This game is pretty good for the hack-n-slash type of genre. It takes about 8 hours to play through the game in its entirety, but once you beat it you can restart it while maintaining all the achievements you earned from the previous game. After you play the game through a couple of times, you end up being powerful enough to speed through the game with little resistance. The different difficulties of the game only end up affecting how easily you give/take damage; it has no bearing on the intelligence of the enemies or their aggressiveness.

One complaint I have about this game is the fact that they include the Dark Forest add-on achievements in the list of possible achievements for the game, regardless of whether you've bought the add-on or not. This may not be a big deal to some, but I usually only consider a game finished when I've gotten all the achievements for the game (gives me motivation to squeeze every penny's worth out of it).

Overall I'd say this is a fairly decent game. I kind of regret paying full retail for it, since I could have gotten just as much play time had I rented the game for a week. I've heard that the game is similar to the "God of War" series, which I haven't personally played, but I found it to be a fun game to mindlessly hack away for hours on end.

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I usually set aside video games like Dante's Inferno as 'weekend video games.' In other words, I know I'm probably going to finish the game over the course of a weekend and then never play it again because I have other games to play and because I usually hand games off to my friends after I beat them.

With the above in mind, Dante's Inferno is an excellent weekend game in that it is a fun, entertaining game that shouldn't take you more than ten hours to complete on normal difficulty.

This game is, of course, a lot like the God of War games. This is mostly a good thing, aside from the fact that (like God of War) the B button on your controller will probably explode after a few hours of play due to all the quick-time events and doors/chests that require you to repeatedly tap B for no good reason. The B button tapping is truly excessive in this game and it is really my one outstanding complaint.

Anyway, I think this game is worth playing because it succeeds very well in two key areas... production value and flow of combat. The production value (art design, voice acting, cut-scenes, etc.) in this game is top-notch. Also, the flow of combat is great in that character movement is fluid, killing enemies feels satisfying, and there are a lot of combat options that can be unlocked via experience orbs (even if you don't really need most of them). Also, the enemies have clear signatures that tell you they are about to attack, which is always a huge plus in my mind because it helps me control mobs appropriately just as I would in God of War, Devil May Cry, Onimusha, etc.

I do, of course, have a few lesser complaints to throw at this game. Once I got past the circles of Hell that are easily depicted via their art design (Lust, Greed, Gluttony) the levels for all of the other Sins started to blend together and I had trouble remembering which Circle I was even in (other than a few inspired levels toward the end of the game including the section for people who committed suicide). Also, the monster variety is a little lacking. Again, it really seams like they went above and beyond when designing for the first three Circles (Lust, Greed, Gluttony) and then just modified the enemies from those circles a bit and stuck them in the other six circles. At the very least, we did find it a bit amusing to speculate on why the vagina monsters were hanging out in Greed and various other places). My final complaint is that way too many of the enemies can be brought down with ranged attacks. The range on the cross kept me from needing to ever get close to most of the level bosses in the game. However, for all I know this isn't the case on the harder difficulty levels.

All said and done, there are no show stopping problems in this game and I would definitely recommend this game as a rental or as a purchase if you can get it for $50 or less.

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so.. im an avid God of War fan so i like this genre of game.

this game was awesome for the first few hours.. but then it just kinda got uninteresting. it was the same thing over and over.. ur going somewhere, but they didnt specifiy WHY you were going further into hell. it didnt make me "wannna know what was behind door #2". and the combos become boring, as did the enemies. i played about 5 hours and just stopped.

graphics: awesome.. great Anti aliasing, great shading and shadowing, i love the vivid coloring they used..

performance: one of the best performing games. im running on a 50'' plasma and the game is so crisp and clear.. runs soo fast. (i think its running at 60fps which is ultra fast) no image ripping at all. keeps pace the whole time

story: story is good.. but kinda drags on and then gets lost in the game play. seems u are just kinda wondering at times and dont have a REAL reason as to why your going where u are headed. i will say the use of cgi and anime kinda cartoons got annoying. one minute it was a video and the next this weird anime crap..

gameplay: great. lots of combos and various things.. altho the "special" upgradable combos kinda got me down. even some of the best combos i could pull off had little damage effect on enemies. kinda got annoying after a while.

enemies: little in terms of variety. the AI was sub par (pretty much they do the same thing over and over

vulgar as hell.. i liked the premise.

lots of boobies in the game. LOTS

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While I was originally opposed to the idea of turning the brilliant poem by Dante into a sex and violence filled video game, I quickly changed my mind once I started to think about how much material is contained in the poem. I soon became excited about fighting Cerberus in gluttony and traversing the ten pockets of the eigth circle. However, the game developers did not make the most of what the game could have been, whether it is a result of laziness or just an incredibly low ceiling of creativity.

