When I saw Dante's Inferno, all I could think of was God of War. It looked exactly the same, but with different enemies and environments, and to be honest, I thought the ease of God of War which really pushed the game from fun to mediocre would carry over to Dante's Inferno as well. You can therefore understand my surprise when, after picking up Dante's Inferno for 20 bucks, I was greeted with a more dynamic, balanced, and challenging version of God of War which really drew me into the hellish world that Dante describes in the first book of his Divine Comedy.
As a note to the reader, all of this review will be based off of my runthrough on Hellish (Hard) mode without a Resurrection (New Game +), so I can't justly say that these observations will reflect a Zealot (Normal) mode experience. Regardless, my experience reflects my unbiased opinion and will attempt to retain a common review for both difficulties.
When I first started the game, I was thoroughly unimpressed by the segment shared with the Dante's Inferno demo because it felt like care to the detail of gameplay was glossed over in exchange for mindless hack and slash action. As soon as I entered Hell though, the game immediately picked up by throwing the first of the game's cast of serious enemies in my face, and then followed up by tossing several more of the buggers at me without the slightest remorse. What I didn't realize until some time after Heresy, however, was that each of the enemy types were designed to build off of each other and cover weaknesses each enemy class would inherently have. This leads to excellent fights where an atypical awareness of enemy situations and combat capability is required else Dante could be ripped apart in seconds. In combination with the pace of new enemies and increasingly versatile enemy mobs, the level up tree also adds a great deal to the dynamic scaling present in Dante's Inferno. Rather than simply giving you experience points for every enemy kill you receive, choosing to either absolve or condemn special enemies and unique souls throughout Hell grants Dante Holy or Unholy points, which determine his rank in the corresponding level up tree branch and allow certain level ups to be acquired, forcing the player to carefully select how Dante's growth will occur.
Another combat-related aspect that I was surprised by was the balance of Dante's fighting. God of War was easy simply because, no matter the difficulty, you could easily pin down an enemy's patterns and counter-spam 80% of the game's mobs while dodging/manipulating the other 20%. I was utterly thrown off of my game in Dante's Inferno when, firstly, the counter wasn't as easy as I had assumed it would be, and secondly when I actually ended up using Beatrice's cross for more than taking down aerial enemies. Though a multitude of the game's fringe special moves and magic aren't really worth the upgrade cost, the core gameplay is kept very simple, but responsive, with benefits and drawbacks to each combo pattern. This means that each of the game's 3 basic combos will be used throughout the game depending on the situation (unlike God of War where you just had to use the light combo for everything on Hard difficulty without any sense of apprehension or rushing).
In addition, the further down you delve in Dante's Inferno, the more unique and stylistic the environment presents itself. For example, I was rather underwhelmed by Dante's descent into Limbo, but I was surprised by the vivid characterization of Gluttony and Greed. Each circle of Hell was essentially a linear environment of platforming, combat, and the occasional puzzle, but it was done in a way that each circle constantly felt different and the game's combat continued to be fun, well up until the final cutscene.
In spite of all the praise I've laid onto Dante's Inferno however, it can't be forgotten that Dante's Inferno is still a lot like God of War. If God of War's hack and slash gameplay style didn't appeal to you, then Dante's Inferno will be absolutely no different. The game is chock full of repeated enemies, simple puzzles, quick time events, linearity, some nudity, and high levels of visceral violence. Some enemies are also just plain annoying. Finally, the game also appears to be quite easy if done on Zealot (Normal) mode for a first runthrough, but that means that the game is open to casual and serious gamers alike.
The music was good, it'd fit the mood but didn't particularly stand out to amplify any points of the gaming experience, so I'd give it a 4.0. The atmosphere was great, more unique than God of War's and more hellish, but vivid, than I expected. 4.5. Gameplay was a 4.8. Though I want to give it a 5.0, there were at times fight setups that weren't so great. The story was what you'd expect in Dante's Inferno, but with a bit of unholy conspiracy and whatnot. I can't remember much at all from the book, but the involvement of certain characters made Dante seem more than a 2-D character, even if it didn't develop his personality as much as plot-oriented games. Therefore I'll give plot a 4.0. Replayability would be a...4.0. The ability to go to higher difficulties with the abilities you've already purchased can make the game a fun secondary playthrough, especially if you played on Zealot (Normal) going the Unholy route and wanted the challenge of Infernal (Hardest). Overall, Dante's Inferno gets a 4.2/5. However, as a hack and slash game, it's one that I would definitely recommend for gamers to sit down and play through, as it is an enjoyable and challenging (or casual) experience.
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