Reviewed by David Farrier
Once upon a time (14th century - ages ago, pre-recession) this guy called Dante Alighieri wrote a great big poem called the Divine Comedy. The first part of that poem was called Inferno.
So in the 14th century, you'd call it Dante's Inferno. But now it's 2010, and when you say Dante's Inferno you're referring to this new game from Electronic Arts called - er - Dante's Inferno.
Now your Classics teacher at school would be gutted with this game because it's not very similar to the poem. Characters are left out, new ones added in, and the story - well - it's different. You play Dante (in the third person) - a chap who gets annoyed when he's tricked and killed.
Death comes to take him, but - in the first act of the game - you take on Death. You fight Death. See, already it's epic. I won't go into the details, but in a fight mimicing the final battle in (my old favourite) Heavenly Sword, you end up with Death's scythe.
This is Dante's main weapon as he (you... this is a videogame, not the poem, remember) takes on hell, to find the love of his life, Beatrice, and get her back from Mr Lucifer.
There are some sweet as combos you can perform with this weapon that are quite satisfying, and send limbs flying. In the projectile weapons department, Dante has a cross which fires out energy.
You can also use various spells, and take over demons to launch them at your enemies. You unlock more abilities by grabbing souls along the way, either by killing things, or stumbling on soul fountains.
Yes, yes, I hear you say, this is basically filler until we get God of War 3. But it's a solid, fun game: the pacing is excellent, and there's plenty of eye candy to look around at. Heck, you're in hell... that's enough of a reason to play this game.
So if you're a God of War fan, and enjoy the type of violence and combo attacks you get in the likes of Ninja Gaiden, then get stuck into this. The only things that annoyed me a bit were some of the puzzles and platforming.. just because my brain wanted more action. And I'm terrible at puzzles. If you're into that stuff, you'll be in heaven.
Dante's Inferno
:: Publisher: EA Games
:: Developer: Electronic Arts
:: Format reviewed: PlayStation 3
:: Rating: R18