MMOMFG » Mobile Gaming Previews

Dante’s Inferno: Get Set for a Hell of a Ride

Dustin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:00:13 +0000

Come Tuesday, the gates of hell will open and players the world over will be thrust into the ultimate peril. A damned soul punished for his troubled past will be thrust into a journey only epic poems are made of. Our protagonist, Dante, will begin his search for his beloved Beatrice who is held in the grips of Hell. Based on the classic poem, Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, the cursed hero must journey through the nine circles of Hell to find his true love, and save his own soul.

MMOMFG has gone ahead and saved you the trouble of searching the Web for all of the information you need leading up to Tuesday’s release of the game. We’ve compiled the key news, videos and screenshots you’ll need to help determine whether you need to buy, rent, borrow or skip the title. Having previously previewed the title based on the PS3 demo, it is safe for us to say this game is worthy of a purchase. Thrust in the ultimate discussion of copy-cat title or original IP that offers its own value, Dante’s Inferno walks a tight line amongst critics out there.

Games like God of War have perfected this genre’s look, feel, play and offerings, but new titles like Dante’s Inferno and Darksiders are peacocking their feathers, as if to say they can do it too, but with their own flair. To squelch the sentiments of haters, Dante’s Inferno is a unique enough IP with its own skill systems, ability to play as Light or Dark, redeeming or damning souls alike, and a solid story that should keep gamers teetering on the edge of fear and despair. Let’s get onto what you need to know before launch day:

Is there a demo among us – A demo was announced by Visceral Games on December 1 stating the demo would be released on the PS3 on December 10, 2009 and on December 24, 2009 for the Xbox 360. According to executive producer, Jonathan Knight: “The world of Alighieri’s Dante’s Inferno is such a rich, detailed, and often alarming universe, that all of us at Visceral Games put our hearts, and dare I say souls, into creating something truly intense and exciting. We hope gamers enjoy this tease of hell, and come away from the experience lusting for more when the game comes out on February 9.” MMOMFG played the PS3 demo, as mentioned above and gave critical insight into the gameplay, visuals and storyline. The demo came under some scrutiny from Xbox 360 owners, due to the two week wait between the release of the PS3 demo and the Xbox’s own version. Despite the frustration, critics were generally pleased with the game’s demo, offering Dante’s initial storyline of losing Beatrice and his journey through the first circle of Hell.

Dante’s Inferno: PS3 Divine Edition - This is another example of a developer/publisher’s decision to offer an exclusive to one system, in this case, the PS3, leaving Xbox owners solely to be frustrated. The PS3′s Dante’s Inferno: Divine Edition offers a packed DVD containing the developer’s commentaries, a book of concept art by famed sci-fi/fantasy painter Wayne Barlow, a digital copy of Dante Alighieri’s complete works and a copy of the game’s soundtrack. This is all at the same $60 price tag that Xbox 360 owners will have to only receive a copy of the game, without any of these perks. Call it a marketing decision, but some will question these tactics and lead to a few less sales to 360 owners.

EA’s executive producer Jonathan Knight stated, “We are thrilled to offer an exclusive game pack for PlayStation 3 gamers. The PlayStation platform has a long history of delivering AAA action/adventure games. Adding Dante’s Inferno to that rich catalog is very exciting for the team. And with the demo now available on the PlayStation Network, players can finally get a taste of what awaits them in the full game on Feb 9th.”

Going to Hell at the Super Bowl is frowned upon - EA has made the decision to purchase its first ever Super Bowl commercial spot. It cost them around $3 million for a roughly 30 second spot; however, all that money couldn’t make CBS happy, requiring them to edit the commercial’s final statements of “Go To Hell”. The audience of the Super Bowl does include kids, so EA changed the tune of the game’s slogan for the commercial, but the visuals and trailer’s body didn’t require editing. We’ve provided the trailer below, along with two additional trailers to bring out the little demon in each of us.