Pros:

+The combat is easy to get into and is fun. Different magical powers and melee moves are available for unlocking. If you kill more enemies, you recieve more souls to buy more abilities. It is identical to "God of War", but it works.

+I loved the inclusion of the different "shades" you encounter. In each circle you will come across famous figures from history and literature, and you can choose to either punish or absolve them (For instance, you encounter Pontius Pilate in the vestibule of the uncommited and you can choose what his fate will be). While the shades have no impact on the game itself, I thought it was a nice touch.

Cons:

+Each circle feels extremely small, short in length, and just underwhelming. Hell is supposed to be a massive realm with limitless suffering, yet most of the game is composed of navigating small cooridors and rooms. The circle of Lust is composed of a single tower that you can complete in twenty minutes. The circle of Gluttony is disgusting as it should be, but just as it gets interesting the circle is over.

+There are sections where you can just tell the developers were not done and the game was rushed to market. The eighth circle, which in the poem is composed of ten ditches of different punishments, would have been an amazing level to traverse. Instead of creating ten unique areas, the developers chose to make the eighth circle ten *identical* rooms, with each room containing unispired challenges (for example, kill enemies using only magic). That's just laziness, pure and simple. There are many, many other instances of this throughout the game, but if I tried to list them all I would run out of room. If I could sum of this entire game in one word: underwhelming.

+There are only a few unique enemies. While the enemies are cool and creative, especially the glutton, they will soon become stale when you realize you fight the same enemies the entire game. Instead of creating new enemies to keep things fresh, the same monsters you find in circle two are thrown at you in circle seven, just in greater numbers. Not even the fun combat can redeem this.

Overall, 'Dante's Inferno' is a poor attempt at making a game based on the classic poem. Had the project been in the hands of developers with work ethic and creativity this game could have been breath-taking, thought-provoking, and ground breaking. Instead the developers just fill the game with sex, violence, and gore and hope that people will be short-sighted enough to be satisfied with a rushed, uninspired, and ordinary game.

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I think that the title basically summed up why I didn't like this game too much.

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Dante's Inferno has a great story line, game play is enjoyable, and graphics are amazing. That being said I am giving this game two stars due to the extent of the nudity in the game. I am not a person that will complain just because there is nudity if it is necessary for the story line. I am also someone that will not take offence when there is the occasional nudity even if it could have been avoided. However in this game nudity is everywhere and it was not necessary for the story line. I know the game is rated M and there are "guideline" in place that in theory will keep minors from being exposed to pornographic material. This is only in theory. Many minors/youth will play M rated games (Halo 3 for example). Many parents will think it is just a game, and in their/our generation the graphics did not allow the details that make the games so great today. It also allows the games such as Dante's Inferno to expose more youth to pornographic material that is not age appropriate. The level of nudity took a great game and made it fair at best.

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When I first popped the disk in my 360, I was really excited by the level design (Character designs were awesome though). The game has been compared to God of War, but it's not as good: I really liked the gruesome, darkness to this game, but every single level looks the same. I was hoping this would be more like Diablo in the sense that the deeper you go the more the environment changes, and was surprised the seven sins weren't given more attention.

If the lack of creativity in level designs were the only issue, this game would still be great. The main problem for me, however, was the controls and pointless puzzles, and storyline.

*Controls: There were certain parts of the game where if you don't jump perfectly from the correct spot on a rope for instance you will die. If you don't hit a button at the perfect time, you die. If you use the joystick while moving, your move will not work etc.

*Puzzles: Many times you are getting pumped in the game, when you come across puzzles that take TOO much time to complete, and have NO relevance to the game. I'm not against puzzles, but these are NOT like Silent Hill puzzles where at least what you do has some relevance...these puzzles will basically make you do a ton of ridiculous stuff just to enter a door or something (no reason why, the door leads to nothing special etc.)

