First Dante's Inferno Game Details Emerge

Keane Ng

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Sep 11, 2008
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First Dante's Inferno Game Details Emerge



Billed as "Dead Space meets God of War in Hell," Electronic Arts' videogame adaptation of Dante's Inferno sure doesn't sound anything like The Inferno itself.

When Electronic Arts first announced [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88152-EA-Unveils-Dantes-Inferno] its game adaptation of Dante's epic poem and showed a cryptic teaser, we were all understandably skeptical. How do you make a game out of a poem about a sad guy walking around Hell looking at other even sorrier guys suffer? My guess was that the game would find protagonist Dante on "some sort of Kratos-esque mission to make it through Hell and kick some demon ass along the way." It turns out that I was even more right than I was hoping to be. PSM3 has revealed the first details on the Inferno game, and it sounds pound-for-pound like an action game in the vein of God of War.

"Button-for-button the controls are identical to GoW's - from using the right stick to evade, to regular and heavy attacks being mapped to Square and Triangle," PSM3 wrote. Enemies even drop mana and health orbs, just like in Devil May Cry and God of War, and you can also collect mana from chests which you open by holding down Circle, just like in - you guessed it - God of War. Also, "holding R1 and pressing Square lets you knock enemies into the air Devil May Cry-style and keep them hovering with a volley of rapid, light attacks."

The game will also be chock-full of everyone's favorite crutch: quick-time events. PSM3 describes one where Dante climbs onto the back of some gigantic monster, kicks off the demon who's piloting and steals the ride for himself. I haven't read Inferno since high school, and I do remember the scene where Dante and Virgil climb up the devil's back, but I don't think I remember that part.

Still, the magazine maintains that the game has its own flavor. "What really sets this apart from God of War is the setting," they wrote. "Dante's trip through hell is altogether more unpleasant, twisted creatures burst from doorways, lava spews from inverted crosses and bottomless fiery pits yawn deep beneath your feet."

EA Redwood Shores, who are handling this, certainly proved themselves with Dead Space [http://deadspace.ea.com/agegate.aspx?returnURL=/Default.aspx] last year. And the God of War formula is undoubtedly fun when it's done well. So it could be a good game, that's for sure, but just don't forget to leave your literary credentials at the door when you come in.

[Via CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=207880]]

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Baby Tea

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Sep 18, 2008
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Hey, I got a great idea! Let's take the first of the divine comedy, and turn that epic poem into an action game which is so FAR from the actual original works, that it'll only be similar in name form.

What a terrible idea. Why did they need to ruin the name of an amazing piece of literature for this? Why not make this stuff up, since it seems they are doing that anyways? And all this talk of lava and fire...wasn't the center ring of hell frozen? And was there even mention of fire in the outer rings (Unless it was part of a specific punishment)?

Sorry, but I'm not looking forward to ANOTHER literary butchering (Beowolf, anyone?).
Get you're own ideas, developers, and leave the good ones alone. You're ruining them.
 

ZantetsukenQ

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Sep 25, 2008
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Christ, they may as well call it God of Dante. The amount of influence used is ridiculous. I mean if you are going to take some inspiration, atleast change the standard control mapping, it shows atleast some innovation.
 

Cliff_m85

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Oh pffft. It'll be a fine game I hope. Dante's Inferno reads too much as a work where the author drools over each imaginary revenge he can think of rather than focus completely on the story.
 

barryween

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Apr 17, 2008
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Ive never read it. Once Im done with Hellbound Heart and Book of Blood I will. If they keep it like the poem it should be good. Too bad they wont:(
 

Aardvark

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Sep 9, 2008
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Drop any mention of Dante and just call it "Inferno". There's probably been a hundred games with that title, though the only one that sticks to mind is Episode 3 of Doom, but mentioning Dante when you're giving your hero magical god powers and a demon axe of rending is at best tasteless, at worst, digging up the bones of Boccaccio, then using them in some bizarre, depraved act of debauchery.
 

Keane Ng

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Anton P. Nym said:
Next up, the Waiting for Godot CRPG. (Turn based, of course.)

-- Steve
It's your turn. What will you do?

-Wait.

It's your turn. What will you do?

-Wait.

It's your turn. What will you do?

-Move.

You do not move. What will you do?

-Wait.
 

KBKarma

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May 14, 2008
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I'm sure it'll turn out to be Devil May Cry: Dante's Inferno. They've just been playing with everyone.

Then again, if you think THAT'S bad, check out The Divine Comedy Movie [http://www.thedivinecomedymovies.com/], which is based off a series of pictures based off the Divine Comedy. And the site redirects to the Cafepress shop after five minutes.

Where you can get a thong with a picture from Dante's Inferno on it!
 

KBKarma

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May 14, 2008
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SomeBritishDude said:
Am I the only one sick of God of War? That games destroying the games! Stop ripping it off
I'm sick of it, and I've never even PLAYED it!
 

Combined

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Sep 13, 2008
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Alright.

Game Developers. For once in your life, please be a little considerate. I know you want to make something unique, something wonderful and something that people will enjoy. At least the ones with souls do. But you can't go around desecrating ancient works of fiction like this. They were written differently and should be left intact.

Don't you understand that some of us don't want this? The ones that actually have some classical literature education are going to hate this. The rest are going to hate this because the entire premise of "Dead Space + God of War" does not necessarily attract, neither does it promise to be any good. It gives you a chance at actually succeeding, though, and making this a half-way decent game.

So, what I'm asking is for you to drop the name Dante's Inferno and go with something appropriate, like "In Hell", "Hellbound", "Highway to Hell", "Hell's Bells" or just "I slay monsters with a giant cross in hell". Alright? Please.

Sorry, I'm a bit annoyed in the evening.
 

meatloaf231

Old Man Glenn
Feb 13, 2008
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Baby Tea said:
Hey, I got a great idea! Let's take the first of the divine comedy, and turn that epic poem into an action game which is so FAR from the actual original works, that it'll only be similar in name form.

What a terrible idea. Why did they need to ruin the name of an amazing piece of literature for this? Why not make this stuff up, since it seems they are doing that anyways? And all this talk of lava and fire...wasn't the center ring of hell frozen? And was there even mention of fire in the outer rings (Unless it was part of a specific punishment)?

Sorry, but I'm not looking forward to ANOTHER literary butchering (Beowolf, anyone?).
Get you're own ideas, developers, and leave the good ones alone. You're ruining them.
Seriously. If video games ever want to get any sort of artistic respect, then developers have got to stop pulling stuff like this.