Dante's Inferno

It's go time.

Based on the famous epic poem, Dante's Inferno pits Dante against an endless throng of Hell's minions.  Dante must absolve himself of his sins or suffer the pain of eternal damnation...

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Recommended Age Minimum Age Available On... 18 16 PS3, Xbox 360 Overall Fun Length Frustration   Violence Sexuality Substances Gambling 6 6 2   8 10 2 1 Mods Religion Anti-Law Community Sports Magic Miscellaneous 0 10 0 0 2 10 4

1.     Gameplay

• Overall Fun - 6

I’m not usually a fan of the “hack-and-slash” style of gameplay.  I wasn’t impressed with the God of War series, and other similar games barely hold my attention for a few minutes.  Dante’s Inferno, however, had one thing that the other games didn’t have.  I have read Dante’s Inferno (the epic poem) twice and even taken a university class that focused on the Divine Comedy, so I was pretty well versed in the insanity that is Dante’s Inferno.  I was intrigued to see what this game would do to visually represent the tortures that sinners must endure in the nine circles of Hell.

This picture sums up about 90% of the gameplay.

For the most part, I wasn’t disappointed.  From the instant I saw Charon, the ferryman who brings souls across the river Styx, I knew that this game would have some very, very interesting interpretations of Dante Alighieri’s famous poem.

With the exception of the later circles (when the developers were clearly running out of time), the circles include some extremely imaginative imagery of torture and pain, and the monsters fit their respective circles perfectly.  The sections of Gluttony, Lust, and Violence were particularly appropriate (albeit disturbing).

Charon doesn't approve of Dante's monkeying around.

However, I have to stress one thing.  The amount of nudity and sexual themes throughout this game (especially in the Lust circle) should have made this game Adults Only.  The entire second circle is devoted to the perversion of sex.  This will definitely be interesting to adults, but is in no way appropriate for children.  Do NOT buy this game for ANYONE under 16.  The developers clearly spent lots of time developing ways to show a demonic vision of lust.  For more information (and picture evidence), see the “sexuality” section.

Overall, the game was worth playing.  Those who are fans of God of War will definitely feel comfortable with this game.  I highly recommend reading the Dante’s Inferno poem before playing the game, though.  It will make everything make much more sense.

• Length - 6

This game is decently long and does have some DLC available.  There are nine circles of hell in total, so the gameplay is going to take the average player probably 10 hours.  The DLCs are relatively short, but do add an extra hour or two of gameplay.  Those gamers (like me) that prefer to go achievement hunting will definitely require at least one more playthrough to obtain every possible achievement.

While this game wasn’t as long as I’d have preferred, it’s not short.

• Frustration Factor - 2

There was very little about Dante’s Inferno that was frustrating.  The game was relatively easy overall.  There were certain sections that I found a bit tedious, such as one section where you have to walk across an ice bridge, but even then the puzzles weren’t difficult.  Once I figured out where to go and what to do, the difficulty crumbled before me.

The ice bridge was tedious, but not impossible.

2.     Parental Notices

• Violence - 8

While Dante’s Inferno can get pretty violent,  overall it’s not too bad.  The player uses various scythe and magical attacks to hit opponents.  Most of the time they just bounce off the scythe attacks like dolls.  When the enemies die, they are consumed by flame until they’re nothing but ash.

The most violent sections of the game are when the player chooses to “punish” an opponent.  The specific punishments vary, but some of the more violent ones are force-feeding gluttons Dante’s scythe, ripping demons in half, or forcibly decapitating demons with Dante’s scythe.

Even mutilated unbaptized babies aren't spared the scythe.

The finishing sections of the boss battles can be especially bloody.  This is especially true for the battle against King Minos, the demon who judges the damned and sends them to the appropriate circles of Hell.  After doing enough damage to the blind, snake-like monster, Dante grabbes Minos by the tongue, impales it onto a large spike, and drives the spikes from a circular device up into Minos’ head through the lower jaw.

This probably won't end well for King Minos.

• Sexuality - 10

It is difficult for me to accurately describe the extent of the sexuality within this game.  Let me put it this way.

This game should have gotten an “Adults Only” ESRB rating.

I don’t throw this out lightly.  I thought that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas got a bad rap for the “Hot Coffee Mod” and same with Oblivion for its nudity mods.  But Dante’s Inferno takes in-game sexuality to a level that left me both disturbed and intrigued.

I understand that the developers of the game were looking to make a more perverted form of each sin, but something about the Lust section (and others) just seemed to cross some sort of line for me.

Cleopatra

Cleopatra is the main enemy in the second circle, Lust.  She’s a giant, half-naked woman who climbs up the tower of lust (see “Phallic Symbolism” below).  This would be fairly awkward on its own, considering her breasts are not only gigantic, they’re prominently displayed whenever you see her (which is often in the Lust section).

But for some reason the developers decided to go farther.  Her nipples are actually tongues that birth deformed, aborted babies (from Limbo) with a small eruption of some sort of creamish/greenish fluid.

Giant tongue-nipple mutated baby-birthing breasts. I'd call it a tongue twister, but it just makes me feel slightly gross.

After you defeat her lover, Marc-Antony, who comes onto the stage after emerging from her mouth, she becomes normal-sized and attempts to seduce you.  After rolling around for a little bit, both Dante and Cleopatra grunt as Dante thrusts into her.  The thrusting turns out to be him thrusting his scythe into her and killing her.  Fortunately, I’m talking about his scythe in a literal sense.