***Towards the end of the game, swinging from ropes, dodging fire, jumping from moving ledge to moving ledge, and puzzles become MORE prevalent than actual fighting!***

*Storyline: I have NEVER read Dante's Inferno, and knowing the story was about Hell aside, I frankly knew nothing about this story before playing this game. I still know nothing about the story AFTER playing this game. The graphics switch between animation and cartoon, but make no sense.

I guess there are other things I disliked as well:

*The use of uncommon English words -- Whenever I play this game, I can't help but think that this ALONG with the story which presumes people have read the book: Drama Major. I would not be surprised if I was on key with this one.

*Despite the use of uncommon words, this game lacks sufficient text. By this I mean...there are points in the game where you decide to forgive someone and send them to Heaven *absolve* or send them to Hell *punish*. It would have been really nice if they gave more details -- they give around one or two brief sentences (with the bizarre words lol).

What I really liked about this game was:

*You can choose to Absolve or Punish people, and that you can be "holy" or "unholy" (or both).

*You have a "Final Fantasy" thing where you can "buy" certain traits off a grid thing.

*Fundamental level designs and character designs (although I still can't figure out why the ones you can easily absolve or punish look like little old ladies).

--Unfortunately, this game had so much potential and some great ideas...but nothing ever happened with them.

The traits you choose have little effect, whether you are holy or unholy has little effect as well, sectors of Hell all look the same, the storyline is horribly told, use of "Theater English" is just annoying, and of course the other stuff I mentioned above. `

I guess the bottom line is that a left-brained individual tried to be right-brained and made this game.

If this individual (or group of individuals) would like a game to gain inspiration from where this game fell short (creativity wise)then I highly suggest checking out games by Bethesda (for the holy/unholy & traits you can find/buy), Final Fantasy (for the scenery), and Diablo (for the storyline). GTA is also a great place to look for that feeling of "freedom" and being able to be evil (I mean c'mon, this game takes place in Hell, but doesn't feel close to it!).

Okay, well...that is my review lol. :)

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I got this on Saturday Night and by Sunday night I had beat the game. The graphics are pretty amazing, gameplay was fine, and the story was interesting. The only down side is the length. It is excusable to have new game that you can beat in a day and a half - and I'm not some hardcore, play for eight hours at a time kind of guy. This game is way way to short for the cost of the game.

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If ripping off the gameplay of another title was a sin, there'd be a circle in hell reserved exclusively for Dante's Inferno. Its combat, magic system, finishing moves, and various other gameplay mechanics unapologetically ape God of War to the point where Kratos fans will feel right at home in Lucifer's den. Inferno mimics even the most mundane and inexplicable tasks, like requiring the player to mash the action button to open doors, cementing this title's status as a bonafide God of War copycat.

The result of this imitation however, is that by and large the game is fun to play; the combat is tight and satisfying, and the finishing moves are brutally graphic. Despite being a poet in the source material, Dante is transformed into a badass warrior, almost rivaling that of his Greek counterpart. Minor additions to the formula, such as branching skill trees for learning new moves, hidden relics that can be equipped to boost various stats, and the ability to condemn/absolve souls give Dante's Inferno some individuality, even if it's never fully realized.

While the gameplay is largely unoriginal, Inferno's story is unique to say the least. Tapping a 14th-century poem as inspiration for a hack and slash action title is enough to make even the most forgiving gamer cringe, but Visceral Games uses Inferno's premise to good effect. The game is scandalous and over the top, but as controversial as the topless lust demons and unbaptized spider babies might be, they are also entertaining and more or less justified - this is supposed to be hell, after all. Literature buffs will likely be offended by the many liberties taken with the source material, but if you can get over the story compromises made for the sake of gameplay, Inferno's creativity may pleasantly surprise you.

