The Explorer reviews the video game Dante’s Inferno and compares it to the 14th century poem.
“My understanding of Heaven and Hell,” started Ms. Rogers: “Imagine a huge table with many kinds of food but the forks are too long so the souls cannot eat because the food cannot reach their mouths. That’s Hell! You see the same situation in Heaven but they are feeding each other. 
”
So rather than “go to hell,” many Dons are feeding their brains by playing the video game.
Dante’s Inferno is simply a great game. The sound, for example, makes the player feel he is doomed or that he’ll actually do it and get on with his life. Graphics are also strong as the game’s creators (Visceral Studios) really made Hell, a game experience true to the poem. The graphics are modern and both the combat and controls rule. The controls simplify the game for the player and nothing is better than the combat system. And let’s face it: the combos are “kick awesome.”
“I really like the game,” said Ryan Woodward(11). “My friend [lent] it to me and I think that it’s great. The sound is generic and always keeps you exited, the graphics are amazing, and the story is breathtaking. The engine of the game is really similar to that of ‘God Of War’ so combat is also really similar… When it comes to controls, I don’t think that anyone will have a problem with it.”
So basically, the game is amazing and it runs smoothly but what about the poem?
The poem “Dante’s Inferno” was written by Dante Alighieri, finished on September 14th, 1321 when he was in exile. He finished it right before he died. Many intellectual minds consider him as the first “important” poet after the Dark Ages.
“What doesn’t [the poem] talk about!” exclaimed Mrs.Vickers, is that “[it] teaches many things about life and death for the reader during Dante’s search for his place. It has many lessons to teach all kinds of readers, if understood!”
The poem is interesting and also long but it talks about many things that the reader could really learn from.
“I was asked what attracted me about the poem. Nothing!”, informed Ms.Rogers, “due to the image of the twisted tormented bodies.”
Ms.Rogers is absolutely right. Due to all the nine circles in hell (limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud, and betrayal where Satan chews on the three greatest traitors. They are Judas the betrayer of Christ, and Cassius and Brutus the betrayers of Ceasar), the poem leaves the effect that every person has his place in hell and it really makes the reader think about himself in different ways.
There are few differences between the poem and the game though. For example, Dante doesn’t faint in the game like the poem, Virgil (the spirit of a poet from the dark ages) does not help Dante in the game as much as in the poem, and in the poem Beatrice is really a symbol of Dante’s love and also a divine symbol but in the game Beatrice is Dante’s love and she is the reason why Dante went down to hell (to save here from Satan).
Over all, is the game’s story and base coming from the poem after all these differences?
The answer is, definitely. If the reader imagined hell while he was reading the poem, the game would have been his exact imagination and this is coming out from the mouth of someone who read the poem before the game.
Both the poem and game are great pieces of art that both gamers and readers would enjoy.