A Jaded Gamer’s Salvation

Jaded about gaming? It's not all mediocre.

Published 23/02/2010 at 16:00.
By Chris C [cc_star].

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Review: Dante’s Inferno [53]

Some visitors to TheSixthAxis will know I’m more often than not a bit of a grumpy bugger, and recently this grumpiness is spilling over into my gaming life. I’m actually quite jaded with my PlayStation 3 and even gaming in general – yes we’ve got blockbuster games left, right and centre, and yes it’s been a great end to 2009 and 2010 looks even better with epicness promised on a never before seen scale from the likes of MAG, Heavy Rain, Bioshock 2, God Of War III and, who knows, maybe The Last Guardian and even Gran Turismo 5.

But do you know what? I don’t care! It’s not my poor old PS3′s fault either as I also have less than zero interest in goings on of Peter Molyneux’s Fable III, the antics of the MasterChief / Rookie or whatever in Halo: Reach as well as a certain plumber’s activities in Super Mario Galaxy 2. I really can’t care for any of it.

For some reason nothing is exciting me or making me want to pick up my joypad. I am completely disillusioned by all that gaming has to offer, whether it’s minor stuff like announcements of announcements all the way up to the latest super exciting blockbuster of a game landing on my doormat that seemingly teh interwebz is literally doing its nut over. Have I seen it all before? Am I just a bit old? Is there nothing left in gaming for me?

Well, no, because I’m as happy as pig in the brown stuff when I’m playing a two and a half year multiplayer slice of awesomeness called Warhawk, nothing on the PlayStation 3 makes me feel as good as when I’m racing back from the enemy base with their flag in tow taking heavy enemy fire with the clock ticking down through the final thirty seconds.

That thrill and exhilaration and action like that, happens all the time in Warhawk right from the first ten sends to the last, whether it’s taking apart an orchestrated and careful attack on my base with a combination of a cunningly placed proximity mine and a bolt of lightening from my Warhawk, before landing and taking a few more out with my rocket launcher and even a luckily tossed grenade as I myself bite the bullet, or going toe-to-toe with an enemy tank armed with nothing more than a flame thrower, there is nothing, absolutely nothing in gaming to compare with the buzz Warhawk gives me.

Yes, I’ve played other games and even enjoyed a few of them, from the top of my head there’s Civilisation Revolution, Dead Space and Flower – those are this generation’s top of the pops. FIFA 09 & 10 have also received a fair amount of playtime, but lately my frustrations with FIFA 10′s shortcomings mean it hardly ever gets my attention now, and of course Uncharted 2 kept my attention right to the end, and why wouldn’t it? It was awesome, but about five levels in to a second run-through I got bored and fired up Warhawk again.

So, has Warhawk ruined gaming for me and if nothing else can live up to it in my enjoyment-stakes is there any hope for me whilst waiting for Starhawk to be released?

As it turns out there was hope for me and it came from an unlikely source, from a game which some people have labeled a ‘rip off’, a copy of one of gaming’s greatest strengths, God Of War. I am, of course, talking about Dante’s Inferno – a game which in my ever increasingly limited gaming time has quite probably saved gaming for me.

So I was wondering just how Visceral Games’ masterpiece has done this amazing feat and rescued my mind from the sea of gaming negativity it was in. Was it the crispness of the graphics rarely seen on the slightly washed out and edge-blurred graphics of the PS3, the sheer scale and epicness of the action, the awesome achievement of locking the action at the holy grail of 60 frames per second?

Perhaps it is the ultra-fast combat which has that indescribably perfect ‘weight’ to it, or the fantastically realised vision of hell that Visceral have portrayed with help with from artists like Wayne Barlow whose drawings of hell’s creatures are everywhere from movies like Hellboy & Pan’s Labyrinth to his paintings which are famous for being the modern ideal of hell and hellish creatures.

Is it, perhaps, the musical score written and produced by Garry Schyman and recorded by the Philharmonia Orchestra and Metro Voices Choir at Abbey Road Studios which so perfectly accompanies the action as Dante journeys through the nine circles of hell?

