Dante's Inferno: God of War in Hell?
EA's Dante's Inferno landed on my desk this morning, the game based loosely on the great work by Italian poet Dante Alighieri, and - I might be jumping the gun here, having not played it yet - but at first glance, it seems to have a lot in common with the acclaimed God of War series.
Taking place among Dante's nine circles of Hell, our hero Dante must rescue his lost love Beatrice from the fiery pits and flowing lava of hell itself - and face off against what must be some of most hideous monsters ever seen in a video game. If you're seen any of the game play videos, there are some truly horrific sights.
However, I can't help but feel that Dante's Inferno owes a lot to the God of War series: Dante is suitably buff and wields large weapons with great aplomb, he faces off against huge creatures, and he collects souls and orbs that can upgrade his skills and replenish his health and mana.
So until I've played it I won't make a decision on whether Dante's Inferno is a case of simply imitating some of God of War's best features or a game totally devoid of an original idea. I'll know soon enough. I wonder, too, how it will fare when God of War 3 appears.
Is it me or is there a lack of innovation in the games industry at the moment, with a huge number of action games seemingly content to follow the same tried and true path that we all know and love. It goes something like this: see hero, see hero enter room, see hero smash a legion of foul monsters to death with his sword of death/axe of doom, see hero open a a few crates/chests, gathering mana/health, see hero move to next room.
Maybe I'm being overly simplistic and being a grumbly Gertie (aplogies to any Gerties reading this), but apart from a handful of games last year, very few seemed to try anything out of the ordinary or stray from the well-trodden path of video game conventions. So, do you think innovation is lacking in today's video games or is imitation the finest form of flattery?
What games have you played that were remarkably similar to another game that you played?
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I don't care if it feels like GOW3. It is cool enough to play :) Beside's, I'm a fan of the original Dante's Inferno literature myself. And I heard someone is making a movie based on this too?
Bayonetta!
How about playing the game before you review it..
Darksiders has a lot in common with the God of War games.
You collect souls to upgrade weapons and combos, same sort of intuative and forgiving (timnig-wise) fighting combos.
The protagonist was also a mythical being (one of the four horseman, War) and involved a problem solving/traps in dungeons.
Though in my opinion, it had better music.
Im pretty keen to check this game out, apparently Its a God of War clone with more boobies and more gore. Sounds like a winner to me! I'm gonna check out the demo soon (when I can be bothered).
As for videogames being a little stagnant with back to back replicas of the same stuff: this is partially true. Publishers want to stick to stuff that sells, were seeing a lot less innovation than what we saw in the PS1-Dreamcast-PS2 era. I havent seen many original zany break-out games like Rez, Parappa the Rapper etc. Still, a clone of an enjoyable game is still entertaining.
Which is why the gen seems to be characterised by Guitar Hero after Guitar Hero, Call of Duty after Call of Duty...
Although developers sticking to a familiar formula and improving it is still most very welcome. For instance Bayonetta borrows an awful lot from the Devil May Cry games but succeeds at being even more fluid, fast-paced and chaotic. Assassins Creed 2 really set the bar for the 3rd person action adventure as well. We've come a long way from the original Tomb Raider!
If you want innovation on your current console look no further than XBLA and PSN, which have great selections of original, ground breaking indie games, which arent bound by the same 'safe' conventions as a multi million dollar retail title. Stuff like Axel & Pixel and Splosion Man were a real breath of fresh air for me.
oh man don't get me started....I played GOW 1. sweet. I played GOW 2 & it had the same main character & basically the same moves as the previous game....i also found that with other titles such as, Jak & Daxtar 1,2 & 3, & MGS 1,2,3 & 4.....seriously what the hell =)
and while we're talking about lack of innovation in recent releases, Did anyone say Halo...?
This seems like a good time to post the old "Start to Crate" article: http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/39.html
It's 10 years old, but I'm sure you could write the same thing today.
@Matt, nowhere do I say that this is a review of Dante's Inferno, just that from initial glances, this appears to me to be very similar to God of War.
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A little precision please, Paul
Its been happening for ages.. soon as Wolfenstein/Doom/whatever there had been clones.. Warcraft/Dune/whatever .. clones.. as soon as theres a game that pushes the envelope (and works) theres sure to be multiple clones.. Tried and true. Developers need to be more ambitious