Decent, But Not Worth the Money
Dante was a poet who wrote a long piece on Hell. However, in Visceral Games' newest title, Dante is not so much a poet but, instead, is a brutish thug who can slaughter the minions of Hell with few problems. In reality, Dante was a skinny, waifish little dude...but in the game, he is a huge brute. The game is God of War in everything but name, but is it fun?
Dante was a Crusader here. His wife, Beatrice, made a deal with the Devil that he would be faithful during the Crusades ---- and she lost the bet. So, she is taken down to Hell and Dante has to battle through the Circles of Hell to free her soul from the grip of Satan. You have Virgil as your guide, providing you info on all of the Circles and the occasional relic to assist you in your quest. So, you must travel through the Circles of Hell, some of which seem to have little in common with the Sin they are claiming to demonstrate.
Well, yeah. It actually is quite a bit of fun. And after having replayed the God of War collection before playing this, one realizes that the original game had a wealth of issues that have been addressed by titles ripping it off. The combat is easy to pick up and play, though while you can learn a ton of combos, you don't need them. Simple button-mashing will win your battles, and unless you play on the toughest difficulty, you will not find the battles terribly challenging.
The game seems to revel in violence and nudity. You will see Beatrice's tits a lot. Almost comically frequently. For a chaste girl, she is naked A LOT. It seems a little odd. You get the occasional naked enemy, such as the boss who leaks out unbaptized babies (yes, you have to kill babies by the truckload in the name of God --- you figure it out) from her nipples and tosses them at you. Even the wife found it icky and she is rather unlikely to be offended by a game.
The violence is not more over the top than GoW, which was exceptionally violent, but it is quite hard to miss how extremely violent the game is. Honestly, the enemies are a bit cookie-cutter. There is some variety, but it seems like you fight a lot of the same enemies over and over again. It seems to get a little bit old. It's a lot of fun to fight the fights, admittedly, but it does seem monotonous after a while.
The game is not terribly long, but it is a fun enough ride when you play it. If you're an Achievement Whore, then it requires two playthroughs, so I guess it has replay value...sort of.
If you like this game, I'd suggest waiting for God of War III or the price of this title to plummet, but otherwise, it's not a bad game. It's just not mind-blowing.
