Dante's Inferno
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Game Reviewed: Dante’s Inferno
Publisher: Electronic
Arts
Developer: Visceral Games
Reviewer: Matthew
Scott
Platform: Xbox 360 (Also on PS3 & PSP)
Category: Action
ERSB Rating: M
Game Summary (Note: This review is based off of the demo
on Xbox 360.)
When you hear the name Dante’s Inferno there is a good
chance the first thing that comes to mind is the poem The Divine Comedy by
Dante Alighieri in which Dante travels through hell, purgatory and heaven. This
game is very loosely based off of the first part of that poem in which Dante
travels through the Inferno aka Hell.
In the poem, Dante’s ideal woman Beatrice guides him through
heaven. In the game, Dante is married to Beatrice. The demo that we reviewed
opens in the year 1191 with Dante fighting in the third crusade. At one point
he is stabbed in the back and a creature who looks like the Grim Reaper comes
to lay claim to his soul. Dante is surprised that he would have to go to hell
when the Bishop had promised that all those who fought in the Crusade would be
absolved of their sins. Dante decides that he is not going to go out without a
fight and the player must then battle Death at which point Dante defeats Death
and takes Death’s scythe as a weapon.
Moving forward, Dante returns home to Florence hoping to
live out the rest of his days in peace with his wife, only to come home and
discover that his wife has been murdered. Her spirit then hovers over her body in
which we briefly see her comment to Dante that she knew he would come, but then
Lucifer aka Satan comes and steals her spirit away. Thus begins the real
adventure of the game in which Dante must traverse the Nine Circles of Hell in
order to defeat Lucifer and save his wife Beatrice.
What Parents Need to
Know
Violence
Dante’s Inferno is played from a third person point of view.
Dante has two primary weapons. First is the Scythe he stole from Death. Dante
will swing this around and slash his enemies with it. Second is a Holy Cross
that Dante can use to shoot what appears to be a beam of holy light at his
enemies.
When fighting enemies, blood will often times splatter but
bodies will quickly disappear after being defeated. There were some
cut-scenes, however, that showed mutilated bodies strewn about.
Language
The ESRB did not make any notes on the game box about bad
language in Dante’s Inferno. During our time with the demo we only encountered
the proper use of the word damnation.
Sexual Content
When Dante encounters the dead body of his wife Beatrice,
one of her breasts is fully exposed. Also, every time Dante encountered his
wife’s spirit in the demo she was fully nude. Her lower parts were covered by
the camera angle or some smoke, but her breasts were fully exposed. There is
also an animated cut-scene where Dante and his wife are embracing in the nude and
her breasts can be seen.
Spiritual Content
The majority of the game takes place in hell with Dante
fighting demonic creatures and the spirits of the dead.
Dante has the ability with a certain move to “Punish or
Absolve” certain enemies. Punishing them kills them and absolving them saves
their soul with his Holy Cross weapon.
Reviewer’s Thoughts
I have to give credit to the developer’s of Dante’s Inferno
for the creativity in which they made a game out of the source material. The
game, however, is very dark and due to the content listed above, I would not
recommend Dante’s Inferno for children. Dante’s Inferno is rated M for good
reason and parents should keep the above mentioned content in mind when
deciding if this game is right for their family or not.
