In his introduction the new Del Rey printing of the actual Inferno poem, Executive Producer and Creative Director of the Dante’s Inferno game, Jonathon Knight, clearly displays a great deal of knowledge and passion for the source material. Yet, after playing the game you’d be hard-pressed to find a love of literature within the game’s stylish and violent look at the Christian mythos of hell. That’s really the problem with taking something as historically and literally treasured as Dante’s work—its potential depth is merely squandered on the limited vision of EA Games and developer Visceral Games.

Visceral (and Knight) previously created the exceptional dark and involving Dead Space. What made Dead Space great was that it looked at survival horror and took it in a new environment (space), plus added the focus of tightly-paced, nerve-wracking shooting action. It wasn’t stunningly innovative, but still felt different. Dante’s Inferno, on the other hand, seems to serve one of two purposes—depending on your platform preferences.

If you’re a Sony gamer, the game is squarely aimed at giving you something to do until God of War III hits in March. For Xbox players, Dante’s Inferno is the absolute closest you’ll get to Kratos’ saga. As a game, Inferno seems hell bent on emulating Sony’s franchise in almost every way.

Dante’s poetic epic provides a suitable alternative setting to the Greek god locations. This view of hell comes with nine sin-themed circles, so it’s perfect for a video game setting. Instead of gods as bosses, we have historical and demonic figures that guard each circle and must be dispatched in gruesome, cinematic ways. Most bosses are epically huge as well, and combat is the exact same cross between hack and slash and Simon-says-level Quick-Time-Events (QTE).

You actually play as Dante, in his angry quest to free his beloved (and dead) fianc©e, Beatrice, from hell, which is somewhat nobler than Kratos’ psychotic narcissism. And yet, Dante is hardly more likable a character. He’s a self-centered, angry hypocrite, who has committed outrageous atrocities in the name of his god during the Crusades. Thankfully, he manages to gain some minor redemption through the game.

The action is remarkably solid. Instead of swinging blades, Dante wields Death’s Scythe. It’s a handy weapon of mass carnage with good reach and plenty of combo potential. More importantly, the weapon is fun to use against the poor, foul denizens of hell. Aside from light and heavy attacks and combos, you can "grab" enemies with the scythe by impaling them, then either punish or redeem them. Either choice results in experience points for your holy and unholy abilities. There is an easy to use skill tree where you spend these points, and as you build up one side or the other, new and more powerful abilities are opened up.

Although it might be possible to focus on either the holy or unholy sides of Dante exclusively, you’ll ideally build both up to gain the best of both worlds. Building Dante’s abilities makes him much hardier in battle and by the fourth or fifth circle, he’ll feel like a real Templar badass. Throughout the game, Dante will mount bizarre and gigantic creatures of hell, although the controls here are noticeably cumbersome.

From the perspectives of visual design, Dante’s Inferno is a mixed bag. The visuals are gorgeously grotesque when the game really stretches its creative muscles, but each circle is actually remarkably small and has an absurdly limited number of special enemies. The game also simply doesn’t get freaky enough in its design. Some of the bosses are hilariously macabre, but why is the only lust demon simply a topless harlot with a whip-like womb? Sure, it’s weird, but after the fifth fight with one, you’ll be wishing for some creepy and nightmarish variety.

Worse, after a while, the game just seems to give up on variety. You’ll fight endless hordes of faceless, pot-bellied damned souls, along with the other more powerful demons, but by the end you’re just fighting the same few types over and over. There’s little level exploration as well. Each circle has some secret treasures, but the levels aren’t big enough to make finding them much challenge.

When not killing endless hell spawn, Dante is usually double jumping, climbing, or swinging his way through death traps. Many of these sections, especially when he must swing quickly from one burning rope to another are incredibly intense and fun. On the flipside, other levels—especially the city of Dis—almost feel like cheap filler material.

Another weak area that could have been much more is the historical damned souls Dante encounters. These are figures from history that are usually hidden away and Dante can punish them further or absolve them. It adds some minor historical relevance to the overall story, but has so little effect on the gameplay that they seem like a wasted opportunity for adding meaty sub-quests and levels to the otherwise completely linear game.

Blast factor: How much you’ll get out of Dante’s Inferno depends on expectations. Download the demo first, or just play one of the God of War games. If either appeals to you, then Dante’s Inferno provide plenty of gory entertainment for the span of its nine or ten hours. But don’t expect a shred of any depth here. The game is purely surface country meant to emulate God of War with amazing precision. That’s not a bad thing, because Dante’s Inferno is easily the best example of this genre since God of War II. EA hardly had to mine classic literature for such a task though, and overall Dante’s Inferno really seems like a missed opportunity to create something truly interesting and bizarre.