And you’ll know us by the trailers of the dead… - Below we’ve chosen to highlight the story and gameplay trailers. Enjoy them below.

Gameplay Trailer

Story Trailer

MMOMFG’s take on Dante’s Inferno - If you’re an action/adventurer fan, there is a number of things to like in this title. Plenty of character customization, a deep storyline with stunning graphics and a classic tale will keep gamers gripped to their seats. The final game will likely feature upwards of ten hours of gameplay, with a reasonable amount of re-playability. Our choice? Buy it. Check out a handful of screenshots below that may influence your final decision, but let us say this, Tuesday should be a Hell of a launch day.

*Images and videos courtesy of EA and Visceral Games

[View with PicLens]

Spotlighting the New IPs of 2010 – Dante’s Inferno

Andrew — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:28:38 +0000

Welcome to Part 4 of a week-long series at MMOMFG.com where we’ll be spotlighting some of the biggest and most original titles slated to drop during the first few months of next year. We believe that new intellectual properties (IPs) are the life-blood of the video game industry and the studios and publishers willing to take a risk on a new idea or story deserve much praise. After all, it takes a successful new IP to establish a franchise and churn out those money-grabbing sequels…not that there’s anything wrong with that. For the next five days we’ll be posting a rundown of what to expect from some of the most highly anticipated original titles of the first quarter of 2010. So far we have previewed Alan Wake, Split/Second, and MAG. In Part 4, we look at Visceral games demonic hack n’ slash title, Dante’s Inferno.

Dante’s Inferno
Release Date:
What is it? An action game based in the Middle Ages, Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s vision of the 9 circles of Hell. Technically, Dante’s Inferno represents Visceral Game’s adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s interpretation of Hell…confusing, no? This title has your hero on a quest to fight through the 9 circles of Hell in order to save his love. Environments are abstract, demonic, and disturbing; the combat promises to be fast-paced, gory, and satisfying. While it may not be a completely original Intellectual Property, Visceral Games is taking a serious risk adapting a canon so abstract and steeped in conservative religious rhetoric.

Why it could hit
Hack, slash, and baptize – Take one part known success and one part interesting historical fiction, and you’ve got a real chance at a hit. Dante’s Inferno looks to have taken many cues from previously blockbuster franchises like Devil May Cry and God of War when it comes to stylized combat. This game will have you slashing denizens of the deceased and demonic until your thumbs bleed.

They know what they’re doing – This game is going to be freakin scary. How do we know? Visceral Games is the studio behind Dead Space. Have you ever played that game with the lights off? If not do it, and bring a damn diaper. These guys know exactly how to use shadow, sound effects, and music to create grizzly atmospheres, a sense of helplessness, and generally scare your pants off. It’s also going to look great, as the developers busted their humps to get the game running at a gorgeous 60 frames per second.

Diversity is a good thing – A critique I often make of games is a lack of enemy diversity. Too many games have you wiping out wave after wave of identical foe. The possibilities for many different and wide-ranging enemies in Dante’s Inferno makes me think this isn’t a problem I’ll have with this title. With different bad guys for each circle of hell – at one point you end up battling the demonic representations of children who died before being baptized- players of this game should be pleased with the variety.

More than mashing – Dante has two weapons in this game, a holy cross and Death’s scythe, and the choice of which weapon to finish off a foe is a serious one. By using the cross Dante’s absolves the sinner or demon, but by using the scythe Dante punishes them further, sending them farther down into hell. This introduces morality decisions at nearly every turn. While there may not be friendly NPCs in the game to recognize you as either good or evil, depending on your preferred method of destruction, your weapons increase in power and strength the more you use them.

Why it could miss
I need a name for you – It’s an action title, but beyond that can we call Dante’s Inferno historical fiction? We’re not really sure. Visceral isn’t exactly spinning a fictional narrative in a historically accurate time period, but are literally taking a piece of fiction written way back in history and adapting it into a video game. You can easily call God of War historical fiction, but Dante’s Inferno is more like an adaptation of a piece of fiction…really really old fiction. The point is that this gray area could end up meaning an identity crisis in the hands of the gaming public. Placing the player in a setting that is recognizable and easily connected to is often an important factor for crafting an immersible experience and the abstract nature of this title may turn away players who crave more than a button-mashing, demon-slaying experience.

