^ watch.
Oh yeah, I can't wait. Between this, Bayonetta, Darksiders: Wrath of War and Prototype, there's going to be a lot of sweet action games coming up.
Anyways, I'll keep this short (plus I wasn't planning on making a blog anyways). EA Redwood Shores, the studio that made Dead Space, is making this game. If you've never played Dead Space, then not only do I highly suggest you do so, but you'll be missing the obvious potential for just how amazing Dante's Inferno can be. Dead Space has tons of Gothic architecture and the earthy palette and muted colorscape do invoke a somewhat medieval vibe. I think the atmosphere of Hell will be excellently executed by the folks at Redwood Shores. Also Redwood Shores proved they can make a great game with tight gameplay and I'm sure they'll do just that in Dante's Inferno.
Ok let's move away from Dead Space and onto Dante's Inferno. I know, many of you thought, "Oh sahweet, a Devil May Cry spin-off!" Well then, if you thought that, I'd suggest you either go study Italian literature or just pay attention to the world around you, because Dante's Inferno is not some unknown property. Although it's a 700 year old book, it serves more as a starting block for Redwood Shores rather than an outline leading all the way to the credits. Also, notice it's called 'Inferno' and that the other two (more positive) parts 'Purgatorio' and 'Paradiso' are not mentioned. Going through and selling roses for $0.00 to everyone in the nine circles of Heaven is not nearly as fun as going through the nine circles of Hell beating everyone on the noggin with crosses, right?
Criticism is going to follow this game like me following the scent of Yan-Yan's. Making an arguement that the game cannot possibly be capturing the spirit of Mr. Alighieri's book is ridicolous. First of all, from the trailer, the art styIe actually appears to be toned down from the source material. Granted late-medieval/early-Renaissance art was still elementary in it's profiling, perspective and detail, but the illustrations were still ruthless in what they depicted. They serve as artistic inspiration rather then an exact code of how the game should look like. The art styIe in that time period was boring as well, let's get that out of the way. All the art back then was designed as stage sets, with little narrative or interpretive elements and close to zero detail at times. Do you really want Redwood Shores to make a game that looks solely based on early-Renaissance artwork? I don't think so.
Also argueing that it shouldn't be heavily influenced by the book doesn't make sense either. It's based off it right? So it should be similar to it. Whether or not it follows the book and to what degree, well that will be up to Redwood Shores, but I'm sure they know what they're doing. Think about it, if you had to choose a developer team to make a game based off of Dante's Inferno, who would you choose? I would choose Redwood Shores. Next ask yourself, do we need a game based off Dante's Inferno? No, we don't. But if it's done right and it plays great, we sure as hell want one. I mean the idea in itself is just mind-boggling, but wait a second, it's coming from EA? Here's to EA for trying something new (for the third time this year) and the possibility to finally gleefully crack skulls with crucifixes, you all know you want to do that.