Dante’s Inferno by Visceral Games for the Xbox 360 was a surprising button-masher I have grown incredibly fond of. I played a mini version of the game on DominoQQ that also thrilled me quite a lot. Tons of multi-combo button kills, over the top cut scenes, solid voice acting, fantastic sounds, music and background ambience and a rather adult but compelling story take this game over the top.

Obviously a game based off the classical literature poem the Divine Comedy by Italian writer Dante Alighieri, could have been a bit of a bore. Thankfully Visceral Games took creative license while interpreting Dante’s famed work and have created a very adult-themed hack and slash game that is worthy of it’s title.

Being an Xbox 360 die-hard player, missing out on gems such as the God of War series for the PlayStation was very disappointing. Just like the next game player in line I want to take part in huge boss battles against characters based on classical literature and mythological lore, but until Dante’s Inferno the choices on Xbox 360 were slim.

Playing Darksiders for the Xbox 360 earlier in the year I was mostly disappointed in the lack of originality or fun the game had to offer, even though it is a rather deep title. Before putting Dante’s Inferno in the disc drive I was a bit apprehensive that this experience would turn out to be another poorly executed God Of War rip-off.

I was pleasantly surprise to find out this is a well done rip-off of God of War, right from the get go the graphical style of this game is amazing! Hands down solid presentation and cut scenes that are both vivid and vicious enough to make a grown man blush, so don’t buy this game for your under 14 year old. Even then you may want to only buy this game if you have an extremely mature teen, as there is both male and female nudity throughout the game. But its hell so what would you expect?

As Dante a crusader of epic proportions you start the game off by defeating death and well, death isn’t happy. As you travel back home from the crusades to Florence, Italy you realize something has gone terribly wrong and the love of your life Beatrice has been murdered. Even more so her soul has been enslaved by Lucifer and her body is being used like a $2 hooker, much to your disgust and dismay.

With no other choice you enter the circles of hell in an attempt to win your lovely Beatrice’s soul back. This is where the fun begins as you begin to scale walls, hack and slash numerous minions from the underworld, and figure out little puzzles as you move forward through hell and a date with Lucifer.

The game has numerous battle combos that are upgradeable as your progress by either collecting unholy souls from slain enemies by executing them or holy souls from slain enemies by Absolving them with one kick ass cross. You can build unholy and holy soul points evenly or specialize in just one, and then you can use the souls to purchase new combo moves that are in two different unlockable categories. I would advise building both up equally as you’ll need all the combo moves you can get.

Along the way you will also find specific ruins and artifacts that you can equip to give Dante more of an edge when destroying the minions of the underworld. I have about 6 hours logged into the game and while there have been a few misplaced puzzle levels and way too many annoying RB button levers to pull; this game is a solid platform button mashing eye-candy treat.

I would definitely say it’s worth a rent and possible a purchase if you really love this genre of games. I can’t say the replay value will add too much more in the long term playability of this game, but they do allow you to keep all of your unlocks if you do decided to replay it after you beat the game.

Overall I give Dante’s Inferno for the Xbox 360 a 4.2 / 5.

• 4 – Originality
• 5 – Graphics
• 5 – Sounds
• 4.25 – Controls
• 3.25 – Replay Value
• 3.75 – Video Game Magic*

*Video Game Magic is the video game’s ability to transport you the player into the game experience – usually the effects this has on the human condition are, severe loss of time management, extreme video game jonesing, and an extended altered state of reality.