The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Rip-Offs (or Homages)

For many years now, there has been an increasing dearth of new ideas in our mass media. At least, that's the perception. The truth is moneymen and cashwomen are terrified to let money go on an untested property. And so what we get is a glut of remakes, sequels, adaptations, and straight rip-offs. A lot of these are bad, or (as I am so fond of saying) worse, mediocre. Sometimes though, there's a couple that borrow things so well that they stand out on their own, and I played an example of each this month.

First, the bad!

(I know that none of you are wondering where At A Glance is, but it'll be back once I'm caught up. Word.)


My Dante's Inferno Stats

• Platform: PS3
• Playthroughs: 3 @ 25 - 28 hours
• Trophies: 43/55 (Platinum # 11!)
• I compare it to: Kratos Goes To Hell! No, not Hades, the other one!
• Play it again?: I've had enough silliness, thanks.
• Urgency: Wait for at least the 7th circle of the bargain bin, or just read the damn thing instead.

It's an established fact in the film and game worlds that if it's good, its an homage. If it's bad, its a rip-off. So, what's the rule for mediocre? I'm going with rip-off, and that's a title I will gladly bestow upon Dante's Inferno, or at least its gameplay and story. 

As I'm sure you've surmised already, Dante's Inferno is based upon the first part of Dante Aligheri's epic Divine Comedy. As a poet taking a guided tour through Hell isn't a terribly compelling device to drive gameplay, a slight few "liberties" were taken with the story. Dante is now a crusader, a "complex" figure, which means he did a lot of terrible things seemingly on a whim (although there is the fact that he committed these atrocities believing he was protected under a universal indulgence).  Instead of a virtuous outsider witnessing the sinners' torments, Dante is now in danger of residing in each of the nine circles, should his quest to rescue the soul of his murdered wife from the clutches of (the oddly smarmy and lecherous) Lucifer fail. Yes, it's kind of dumb, but so far, I've been unable to come up with a better way to adapt Inferno into a game. I'll bet I could if I tried for like, 5 minutes though, and so could you.

No such creativity was applied to the gameplay, sadly. All of the taglines DI has garnered labeling it a "God of War clone" are well deserved. Granted, it works, and combat has a decent flow, but it owes everything to Kratos, up to and including its combos, air combat, quick time events, and wall traversal (of which there is far too much here). The only thing it has that Kratos doesn't is the magic ranged cross attack. Yes, really. The ability to choose whether to "Punish" or "Absolve" enemies is inconsequential beyond what type of XP it yields, and your choice to upgrade "Good" or "Evil" abilities has no bearing on the story and little on the gameplay itself. However, an "Absolution" move made me absolutely giggle with glee and produced this catchphrase listed below (which I proceeded to use EVERY time):

"The light of Christ, IN YOUR FACE!"

The one real highlight of Dante's Inferno, and yes, there is one, is the Inferno itself. Hell is AMAZING. With the exception of a single level (which I will tear apart below), each level is amazingly detailed, and ripped straight from the cantos of the Inferno. Most levels, some more subtly than others, evoke the sins of its resident penitents. For instance, in Lust, you battle your way up a huge tower, full to the brim of phalli and lotus, that thrusts forth from the depths of one of the outer circles. Greed is a boiling gold foundry, and the City of Dis (another reason for a old handle of mine) is utterly massive, a Cyclopean citadel of furnaces and cages. The bosses, in general, are worthy of this thematic cohesion.

One exception which I must expound upon is the Malebolge, or the 8th circle, that of deceivers.  My strongest impression here is that the team just ran out of ideas. While the structure of this circle in the poem may seem like it lends itself to what's actually in the game, namely, ten gameplay challenges (ala, what else, God of War's post game challenges) that have nothing to do with deception, it is nothing if not generic and repetitive. It is literally, boss taunt, challenge arena, hallway, elevator, save point, repeat. That's it. It's not only the integration of what works very well as post game content into the main flow of the game that bothers me, but the absence of any real level design in a setting that had a lot of potential, and doesn't come close to meeting, let alone raising, the bar set by the rest of the game.

The final boss, and I don't consider it a spoiler for anyone who even knows about the Inferno, is Satan, and while cool-looking, he is rather silly. It wouldn't be a video game without a diabolical plot to take over the world, and that's what's going on here. I'm very critical of any depiction of Old Scratch, and while I thought he was kind of fun (if, as previously mentioned, smarmy and lecherous) at the beginning,  at the end, unfortunately, he fails in his quest to be Best Satan Ever. Sorry, better luck next time.

And that brings us to the inevitable sequel possibility. DI did well enough in sales (about half a million) to warrant discussion of a sequel, and as we know, Inferno is part one of a three part story. However, what would the gameplay in Purgatory or Paradise be like? Obviously, there's lost souls and demon tormentors aplenty to fight in Inferno, but what will have to change to make the other two interesting? My guess? Ruining good literature to make bad games. Or more of it, anyway.

Final word, if you can't get enough of God of War, and you're desperate for more GoW style action before Ghost of Sparta comes out, or if you just want to see a neat vision of (most of) Hell, give this a look. Otherwise, give a hoot and read the book. I'll even give you a link.

Now, the good!


My Darksiders Stats

• Platform: PS3
• Playthroughs: 2 @ 32 hours
• Trophies: 43/43 (Platinum # 12!)
• I compare it to: Aperture Science crossbreeds Link, Raziel, and Kratos.
• Play it again?: Played it out, but give me another one!
• Urgency: Add it to your queue or buy used, its worth it.

In general, we all tend to respond to borrowed narrative or gameplay conventions negatively. We like innovation in the gaming world, and we have a converse (and almost instinctive) dislike toward imitation. This tendency sometimes keeps us from checking out games that get a bad rap for "ripping off" gameplay conventions, but in reality synthesize disparate gameplay elements into a wholly enjoyable experience, Such is the case with Darksiders. 

A word before we go on. I don't really care for, or about, Darksiders' story. I don't say that very often, as frequent readers know, I'm a sucker for story. However, after Dante's Inferno, I wasn't expecting too much. To paraphrase Samwise, it's something about a seal, a horseman, and something about the end of the world. Seriously, it's serviceable, and definitely more interesting than the story contortions of DI, but thats not what I enjoyed about this game.

Darksiders combines several very solid elements from some classic game franchises. While most would say the one it draws the most from is Legend of Zelda, with its exploration, puzzle solving, and unlockable abilities (and "z-targeting"), I actually found it evoking one of my very favorite games, Soul Reaver. Perhaps it's the atmosphere and darker subject matter, but that feeling instantly endeared Darksiders to me. It's combat and weapon upgrades are very similar to, what else, God of War, but I found a lot more of Devil May Cry in Darksiders than I saw in Inferno. Most surprisingly, there is an item which, let's not mince words here, is nothing less than a portal gun. Yes, like Portal. There are some very satisfyingly clever challenges built around this item however, and that kept the "imitation indignation" away. A quick note that will save you some time, you can shoot through your own portals with this gun. You'll understand when the time comes.

Ultimately, with its well crafted boss fights (represented on the map by a big red skull) and skillful (if not exactly innovative) level design, Darksiders managed to entertain me quite a bit, and while it it true that I have a deep and abiding love for games like this, Zelda and Soul Reaver, Darksiders does have its own distinct flavor after you've been playing it a while, you'll find it hard to stop, like I did. Just don't ask me for any story details, I wasn't paying that much attention to it.

Next week: Who you gonna call?