game are the death cutscenes of the huge bosses that you fight. Some of them are just plain hilarious with the over the top gore and insane dismemberment.


That and the depictions of hell in general, (I can't believe this got away with an "M" rating). My friends and I were literally cheering when we ripped the first boss's face in half.

[osx]

really enjoyed this took 9 hours .. i don;t usually like this kinda game .. but will 100% get the sequal when it drops .. loved it

[Moravagine]

I am about 6 hours in and definitely enjoying the game so far. The art design is nice and the combat is decent (albeit much shallower than a game like Bayonetta with its endless combos).

Hopefully no one will consider this any sort of spoiler... my favorite part so far was when one characters pulled unbaptized babies out of her tits to attack Dante. Hilarious.

[thebob101]

Reminds me of God of War and DMC 4. Graphics are pretty good and it has cartoon nudity (the drawings remind me of Heavy Metal the movie). Not bad for a hack and slash game.

[Kevfactor]

just started
i dont see how this game is getting such medicore reviews. for an xbox game it's some of the best graphics ive seen, even better than halo(sorry im spoiled on my pc hehe).

one thing i like about it unlike other hell hack and slashers, is it has a bit more of a serious adult tone to it( more like teh batman remakes compared to teh old batmans. this game it's actually religious hell) and of course the boobies. :)

[MSUHitman]

FYI Target will have this for $40 this coming week so if you have Target gift cards, or maybe Walmart or Best Buy (PM for the win) then it might be a good time if you're on the fence.