Dante's Inferno -- Initial Impression.

Next up for me is Dante's Inferno for the PlayStation 3. The game was developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts. Visceral Games has been responsible for The Godfather: The Game, The Simpsons Game, and all the games of the Dead Space series. Dante's Inferno is loosely based on the poem The Divine Comedy written by Dante Alighieri in the 1320's. You'll be going through the Nine Circles of Hell in order to save the soul of the character's beloved Beatrice. Each level will mimic the theme of a particular circle. The Nine Circles of Hell are Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery. From what I've played so far I can say that the game has a great look. I really like the art style. I also really like the animated cutscenes. The story is interesting so far as is the gameplay. The gameplay is very much in the God of War vein. Some would go so far as to call it a rip off. I'm not going that far yet, as the game seems to have an interesting leveling system. You'll have varied move sets based on what choice you make in collecting souls. You can further punish them for their sins or absolve them of their sins. To get specific moves you'll have to punish them. To get other moves you'll have to absolve them. Your actions cause you to level up allowing you to buy more powerful moves down the one path. From what I've seen the graphics have been pretty good. The first few bosses have been interesting. They've clearly decided to push some boundaries. The lust level features enough vaginal imagery to put a gay guy into a fetal position. Limbo features babies that haven't been baptized as enemies. That's a concept sure to offend more than a few people. Lust is an easy circle to visualize, I'll be interested in seeing how they pull off fraud and treachery. Hopefully the story remains interesting and the bosses continue to impress. If so, then I might not mind the God of War inspired combat. As always, we'll know for sure on the other side.