Dante's Inferno

Story:
Dante's Inferno is the video game adaptation of the first part of the famous three part poem called the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The first part, Inferno, was about hell while part two was about Purgatory and three was Paradise. In the poem, Dante is a poet that visits the three kingdoms of the afterlife, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the game, Dante is a crusader that dies, fights Death and steals his scythe. He returns home to find out his father and wife Beatrice have been killed. As he laments Beatrice's soul appears, only to be grabbed by Lucifer and dragged down to hell. Dante then journeys to hell to free her from the devil and send her soul to Paradise.

Story-wise, it's great. The story is engaging and creative, considering they turned a poem into an action story. Making Dante from a poet into a crusader was no easy task but they pulled it of greatly. of the poem, some dialogue is the actual lines from the poem. While based of the poem, the story is actually quite original. However it dos have a couple flaws, mainly that Dante wines about Beatrice to everyone at every chance he gets. 8/10

Gameplay:
Ever play any of the God of War series? Yeah, almost an exact carbon copy. Dante fights with Death's Scythe using quick light attacks and powerful heavy attacks. Then he gets his cross filled with Holy power and gains the power to shoot cross-shaped projectiles. Throughout his journey through hell, he gains new powers and abilities either from defeating certain parts or from the original level system.
The level system is actually pretty simple but very deep. When you grab enemies, you get the option to Punish or Absolve them. Choose Punish and Dante rips them up with the Scythe, earning Unholy exp which is used to purchase more scythe abilities. Choose Absolve and Dante uses his cross to purify them of their sins, earning Holy exp that is used to power up Dante's cross abilities.
The enemies are all minions of hell and are quite imaginative, just like the scenery. In the game, hell is broken up into nine circles that each represent different sins. Some of the enemies also follow this and are based on the sin they first appear in. For example, for the sin of gluttony, souls are condemned to the third circle of hell. The level looks like it belongs in someones stomach and the signature enemy from Gluttony is a giant fat man with mouths for hands that is obsessed with trying to eat Dante. For Greed you are sent to the fourth circle which looks like a medieval gold factory, fitting because the greed souls are tortured by having what they want dangled in front of them without ever being allowed to have it. The Greed enemy is a two bodied, one set of legs human with gold leaking out of its chests and carrying a giant gold club. Every circle of hell is highly imaginative and fits with the specific sin, while the enemies are varied and just as imaginative.
Overall, while it plays almost exactly like God of War, it's still a very good and simple gameplay system. 9/10

Sound:
The music is full orchestra and gives the game an 'epic' tone of evil. The music always makes you feel immersed in the game. As or the voice work, it's all expertly done. Lucifer sounds exactly like an evil overlord plotting universal domination and Dante sounds like the begrudging hero. The only annoyance is the constant screams that play in the background at all times. Then again considering your in hell, if they weren't then it wouldn't seem evil. 7/10

Graphics:
For the main game, the graphics are highly detailed and I couldn't find a single flaw. Everything looks great. During flashback movie scenes, the graphics shift to an animated style which works quite well and is very detailed. And finally are the great movie scenes, rendered so perfectly you'd think they were scenes from a real movie and not a games CG rendering. 10/10

Replay Value:
After you beat Dante's Inferno you unlock the Gates of Hell Arena, a fifty stage survival course. You also unlock 'Resurrection Mode' which lets you play through the story again with all your stuff carrying over to the new game. The only real difference is that it skips the opening tutorial level and starts you in hell, but that's actually a good move because the tutorial level s easily the worst level in the game.
Their's also downloadable content in the form of The Dark Forest prequel level, and the Trials of St. Lucia mode. The prequel level shows Dante's journey back for the crusades to his home, while the Trials of St Lucia mode is a small level creator with a multiplayer function for two people on the same console. Player two controls St Lucia, an angel that uses fast crowd-control attacks. There are also costume downloads and 'soul pack' downloads. Souls are pretty much currency so if you want to be strong early on then you can shell out a few bucks and get tons of souls.
For special features it has a movie player, allowing you to replay any movie scene in the game. A music player, allowing you to listen to all the games music. A few making of videos. And finally a full copy of the Divine Comedy poem for you to read at your leisure. 9/10

Overall: 43/50