What about Dante? – Sticking with the God of War connection – how marketable is Dante? Central to GoW’s success is it’s protagonist, Kratos, a character that’s been marketed to great effect. Kratos is of the “badass hero” mold, an uncompromising, violent, take-no-shit kind of guy. Details on Inferno’s main man have been mum so far, so we can’t help but ask “what about Dante?” Will Visceral Game’s adaptation of the poet’s Divine Comedy leave room for a hero who kicks demonic ass first and takes names never?

Papa, don’t preach – The subject matter of this title is very religious (our hero is questing through Hell, after all) and one wonders how Visceral Games plans to deal with the religious rhetoric and obviously Christian themes that are in play here. By placing certain kinds of characters/enemies in Hell, Visceral Games is essentially saying who belongs in Hell and what types of crimes that will get one sent there. Will most gamers see past this and focus on the action or will gamers of divergent faiths or delicate sensibilities be turned off?

What our crystal ball tells us
Dante’s Inferno very well could be the industry’s next big hack n’ slash title. The developers at Visceral Games have crafted a visually stunning game, packaging what looks to be simply addictive combat with a hellish atmosphere. From the abstract environments to the myriad of demonic bad-guys to dispatch, this game could be the biggest blockbuster of next year’s first quarter. While the story arch may not allow for sequels – battling though purgatory or heaven somehow doesn’t sound like as much fun as hell – the art direction and combat style of Dante’s Inferno could make it the best one-off action game this generation.

Stay tuned Monday for Part 5 of this series, where we’ll preview Heavy Rain.

MMOMFGames of the Week – Nov. 9

Dustin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:45:56 +0000

This week’s big bloppers include titles such as Modern Warfare 2, New Super Mario Bros for the Wii, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast, Harvest Moon: Animal Parade and the sleeper of the week: Jonas.

This site has covered Modern Warfare 2 in extreme lengths over the past few months, so little needs to be said about the title. Like to shoot stuff? Go buy it! Do you like people? Go buy it! Do you play video games? You should probably buy it. We’ll have a review slated for Modern Warfare 2 either this week or early next. It really depends on if Justin is shooting militants in-game all week or not. My guess is he’ll have logged 40 hours by Friday.

The New Super Mario Bros title looks extremely fun and is slated for release November 15. Other than flashy graphics, new features and Wii controls, players can expect the familiar great experiences you remember from your childhood, however, as if you were looking through sunglasses with lens made out of Fruit Rollups.

Our newest editor Mark will be offering up his views on the latest Dragon Ball Z title, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast later this week. I hope to hear his experiences with the game will be a raging blast, but I’ll let him speak to that topic, since I wouldn’t touch this game with a 10 foot Pokemon’s privates.

If you fit any of these criteria, you’ll likely enjoy the latest Harvest Moon title, Harvest Moon: Animal Parade. You either:

Love animals
Love Harvest Moon
Love being a nerd
Love parades
Love spending money on a million sequels

If you fit any of these criteria, I’d suggest buying Harvest Moon, otherwise rent it and then parade those animals into oncoming traffic.

For the sleeper pick of the week, Disney Interactive delivers the goods with Jonas. It was originally titled Jonas: Street Beatdown 2k10, but they removed the fighting aspect of the game and made it a meatier title by allowing gamers to undress their favorite Jonas (no removing the promise rings, amirite? OMG LOL!) Actually, I have no idea what the hell this game is about, but if you like buying DS games to see if they fit in your mouth, or if they blend, then buy this title and give it to your favorite BFF at your school. I bet they’ll invite you to the next sock-hop or Saddie Hawkins dance.