The classic work serves as more than a starting point for the game. Your ability to judge characters that Dante meets in the original poem (which are used to independently level up your Holy and Unholy powers), and Virgil's monologues add some authenticity in light of the sweeping story changes. The poem also inspires the game's vision of hell, and fortunately the developers pulled no punches in bringing their interpretation to life. Although the level of detail for the character models is oftentimes underwhelming, the early environments are unique, twisted, and memorable. The game lacks the brilliant level design of the God of War series, but there are times when Dante's Inferno faithfully recreates descriptions from the poem, resulting in some remarkable sightsInferno's ultimate sin is that the game can't sustain its early pace. Of its nine circles of hell, the first three - Limbo, Lust, and Gluttony - contain the game's best ideas and most impressive creative vision. Later circles offer memorable sights as well, but for every river of boiling blood or ride on the back of Phlegyas there are a dozen drawn-out battles against groups of recycled enemies. After the variety introduced in the beginning, it was disappointing (and nonsensical) to see the same enemies popping up again and again in later circles, requiring little in the way of fresh tactics to beat.

This problem ironically culminates in the circle of Fraud, which is composed of 10 different challenges in identical arenas. Each challenge introduces a different element, but most can be beat with either your heavy attack or projectile combos. Despite the plethora of moves to unlock, these two techniques will get you through the vast majority of the battles you'll face, making the game feel like more of a grind than it has to be.

Dante's Inferno features some interesting aspects (like its combat), but early innovation loses out to repetition. The game's biggest strength - Visceral's recreation of hell - wanes during the second half. Some entertaining unlockable content adds to the replayability, but for most gamers, Inferno doesn't have enough new ideas to warrant a return trip through hell.

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I should have known better than to buy this game when it was listed at a sale price. If you love playing simple sword-style combat games where you need to constantly hit ABXY combos to do anything interesting, then you'll probaly like this game. But if you like sandbox games with more freedom (Fallout, Oblivion, GTA, etc), then save your cash. The new Splinter Cell is very good and I wasn't too fod of the previous Splinter Cells, so that's my recommendation instead of this dog.

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While it can be argued that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, when it comes to huge marketing arcs backing an incredibly over-hyped game....yeah, it's just rampant commercialism reeking of desperation bred by a straining economic market.

Dante's Inferno does a number of things adequately; the frame rate is smooth enough, the combat mechanics are fairly intuitive, and the graphical presentation isn't half bad. The major problem is that this has all been done before, in the *exact* fashion in which it's found in this title. While another recent game, that being Darksiders, chose to emulate a number of classic gaming franchises while giving them the respect they deserved, it by no means engaged in the blatant cut-and-paste mentality that hits you throughout every minute of this 'experience'. Over the top kills, massive amounts of gore, repeated and completely unnecessary nudity (a tired mechanic wherever it's found, in my opinion; the Skinimax crowd should not be pandered to), funky bosses, a pseudo-dark setting... Even the storyline, shallow and ripped off though it may be; every piece of this title has been done someplace else, and executed much better.

As if the insultingly unoriginal presentation wasn't enough, its manufacturer has subjected the gaming community to a completely ridiculous amount of desperation-hype advertising, literally slamming this drivel down our collective throats; an insane Superbowl placed ad was just icing on the collective 'How badly do you need us to buy this game?' cake. The crowning bottom-out achievement of this title though? Selling various amounts of souls, the cliche currency used to upgrade your character as you progress through this mess, on X-Box Live Marketplace. This would seem to give you a complete-tool-esque method to 'get a leg up' on the game itself, although I would tend to feel that it would more so lead one to question why they were playing this thing in the first place. No further discussion is required for a move so thoroughly pathetic.

So for the DRM gasbag known as EA shoving a barely mediocre title through our collective eye sockets, a one star rating is basically standard in my opinion. The brief-attention-span blood, guts, and boobs crowd will undoubtedly find much to love here, but if you're an individual who demands much more than repetitive dross for their money, there are a plethora of quality titles to invest in far removed from this unfortunate footnote in gaming history.

As always, just my opinion though.

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Blatantly copies god of war but doesn't do as good. plus the "dark" theme is pretty terrible and also not well done. very repetitive.

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There are enemies who shoot male genitalia as a weapon. That's all you really need to know about this game. Indeed, everyone hates this game, bookworms who feel that poetry is sacred, and gamers who feel this is a straight-up God Of War clone. Disregard them. Are you eighteen? Do you have a 360? Is it working? If you answered yes to all, then drop all your things and buy this game. Hear me out-BUY THIS GAME!

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