"Now say Violence, death… there ain’t nothin left to say, this sh_t’s fresh.” Well, kind of. Don’t get me wrong, rivers of boiling blood, tearing demons in half, and fighting topless women with possessed pussies is very fun, and more often than not, satisfying. (Fellas, you know what I mean) Unfortunately, just like these adventures with possessed vaginas, things can get tired and repetitive.
When the game opens and you start playing, you are going to immediately notice a few things. The animated flashbacks are very well done, (reminded me of Ill Bill’s video for War is My Destinyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRLl2yVrJzE.) and the game play is a blatant emulation of the God of War series (mind you, I don’t own a ps3 and I’ve never played GoW3.) This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. Fans of Kratos will have no problem picking up this game and jumping right back into all of the button mashing and fancy evade moves that they have grown to love over the years.
With that being said, the controls are tight, especially as far as combat goes. Your primary weapon is attained early in the game after defeating Death and wielding his scythe, which is surprisingly quick, considering its size, and responds almost identically to GoW’s bladed gauntlets. Unlike GoW, Dante’s Inferno lacks the option to use multiple weapons but, there is a power-up system involved, allowing the player to purchase new moves, extended health and other upgrades to make your journey through the nine gates of hell somewhat bearable.
Hell you say? Yes, In case you haven’t figured it out, or are one of those people who think “reading is some stressful sh_t,” let’s take a minute to highlight this game’s story, which is loosely based on the famous poem that shares the same title (http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/inferno.) In a nutshell, as in many action movies and games, some crazyness has happened to your wife and now it’s time to kick ass and take names. Sounds familiar? It is, only difference is now you are descending into the 9 levels of hell (Gluttony, Anger, Violence, Treachery, and so on) instead of shooting up 1000’s of soldiers, gang members, police officers or alien zombies.
What that means to you, as a player, is a game full of morbid, demented, and genuinely disturbing images and backgrounds. Sure, there are some pretty crazy looking bosses and enemies to f_ck up along the way, but what really caught my eye was the little details in the scenery. The scores of drowning souls, screaming in the mud or hanging out of walls before they are dismembered by crushing spiked gates was a nice touch. As I mentioned in the beginning of this review, the possessed vaginas are not to be missed, and even though they aren’t a real threat, they ironically are the most stubborn and annoying encounters in the whole game.
Unfortunately, besides the occasional statues of tortured souls and the beautiful golden river in the realm of Wealth, the artistic diversity seemed to run out of steam far too quickly, with the exception of the bosses, who didn't appear nearly as much as I hoped for. In fact, I actually got bored of seeing the same type of things I’ve seen before in previous levels and in other games. This isn’t to say that the levels are bland, boring or unchallenging, (a few puzzles are thrown about, and they can drive you absolutely nuts) but after a while I got tired of turning the same old cranks I’ve been turning since GoW landed on the PS2 back in 2005. I can also say that I was more impressed with the GoW franchise on PS2 as far as art, level design and story is concerned, than I am with Dante’s Inferno. Granted, the game does take place in hell, and not on Mount Olympus but still, considering both are mythological places, you would think there would be a bit more variety to it.
When all is said and done, and all the nerdy nitpicking and comparisons are over, Dante’s Inferno is good old fashioned, button mashing fun but, it is weighed down by a relatively short campaign mode (the game can be beaten in about 10 hours of gameplay.) To many gamers, this is unacceptable, which I generally do agree with. Games aren’t cheap, and to shell out fifty or sixty bucks for a new game, you would expect it to last. However, if you can rent it, or pick up a pre-owned copy of this game online or at your local game store, it is definitely worth a playthrough if you are a fan of the hack and slash, violence infused, action packed, morbid insanity genre of games.
Overall Score (7.5/10)
Graphics (7) Graphics, although generally enjoyable, especially during boss battles and flashbacks, is not what it could be when you think of how beautiful the GoW games were on PS2.
Sound (7) Loved the screams of tortured people, and the ambient mood music but there wasn’t much of a score here that stood out to me besides the expected orchestral darkness on occasion.
Gameplay (8) Tight controls, excellent response system, however for all the bonus power ups you can attain, the majority of them are unnecessary.
Fun (9) Classic mega violence and almost non-stop button mashing and ass kicking.
Replayability (6) Besides the added survival mode and new difficulty level unlocked after beating the campaign mode, there isn’t much else to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment