Launched just a few weeks back, the Dante’s Inferno videogame has prompted quite a stir within the videogame society. The subject matter, which isvery loosely inspired by the titular poem, has been met with contempt by some and certain nations even declined to advertise it. Nonetheless, this kind of notoriety is usually a very good factor, as it will get buyers inquisitive about what could possibly be inciting such an outcry.

The Dante’s Inferno videogame story follows Dante as he journeys through the varied circles of hell on a journey to rescue his beloved Beatrice. But as he delves deeper into the pit, worse secrets are discovered and the truth about his journey becomes known. Dante must combat his way through employing Death’s scythe, which he claimed from the spectre having defeated him in single combat!

Right, let’s get this out of the way early- the Dante’s Inferno videogame has been blamed of being a copy of the God of War franchise, to the point at which the combat technique is allegedly almost identical. Well, this is really dependant on your point of view. God of War certainly did not start the hack and slash genre, it simply does it best, and thus all succeeding titles shall be measured against it. If a game can come near emulating God of War surely that’s an excellent claim?

And the Dante’s Inferno videogame is doubtless its own master. The combat technique is definitely an intricately fashioned tree of prospects as you engage Dante’s two methods of attack; his scythe and holy cross. These weapons can each be levelled up as you move forward through hell. Throughout the Dante’s Inferno videogame, Dante will discover lost souls both in combat and non-combat situations, and the gamer can select to either punish or absolve them. This will level up either weapons correspondingly.

Hell itself has been properly realised with the Dante’s Inferno videogame, and there are certainly echoes of EA’s earlier horror offering- Dead Space. The environment is teeming with writhing damned, impaled prisoners and seas of blood, whilst the different circles will provide their own take on things. Journeying through Lust will expose mutated phallic symbols and darkly seductive enemies, whilst Greed will house unfortunates encased in gold.

The Dante’s Inferno Videogame has had a tough ride by the hands of all the God of War fanboys, but is certainly a great game in its own right. Sure, there are a couple of drawbacks- the game is a little bit too brief and a number of the environments start to look over familiar, but these complaints are voided by an empowering combat technique and brilliant boss battles and imagery. The Dante’s Inferno Videogame needs to be recognised as a great effort from EA, and I encourage you to give it a go.

variety of exclusive titles, such as Red Steel. This title was basically a FPS in which the player could swap between gun action and sword action by employing the Wii remote or nunchuk. This innovative gameplay generated high excitement throughout the gaming society, and therefore the title was one of the highest selling launch titles for Nintendo’s console. Developers Ubisoft have finally created a sequel, and Wii’s Red Steel 2 is coming out this Spring.

Wii’s Red Steel 2 is moving the action from the Mafia oriented mob storyline of the first game and relocating to a desert area, in which you play the shadowy ‘Swordsman’. In quest of vengeance on a range of enemies, you battle your way through various environments using the same play technique as in the original.

The controls are fine tuned to a great level with this title. In spite of the high sales of the original, one downside that was continually cited by critics was that the controls didn’t precisely convey player actions to the screen. By employing the new WiiMotion Plus Wii’s Red Steel 2 hopes to counter this downside extensively.

Additionally, the title takes a fresh visual style. Instead of the realistic look of the original, Wii’s Red Steel 2 is done with a cell shaded design, giving the title an impressively stylised finish. Multiplayer has also been removed from this title, as Ubisoft state they needed to put all their energy into making the greatest single player campaign achievable.

The initial Red Steel was really a flawed masterpiece; it had all the promise to be an impressive and revolutionary title but was just defeated by below-par controls. If Wii’s Red Steel 2 will rectify this downside, then we might be seeing a really magnificent title.