A copy of the game was purchased for review purposes.

Demos downloaded for the upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and the already-released Dante’s Inferno number in the millions, according to word from Electronic Arts today.

The publisher says the Bad Company 2 demo is on pace to become the “fastest downloaded demo in EA history” to the tune of over 2 million downloads across both PS3 and Xbox 360.

Additionally, the devilish demo for Dante’s Inferno, according to EA, has been downloaded upwards of 3 million times, which, in my estimation, is more then 2 million.

What would be more interesting to learn however, is how many of the millions go on to purchase the game and how many are simply freeloaders looking for a good time, or something like that.

Source: Kotaku

A long-awaited sequel, Bioshock 2 and a brand new game, set in nine layers of Hell, Dante’s Inferno, butt heads this week, as both high-profile games release Tuesday, Feb. 9.

In other news, the next in the cute and cuddly Super Monkey Ball series releases also on Tuesday. This one’s called Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll and yes, it looks uber-fun.

Below is the full list of new releases for the week. Who’s buying? And what?

Monday (Feb.

Family Party: 30 Great Games Winter Fun (Wii)
N.E.O. Online (PC)
Star Ocean The Last Hope: International (PS3)

Tuesday (Feb. 9)
Best Friends Tonight (DS)
BioShock 2 (PC, PS3, 360)
Dante’s Inferno (PS3, 360)
Rock Blast (Wii)
Scene It? Twilight (DS)
Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)
Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity (PC)
Square Logic (PC)
Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll (Wii)
The Daring Game for Girls (DS)
World Cup Of Pool (DS)

Wednesday (Feb. 10)
Bookworm Adventures (DS)
Darwinia+ (360)
Stargate Resistance (PC)
Windchaser (PC)

Thursday (Feb. 11)
Galcon Fusion (PC)

Friday (Feb. 12)
World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars (360)
Zorro: Quest for Justice (DS)

Source: Kotaku

Blast invites you — to go to hell.

You could win a copy of Dante’s Inferno PlayStation 3, PSP or Xbox 360 from Blast: Boston’s Online Magazine and Electronic Arts.

As always, just register as a free Blast user and leave a comment on this article.

Dante’s Inferno is an epic descent through Dante Alighieri’s nine circles of hell — limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery. At a blazing-fast 60 frames per second, each circle features unique environments, all new creatures, terrifying demons, story elements and are scored distinctly to set a tone that fits each circle of sinners. GO TO HELL!

We reported last week that major gaming publisher Electronic Arts bought a Super Bowl time-slot, but we had no idea how the company would use its 30 seconds, but today we do.

According to IndustryGamer, EA purchased the time to hype Dante’s Inferno, a game with already great hype surrounding it, but come next weekend, will have lots more.

A 30-second Super Bowl advertisement for 2010 is estimated to cost about $2.5 million.

Dante’s Inferno releases February 9, making EA’s decision to hype that game very understandable.

Source: IndustryGamer

Electronic Arts and Visceral Games released a demo for the upcoming Hellish action/adventure God of War clone, last week, and if you’re like me, enjoying the slow days of post-holiday merriment, the folds of the couch never looked so inviting.

In the demo, titled “Gates of Hell,” you assume the role of Dante, and must defeat Death himself and attain your scythe for future slaying goodness.

Enough talk. Download. Kill. Enjoy.

Electronic Arts and Visceral Games invite you to get a taste of the nine circles of Hell today in the Dante’s Inferno demo, which made its way onto the PlayStation Network this afternoon.

“Offering a glimpse into the vast world of Dante’s Inferno, the demo serves as a prelude to the player’s perilous journey through the nine circles of Hell,” EA said.

Hell. Yeah, it’s a rough place full of pain and torment, but it’s also a demonic destination we’re ready to embark for when the game becomes commercially available February 9, 2010.

A demo for Xbox 360 gamers comes to Xbox Live Christmas Eve. Sounds like another EA marketing attempt at attacking Christian themes.

It’s no secret Electronic Arts has huge plans for Dante’s Inferno, an original IP from acclaimed development studio Visceral Games, but today the publisher revealed it’s beginning a weekly live video session hosted by developers who will  do everything from chat about the game to fielding fan questions.

Tomorrow, Dec. 9 you can join Executive Producer Jonathan Knight and Senior Producer Justin Lambros at the game’s Web site to hear them gush details about the game’s PS3 demo (due out Dec. 10) as well as general development of the title and its accompanying comic book series.

The show starts tomorrow at 4 p.m. Eastern at Dante’sInferno.com, where you can also find loads more concerning the hellish title.

