Punishing King Minos, Inferno Style

by Jeff Haynes - IGN.com | 28 April 2009 12:00
 
We judge the first boss of the Inferno with a bloody scythe.
 
Two months ago, I reported on my first hands-on with Dante's Inferno, an upcoming game from EA Redwood Shores that seeks to capture the essence of the classic poem and combine it with fast-paced action. Even though I was told that the game was more than a year away from being done, there was definite promise with the responsive controls, the solid combo system and some of the other gameplay elements. Well, Redwood Shores hasn't been resting on its laurels. At a recent press event, EA once again showed off Dante's Inferno with a further segment of Limbo and a boss battle that once again made the idea of going to hell rather appealing.
 
The first thing that I was told was that just about everything that I'd previously seen had been radically overhauled. That extended from the user interface to the presentation of characters and even the angles for different cutscenes. While that seemed like quite a large task to take on, especially for a press event, it stood out when it came to leaping back into the demo, which began at a new starting point. Instead of just entering Limbo, the demo started upon the back of Charon, and had Dante fending off enemies. All of the basics of this section were covered in my previous hands-on article.
 

Prepare to get sliced and diced.

However, the developers were actively trying to make the HUD smaller and less intrusive during play. Dante had a thin life line that appears in the upper right hand corner of the screen, which didn't obscure vision of incoming demons or attacks. Curiously, the magic bar and elements that had appeared in the prior version had been removed, but I was told that the entire system from the look of the magic to the display of the power left after a spell was in the process of being worked on, and probably wouldn't even appear in the same manner. It's entirely possible that magic bars will appear as you use the special powers Dante has and life bars will show up when you take damage, which leaves the rest of the screen to display all of the monsters bearing down on you. Apart from the HUD overhaul, the controls also felt much tighter. The developers managed to put in a full counter system based on the strength of an attack that is launched at you by an enemy. Depending on the button you press after a successful block, Dante will perform different strikes that can be strung together to make even more impressive combos. Dante's evasion is also much tighter now. Instead of constantly rolling around, Dante had sidesteps, backward jumps and forward leaps that gave him a way to escape damage or provide him with extra momentum as he started his attack.
 
Although the transitions and areas from Charon to the pillars and into the antechamber with the demon babies remained the same, there were a few subtle additions to the overall gameplay, such as a larger focus on particle effects, particularly when you defeat an opponent. The camera also focused much more on Dante's face during some of the quick time events, and knowing that they wanted to draw the user in more, the developers spent extra time working on Dante's face, making it much more detailed and visually eye-catching for players. Now, his shock at having to leap from Charon or face his death is more readily apparent to him and the player, and some of the close-ups look much sharper. His armor is much more detailed as well, with nicks and dents from the various battles that he'd taken part in before the quest for revenge. Another element that had been included was Virgil, who was introduced outside of the demon baby chamber as a tall man holding a large staff. While I couldn't interact with Dante's guide through the Underworld, I was told that he will play a larger role in the game once again, and that his placement within the demo was just a placeholder at that moment.
 

You're going to feel some pain, Minos!

While his inclusion was nice to see, it was even better to move deeper into Limbo after fighting off the demon babies in the antechamber. Once all of them had been destroyed, Dante was able to run through an archway and up a set of winding stairs. Here's where things actually got interesting, because Dante was presented with branching paths that he could take. While you weren't forced to go off the beaten path, Dante could explore some of the different areas of Limbo and acquire additional souls that would help him upgrade his skills or heal himself by cracking open a chest or two. While some of these areas would be crawling with monsters that you'd have to fight off, others could hold Shades, the lost souls that Dante could save or punish in the Underworld. Unfortunately for the Shades within this demo, only the punishment mechanic really worked – while you could attempt to save the souls, the button press mini-game was practically impossible to correctly perform. However, this was another portion that the developers had obviously been working on, as the graphics for the buttons looked much more like they belonged in Hell than a jarring X or circle button prompt that would just pop up on screen.
 
After healing Dante and battling through additional demons to get to the top of the stairs, Dante leapt across a chasm and into a large, open courtyard. Here stood King Minos, the judge of the damned; perhaps I should say towered, because Minos was easily three to four times taller than Dante and quite large. His face appeared to have been melted into a large mask of flesh, and he seemed to be part serpent and part man. His first words (voiced by Richard Moll – Bull of Night Court fame, who plays the role extremely well) echoed around the chamber that he practically filled with his girth, bellowing, "Who comes into my house of pain?" Before I could crack a "Jump Around" or Everlast joke, Minos attacked, pounding on the ground with his hand in an attempt to knock Dante down. These weren't his only strikes, as he'd frequently sweep his tail from side to side in an attempt to smash Dante into pieces, and would scream loudly to immobilize and deafen the hero. It might seem like it was easy to dodge strikes from such a large beast, but in reality, it was rather challenging – each strike that you took did a significant amount of damage, and without any magic to support your attacks, you really had to be almost flawless to survive the battle without losing at least a quarter to half of your life.
 
While I won't spoil exactly how you manage to defeat Minos (which was a secret that I had to figure out after fighting and losing to him about four times), I will mention that part of the damage involved a large spiked wheel and significant impalement of the ancient king. Whether that will remain within the final game remains to be seen, but considering that the game seems to improve by leaps and bounds each time it's shown, 2010 won't come fast enough for action fans looking to purge Hell of demons.
 
Supplied by IGN.com