Now we get some (what I presume to be) gameplay footage of Dante’s Inferno the video game from EA. A bit of plot seems revealed as Dante (your character) is lots in the woods (i.e. The Dark Wood of Error) and sees who I believe must be Beatrice. I thought then that she would be replacing the role of Virgil and show Dante the way in and the way through Hell. But instead she gets captured.
Captured? How? Some demon rises up, just grabs her, and pulls her down to the abyss. Dante tried to stop the demon by throwing some weapon at it which did about as much good as you would think a dagger would do against a creature from the underworld. Zero.
So … that is the story, eh? The tried-and-true-and-so-cliché “damsel in distress” that has been used in video games for the last 25 years? The original text has Dante rescuing his own soul through this journey while Beatrice is safe and sound in Paradise. Demons have as much ability to do that as I do flying to the moon by jumping really high.
But, that’s the book. This is a video game. And when you make a video game you follow certain patterns and that often involves obtaining or saving something physical. So if Mario and Link are out to rescue their respective princesses, why not Dante, too? The difference now is that the setting is not the Mushroom Kingdom nor Hyrule, it is Hell.
In the end we get a video game, with a video game plot, and video game mechanics. Good. This time, however, it will have thrilling new backdrops and perspectives. From text to game the story may be changed, but just as important is the vision, Dante’s vision, remains. And that is what has me interested, the visuals. Dante describes what Hell looks like. Let us see how EA models it in interactive 3D graphics. Judging from the trailer, it looks as frightening and disgusting as it should be.