EA sees this maneuver as “a direct pipeline for fans to come inside the studio for some one-on-one with the game’s creators.” But we’ll wait to see just how much the EA devs spill about the title before we go as far to say “direct pipeline.”

Alright, so we knew Dante’s Inferno, the upcoming action/adventure/kill everything game from EA’s Visceral Games studio, looked a lot like famous franchise God of War, but after seeing this, well, it’s just hard to ignore.

In this new trailer for the title, comprised of cutscenes and actual gameplay, we get to see exactly what Hell looks like (in EA’s manner) and why it won’t be easy surviving there.

Have a look.

Hell is a hot, devilish place, but Visceral Games and Electronic Arts hope to make the nine circles of Hell an attractive and alluring destination for gamers to venture to in February when the game hits PS3/360 and PC.

But if February and its silly 28 days seems too far away, Visceral Games today announced that a demo for the God Of War-esque title will hit the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live in December.

In the demo, officially dubbed “Gates of Hell,” soul-crushing Hell-raisers can enjoy the entire first level of the title and soak in all its fiendish delight. You know, if you’re into sinning and all.

The official press release from EA states “Players will experience fast-paced hack-n-slash combat as they fend off waves of enemies before taking on the ultimate battle against Death.”

A battle against Death? Assuming you defeat the man (or woman?), who’s next?

An executive producer at EA’s Visceral Games studio today revealed that players will be rewarded for killing babies in Dante’s Inferno.

The Achievement (and we assume Trophy for PS3 gamers), is called “Bad Nanny” and will be rewarded to the player who slaughters a to-be-determined number of unbaptized infants.

Now, to be fair,‚  these babies are hideous, have knives for arms, and will kill you if you don’t kill them, so don’t feel too bad for the little guys.

However you slice it, Dante’s Inferno is continuing to sound like a great game. We’ll know for sure February 9 when the game hits shelves everywhere.

Full story and images @‚  UGO

Electronic Arts and Visceral Games today announced that Will Rokos is the man writing the story of Dante’s Inferno the video game.

Yes, we know, Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy, but the digital version, that’s all Rokos.

Rokos wrote the screenplay for the 2001 film “Monster’s Ball” and was up for an Academy Award for it, though a nomination was all he’d get.

“Taking such a naturally rich and deep universe and adapting for the video game has been one of the most interesting and challenging projects I’ve worked on” added Will Rokos.‚  “I really got into re-imagining Dante as a flawed hero with a dark past, and his determination to save the love of his life from a terrible fate.‚  It was a truly unique experience to re-create one man’s hell, one circle at a time.”

Not so say story isn’t important in every game, but in this Hell-Circle of a game, I’m crossing my fingers for a winning script.

Electronic Arts and Visceral Games today revealed this glorious “Greed” trailer for their upcoming hell-bent action adventure game “Dante’s Inferno,” and if nothing more, is something pretty to look at.

What we get is a developer walkthrough of how pressing avarice and greed truly are to main character Dante as he trudges through the prickly fourth circle of Hell.

The game is continuing to look absolutely impressive, God of War-like if we had to name it, but environments, monsters, and sound are look to be coming together swimmingly for EA and Visceral. Have a look for yourself and let us know what you think!

Electronic Arts and Visceral Games today announced that “BioShock” composer Garry Schyman is the man with the plan for EA’s hell-bent adventure game Dante’s Inferno.

The soundtrack was recorded at the famed Abbey Road Studios in London and made use of the‚  Philharmonia Orchestra and Metro Voices Singers for the games’ orchestral score and chorus respectivley.

“Scoring Dante’s Inferno was one of the most interesting and challenging projects I have ever tackled” said Garry Schyman. “Literally being asked to score hell was fantastic especially once I saw the surrealistically frightening world that Visceral Games had developed. I thought long and hard about every piece of music I wrote to create something new, surprising and fitting. It has turned out to be one of the most creative experiences in my career.”

Hell is quite a place. What with its demonology, heartache and all you’d think the sights alone would scare you sh*tless, but no, you’ll likely need multiple pairs of undergarments to play EA’s latest.

The third-person action adventure game from Visceral Games (formerly EA Redwood Shores) hits PS3, Xbox 360, and PSP February 9 2010.

“The Divine Comedy”‘s adaptation will be a thrilling video game for sure. Playing as Dante Alighieri, gamers must push through in order to reclaim the soul of Dante’s lost love, Beatrice, whom Lucifer has dragged into hell.‚  The themes of righteousness and redemption will be tested as Dante searches for Beatrice and encounters each of the vivid challenges in the nine circles of hell. The game will be released on February 9, 2010 for Xbox 360, PSP and PS3.