No, it is all of those things which combine into one amazing gaming experience which is never anything less than jaw dropping from the early moments right through to the end sequence. There is one point where you are floating across the Styx Marshes using your ranged holy cross attacks to keep the winged beasts at bay when you reach the shoreline the music changes perfectly to the grandeur that is happening on screen as something amazing happens.

I’m not going to go in to detail for fear of spoiling it for the people who are still to experience it, but suffice to say it is my favourite moment in all of gaming, where the action, graphics and importantly musical score combine in to something which blew my mind.

Dante’s Inferno has rekindled my desire to pick up my joypad, and whilst I appreciate the graphics, the amazing musical score and the awesome level of effort which has gone into Dante’s Inferno, I just love the gameplay – the sheer ‘weight’ of it as you swing Death’s scythe and the pad rumbles in my hand and on screen enemies are instantly torn in half as the orchestral music reaches a crescendo.

The way your combos flow from gruesome scythe attacks to devastating cross attacks and back again as you’re provided with an almost never ending number of enemies to satisfyingly dispatch. So, errrm thank you Visceral and the whole team behind Dante’s Inferno right from the cleaner all the way to the head of the studio, and the guy at EA who was signing the cheques. Thank you all so much I’m now off back to hell. Again.

So, how do you feel about gaming and is there a stand-out title which keeps you coming back for more, or how about a gaming scene where the action, graphics and music combined so perfectly you’ll probably remember it forever?

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Gastos84 | 23/02/2010 16:04
Team TSA: Writer
4238 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009

I am extremely jaded with gaming. The reason I wasn’t in this week’s WWP was because I haven’t played anything! I completed AvP yesterday but was extremely disappointed with that. I was extremely disappointed with Darksiders and Borderlands and Wet. I have turned to my iPhone to give me an entertaining gaming experience which is a sad situation.

However, I am hopin all of this will change thanks to Heavy Rain and Gow III.

Great article :D
- KeRaSh | 23/02/2010 16:16
  Member
  1144 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2009
  
  Disappointed with Borderlands? How come?
  - Gastos84 | 23/02/2010 16:18
    Team TSA: Writer
    4238 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
    
    I don’t know. I’m bored of the cell-shaded technique and wasn’t very engrossed by the story. I wouldn’t say it was bad but it’s not for me. I think I am in the minority with that one though! :)
  - Spence1115 | 23/02/2010 17:00
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    303 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
    
    No I’ll agree with that, played Borderlands for a while, just not finding anything now to draw me back to playing it again.
    
    I’ve been quite jaded with gaming anyway, aside from Bioshock 2 I’ve spent most of 2010 playing Final Fantasy 8 again.
  - KeRaSh | 23/02/2010 17:13
    Member
    1144 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2009
    
    I see. If you would ask me why I liked borderlands so much, I wouldn’t be sure what to say. It’s not the graphics, it’s not the story, it’s not the gameplay. I guess it’s just that inner drive to get stronger, progress in the game and discover the world that is Borderlands. Oh, and the Coop was a lot of fun, too!
  - Severn2j | 24/02/2010 10:13
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    2019 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
    
    I gotta agree, I wasnt impressed with Borderlands either.. It was okay, but it just didnt do it for me. I traded it last week for AvP, which Im enjoying immensely (mostly due to the fan service).
kevatron400 | 23/02/2010 16:11
Don't call him Kevatron400.
2125 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008

Cc, great article, and every time I hear you talk about dante’s inferno I want to buy it more. I loved the demo and haven’t played any god of war so for me DI is the obvious choice. I’m having a bit of a gaming slump right now, which is partly due to not having any time, and partly being bored of the games I own. Really looking forward to picking up Dante – roll on payday.
- Deathbrin | 23/02/2010 16:16
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  1186 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
  
  Yeah, can’t wait to pick that one up. CC’s hype certainly helped.
CaptainMurdo | 23/02/2010 16:12
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2229 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008

