Dante's Inferno PSP Game Review

Electronic Arts (EA) and Visceral Games just unleashed the PlayStation 3 game Dante's Inferno to the PlayStation Portable system. Will the portable version be a hit for the on-the-go gamers or will it fail to meet the same intense action?

Dante's Inferno is inspired on the Inferno, the first book from Dante Alighieri's epic poem, "The Divine Comedy". The story revolves on Dante, a knight from the Third Crusades, who tries to rescue his murdered wife's soul, Beatrice from Lucifer, who tries to make her as his bride so he can escape from Hell and tries to take over the Throne of God. and Dante has to pursuit Lucifer and take him down, but he has to face Lucifer's minions in the nine Circles of Hell and also his wicked past before the can reclaim his beloved wife.






At the first glance, you would probably compare Dante's Inferno to another popular action game (ehem* God of War anyone?) although it looks and feels like God of War, there are still some original stuff on it. One of these was having a unique character development system called the Absolve or Punish System, where you can choose to develop your Holy or Unholy skills depending on how you eliminate your opponents. You can also get exp points for your skills by punishing or absolving lost souls such as Pontious Pilate, Elektra and other historical figures that appeared in The Divine Comedy poem.






The controls are somewhat similar to God of War, so players who played GoW will have to trouble playing Dante's Inferno. The combat is as usual, intense similar to GoW,which can make the game a bit unoriginal.




The Graphics is still good, but not that very impressive, what makes it up for it are the cut scenes, instead of in-game scene, they take the cutscenes from the PS3 version, making it more entertaining to watch, and they manage to fit almost most of the important scenes without sacrificing the quality.





Sounds are mediocre, the soundtrack is very few and feels as if they are all the same tracks. Sound effects is still good, from the sound of the scythe swinging to the screech of the damned souls. Voice acting is pretty impressive, as well as the script, it feels as if you are watching a Hollywood movie.

Some of the major drawbacks is the frequent loading sequences, every time you enter a cutscene, the game loads for a couple of seconds, and you'll encounter this very often. Another is the lack of replay value, after completing the game (which can be done in around 5-6 hours), you'll be entertained with a comic book feature and a hard mode, but it would been nice if they had some more unlockables like a challenge mode feature and new weapons and costumes.

Overall,for a portable version of Dante's Inferno, the game is still good if you want more intense action games and if you want to experience how the gameplay of the PS3 version would feel like, or if you just want to play a God of War-like game. Although the game was good, it still can't beat the incredible experience the portable version of God of War was able to provide. But you still shouldn't miss out this game, with an epic storyline and great gameplay, despite having the frequent loading issues, it's still worth to be added in your gaming collection.

Game Rating: 8 out of 10

Dante's Inferno was published by Electronic Arts and developed by Visceral Games.

Categories: Gaming , PSP , Review