Visceral Games, the dudes and dudettes who brought you Dead Space today at GamesCom in Germany revealed that beginning February 9 2010 and running for all eternity you’ll be able to dance the circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno.

“The Divine Comedy is one of the most influential pieces of literature in the world and we have a great responsibility in re-imagining Dante Alighieri’s vivid descriptions of hell, and the themes of righteousness and redemption he explores” said Jonathan Knight, executive producer of Dante’s Inferno. “Our team is dedicated to delivering a stunning and highly polished interpretation of this classic to a new medium for a new generation everywhere this February.”

In the game you’ll play as Dante and are tasked with trudging through the nine circles of Hell; limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, violence, heresy, fraud and terachery on your way to save the soul of your lass Beatrice at the hands of Lucifer himself.

We know Visceral has the talent, look at Dead Space for proof, but until we get our hands-on, it’s hard to separate PR-spun phrases from the actual nature of the title.

Dante’s Inferno official game site

LOS ANGELES — Sitting through demos, not being able to put your hands on a game, can be a bit rough. But sometimes you get a movie-like experience that makes you drool.

And then sometimes you get (fake) protesters.

We got to experience both with Dante’s Inferno, Electronic Arts’ latest attempt to show off its recent creativity.

“Inferno” takes you to hell, in an interpretation of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s epic, “The Divine Comedy.”

It’s a third-person action game that cycles you through a tour of the afterlife as you descend, sin by sin, through the the nine circles of hell.

You assume the role of Dante, who descends into Hell after returning home to find his beloved Beatrice murdered, with Lucifer seducing her soul into the underworld. Dante sets out to save her but has to face down his own demons first.

You get to use two very different weapons: a scythe that Dante steals from Death, himself, and the Holy Cross, given to him by Beatrice. The cross lets Dante use spiritual powers and spells as you progress through the game.

Watching the gameplay, Dante’s Inferno looks a lot like God of War with crazy combos and giant enemies you have to get past. One thing I liked was that Dante gets to tame and take control over some of his larger enemies, like a giant demon that can lay waste to most smaller enemies.

EA’s Visceral Games studio is behind this title as it prepares to put out Dead Space: Extraction, which I loved.

EA was criticized for staging fake protesters at the event. They were even saying “we’re not against video games, just Dante’s Inferno.”

By the way: This version corrects our incorrect reporting that the protesters were real.

Blast Magazine staff writer Bradley Ouellette contributed to this report, also from Los Angeles.

Dante’s Inferno is set in Hell; a place of fire, torment, and anguish reserved for the most sinister of men.‚  And before today the creepy, demonic regions of the abyss were scheduled for exclusive release on Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

However, publisher Electronic Arts revealed today that a PSP version of Dante’s Inferno will hit retail alongside its mighty console brethren sometime next year.

EA Redwood Shores (the team responsible for Dead Space) and Artificial Mind and Movement are handling development responsibilities. ‚ Jonathan Knight, executive producer and creative director of the project had this to say about the baleful third person action game:

“PSP owners can expect to get the same level of fast, responsive gameplay through all nine detailed and unique circles of hell we are aiming to achieve on the consoles.”

Dante’s Inferno is based on the poem of the same name written by Dante Alighieri and will send gamers playing as Dante through the nine circles of hell: limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery.

Video games today hardly feature the playable game exclusively; instead, additional attachments to the experience are popping up left and right promising bonus content not available in the game itself.

So it is not surprising that Electronic Arts and Starz Media’s Film Roman today announced that a feature-length animated film based on the epic Dante’s Inferno is currently in development and will ship alongside the game’s release later this year.

EA are taking a unique step in the development process as they are hiring multiple studios to work to create a dynamic and distinctive take on the various stages of hell in which Inferno is set.

Film Roman’s Joe Goyette (“Dead Space: Downfall”) is the producer on the project, Victor Cook (“The Spectacular Spider-Man,” “Hellboy Animated: Blood & Iron”) is directing and Brandon Auman (“Iron Man: Armored Adventures”) is writing.

“The animated feature will be a great companion piece to the game,” said Jonathan Knight, Executive Producer and Creative Director for Dante’s Inferno. “The feature will explore aspects of the poem that the game does not, and will provide more insight into the characters and the unique story adaptation that the game has established. It’s a very cool project, and we are having a blast collaborating with the talented team that Starz has assembled.”

Dead Space Downfall, a prequel to the ambitious video game was a hit in terms of worldwide sales and earned the fanboys’ respect, so great things can be expected of EA and Starz this time around with the larger-than-life Dante’s Inferno story to tell.

Head on over to the Dante’s Inferno official site for more details on the game.