After much sweat, a few tears and sore wrists I finally completed the button mashing, God of War borrowing, Dante’s Inferno from EA. To be honest, I was very happy with the purchase, I really was. For all of the flak that EA caught (staging a protest, trampling on a great literary work, stealing of other games ideas and their gameplay) they churned out a beautiful product that was great to look at and damn challenging if you ask me. The ending was nice, I felt good about what I had done and I had left behind enough achievements to warrant another play through.
First though, I thought I would throw down the $5.00 and take a stab at the DLC entitled “Dark Forest”. I knew it wasn’t going to be as satisfying as the original game but I usually like a good DLC offering that adds to a world I loved.
This might have been the exception.
Up front you are offered the new “Disco Inferno” outfit for Dante. While funny to see Dante in an outfit straight out of Saturday Night Fever, it is borderline ridiculous and takes away from the dark setting of the entire game. I don’t feel the same sense of power when I am gutting a demon while signing “Stayin’ Alive”. Buying the DLC has given me the ability to use that outfit in another play through of the game, I don’t think I would probably do that. Without giving too much away, you are also given a new relic that you can use. Like the outfit, I don’t know how much you would use it in a normal play through.
The “Dark Forest” content is a mini prequel story that doesn’t really make much sense or have much meaning to the main story arch. If you remember back to when you started the game, while you were stitching the cross into your skin, you were in a forest. That forest is the “Dark Forest” and happens to be where this content begins. Basically to sum it up quickly, you are trying to get somewhere and there are three puzzle/maze’s in your way along with a whole lot of creepy crawly creatures.
*Possible Spoilers to the main game ahead*
Some of the problems with the content are that if you haven’t played through the game, there are minor spoilers placed throughout the level. Some of the things, Beatrice in ghost form for one, don’t make sense. Because if this takes place before the main story then our hero Dante doesn’t yet know that she is dead. Although there are technically new bad guys to fight, they are really just re-skinned original characters and you never gain any souls or health or magic from enemies. The only time you can refill is at the fountains. The last thing may seem insignificant but it really makes it feel disjointed from the game.
Some of the positives are that the DLC keeps up with the challenging nature of the main game so long as you choose a higher difficulty setting. The maze can get mildly tricky and there is an achievement offered for never getting lost which stuck in the back of my head the whole time making me really pay attention throughout. The last puzzle is so simple that it took me 10 minutes of getting it wrong to finally say “Oh for **** sake, that is all I needed to do.” Other then the maze, the only other positive is that it gives you a few more minutes of button mashing fun.
My hope is that they either make future DLC packs that are similar for free (keep in mind it was free for PS3 owners and people who bought the special edition) or that they really ramp up what they offer. The next batch of DLC has the potential to be great, here is to hoping they don’t screw it up. Dante’s Inferno is certainly one of my sleeper hits of this young year.
Oh, and they took away Beatrice’s nipples. Automatic 2 point deduction.
FINAL SCORE – 68/100
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Like a beatrice barbie doll huh?