The Traps

Each of the first few sections introduces at least one new enemy.  In Lust, the new enemy type is a half-naked woman with an addiction to masturbation.  Oh yeah, and she has a huge penis-shaped protrusion that emerges from a slit in her lower-abdomen.  She uses it to grab onto Dante, which Dante can then use to throw her around like a hammer in the Olympics.

She's the envy of every man, and yet none would get near her nor her 10-foot-pole.

She’s a recurring enemy too, so players can expect to see her in every circle from Lust onward.

Phallic and Vagical Symbolism

Lust is all about the perversion of sexuality, so it’s natural to expect that the architecture in the lust level should have to do with sexuality.  But there’s a lot of it.  Everything that’s shaped like a column is phallic, everything that’s shaped like an alcove is vaginal.

Dante's Inferno isn't subtle with its metaphors.

Dante’s Infidelity

The storyline has Dante committing each of the sins in every level, which is why he has to fight his way through each of the circles of hell.  One of his sins is lust, which is graphically (both literally and figuratively) displayed.  Dante ends up sleeping with one of his captives during the crusades.

Beatrice

Beatrice is the typical “Damsel in Distress” that Dante must save from the evil clutches of Lucifer.  Problem is, Beatrice seems to hate wearing clothes.  There are only a few occasions where you see Beatrice with something covering her breasts.

This is one of the more tame examples of nudity in this game.

Lucifer

Lucifer is another hypersexualized character in the game.  Not only does he proceed to cuckold Dante and frequently is seen taunting Dante by being intimate with Beatrice, but at the end of the game Dante fights Lucifer directly.  The sexual part of this is that Lucifer doesn’t wear any pants.  Oh, and he has a two foot long, hairy, horse penis.  I’m not exaggerating.

Lucifer probably drives a very small car.

I nearly lost the final battle because I was left trying to comprehend what the developers were thinking when they didn’t at least put a loin cloth over his junk.

There's something in this picture. Hint: Dante's about to sit on it and it's not a chair.

Winds of Lust

One of Dante’s powers is the “winds of lust”.  It surrounds Dante in a purple tornado that deals damage to any nearby enemies.  The winds, however, make very loud sounds of women having orgasms.  The winds probably have the sounds of men too, but the deeper bass tones of men are lost amongst the higher, shrill sounds of the women.

• Substances - 2

There is some alcohol use and abuse, particularly in the second circle (gluttony).  The game depicts Dante’s supposedly excessive partying as a form of gluttony, and this includes drinking of wine.  Other than this, substances play no part in the game.

• Gambling - 0

It is extremely likely that excessive gambling was mentioned in the game as a sin.  However, if this was the case, I never noticed it.

3.     Other Factors

• Mods - 0

There are no mods available for this game.

• Religion - 10

To say that religion plays an important role in this game would be a vast understatement.  The game’s plot is that Dante has to travel through the nine circles of Hell in order to save his love Beatrice.  As a result there are lots of Biblical references and characters throughout the journey.

The religious symbols are about as subtle as the phallic symbols.

Each circle of Hell represents a different type of sin.  Earlier levels are less serious sins, such as lust and gluttony.  Lower levels are more serious sins, such as treason.  Each circle is designed and decorated to punish the specific type of sinner that it imprisons.

The main antagonist is Lucifer, who tricks Beatrice into making a deal in exchange for her soul.

Left: Lucifer usually appears as this smokey, humanoid version. Right: Beatrice as the "Queen of Hell".

Many of Dante’s special abilities involve angelic or demonic powers.  The angelic powers tend to be more defensive, while the demonic powers are more offensive.

Finally, two of Dante’s attacks involve crosses.  One is a sort of energy cross that shoots out at his enemies and damages them.  Since it’s Dante’s only real ranged attack that doesn’t use mana, the player will use it very frequently.  The other is a sort of buzzing ninja star cross that continuously bounces off enemies.

This cross has some serious power.

• Anti-Law - 0

While the forces of good and evil are clearly at play, and the player can choose to absolve or punish sinners, the concept of “law” doesn’t apply to this game.  The morality in place is based more on religion rather than a justice system.

• Online Community - 0

There is no online community for this game.

• Extreme Sports - 1

Dante frequently has to use ropes of what seem to be bones to scale cliffs.  Other than this, extreme sports aren’t a factor in the game.

• Magic - 10

Magic plays a huge role in this game.  Dante’s abilities all focus on both light-side and dark-side magic.  His cross seems to have supernatural powers and is able to throw energy crosses at distant enemies.  Dante does have a mana bar that limits his uses of magic, but it’s still vital for any player to beat certain sections.

Bright lights and smoke are obviously magical.

• Miscellaneous - 4

Human Disfigurement

Some of the recurring enemies are based off of different types of people.  Specifically, the gluttons are clearly based off of obese people.  The gluttons are naked, although since no lower body parts are shown and the rest of their bodies are relatively asexual, I can’t specifically classify their upper-torso nudity as sexuality.

Also, the unbaptized children in Limbo (another recurring enemy) are babies whose hands are replaced with blades.  As with all other enemies, Dante has to kill these.

I decided to not have steak for dinner after seeing this.

Suicide

One of the circles has to do with the sin of suicide, of which Dante’s mother is guilty.  There is a plant of sorts that shoots a gas-filled spore at Dante. If it hits him, Dante is drugged and attempts to kill himself.  The player must struggle against this.

Excrement

If the player attacks the gluttons from behind, the gluttons will spray excrement on the player.  The excrement damages the player if it connects.

In a word, gross.

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