I’m very bored of most of my games. I have to force myself to return to long stories, like Assassin’s Creed II, because all I want to play is MW2. The addiction of the online mode has ruined my perception of how other games should look/feel/play.
So many games I own sit unfinished or even unplayed. I bought Mass Effect 1 and 2 within a few days of each other and neither has left its case. I know I am missing out on a masterpiece but when I need to play a game, I return to something reliable and fun.
I have planned my time to get the best out of Splinter Cell: Conviction, Heavy Rain and Final Fantasy XIII, with the last two being given the “don’t show me a thing yet” treatment, but I can predict my unwilling-self will return to MW2 with all three resting uncompleted until I finally decide to trade them in.
Or maybe they will alter my perception and everything will be right in the world…
Deathbrin | 23/02/2010 16:15
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1186 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009

When i thought i’ve seen everything about gaming and couldnt get the joy of any of the new and massive mainstream stuff, they showed me Final Fantasy (6). And i was impressed.
DJ Judas | 23/02/2010 16:26
Epic
821 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008

I can relate to that feeling, although at the moment and for the last couple of years I’ve been easily worked up into an excited frenzy over all the excellent titles that appear, I have experienced what you describe. I can’t explain why I went through it, I wasn’t short on time, and nothing major really changed in my life, and unlike your experience; there wasn’t a single game that pulled me back in.

There are particular games though, that I absolutely LOVE and always will, they’re not small-time games by any stretch, but they’re not blockbuster titles either, I enjoy the Uncharted’s, Bioshock’s and (insert any and all high profile FPS here) as much as the next guy, but there are stand-out titles for me such as the original Spyro the Dragon and Battlefield 2142 that are at the top of my list.

I think I associate things I do with other aspects of my life, and as a consequence associate feelings with particular games. I know that with both Spyro and Battlefield that my life was great at the time, but in the case of Battlefield, some events took place that weren’t great, and as a result I now find it difficult to enjoy playing even though I am still crazy about the game. It’s a strange phenomenon for me that I also do with movies.
Daywalker | 23/02/2010 16:28
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Starhawk, if it comes out, will be satisfying.
Tuffcub | 23/02/2010 16:28
Team TSA: Writer
5711 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008

I quite agree, Dante’s is the first game I’ve actually bought in months. I dont care its a bit like God of War, it’s FUN and there first game in ages where i’ve actually laughed, smiled and barfed during play. Batman didnt have the effect, neither did MW2, Borderlands or Brutal Legend. They all chugged along.
Zephyre | 23/02/2010 16:40
Member
304 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009

I have days when I’m sitting at home looking at my collection of games and not one of them is tempting me to get off my arse and put the disc in the PS3. My answer to this problem? Go and buy another game. No, I have no idea of the logic behind this either, but I find myself doing it time and time again.
- SpikeyMikey23 | 23/02/2010 21:57
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  So so true. I have over 30 games on my shelf and 3 games preordered (heavy rain, ff13 and bbc2) about to turn up in the next 2 weeks. I just dont get excited by whats on the shelf so I go for new experiences rather than continuing with current ones. Out of all my collection ive only finished around half of them! I am a final fantasy fanboy so im hoping that the new one will finally keep modern warfare 2 on the shelf!
piekat | 23/02/2010 16:40
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139 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008

I’m 42 and untill 2008 I’ve never got bored of gaming, a love that started when I got my VIC 20… But last year something changed, even great games like Uncharted 2 did not gave me the same urge to “go back to play a little bit more”. Demon’s Souls was close to that, but still not as some games in the previous years. I thought that there must a reason behind that and the only thing I can think about is the feeling of uncertainity and pessimism the economical downturn brought in 2009. Every day we had bad news about the economy and I think this may have “tainted” the fun you can get from gaming. Just my 2 cents
bunimomike | 23/02/2010 16:41
Member
8857 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009

“So, has Warhawk ruined gaming for me?”
.
Nope. You’ve just got the male menopause. :D