Can you imagine your soul laid bare, every sin and broken promise shown in grim detail to the one you love above all others? "You don't know what it was like!" Dante screams, anguished, as his beloved witnesses a particularly heinous act from his past.

"Yes, she does," Satan replies. "I have shown her."

Dante's Inferno is not for the faint of heart. It's also not exactly true to the source material, using names and ideas more as a jumping off point than as straight inspiration. The story follows Dante, who fans of the original work may be amused to find is a powerful soldier, as he fights to save the soul of a woman. As he travels through the circles of hell, we witness the immoral acts he took part in during his time with the crusades, through both computer-generated and traditional animation. This is a beautiful game, both during gameplay and during the story sections, with a strong sense of both purpose and design.

Title Dante's Inferno Developer Visceral Games Publisher EA Price $59.99 Shop.ars Platform Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 (reviewed), PSP

But how does it play?

After playing the demo, we said that this felt exactly like God of War, and that opinion hasn't been changed after playing through the full game. The two games share almost every mechanic: the same combo-heavy gameplay, the same collection of orbs from dead enemies to upgrade attacks, the same items to find in out-of-the-way places. After doing enough damage to enemies, you can choose to either absolve them of their sins or punish them, and the decision you makes determines whether or not you level up on other the holy or unholy side of things. To gain the most attacks, you'll want to balance your decisions here.

Just in case you're interested in more than melee combat, you can also find a cross that you can use to blast baddies with holy light. Leveled up, it becomes quite the helpful ally in the game.

In addition, there are certain souls in the underworld that offer bonuses if you put them out of their misery, and these may allow you to play a rhythm game where you push buttons as dark spheres—sins—move towards the center of a cross. It looks like a gothic Guitar Hero, and plays similarly.

The fixed camera, the avenging hero, the button presses and rhythm needed to hit the high combos... you've seen all this before in God of War. The epic boss battles are also usually ended by quick-time events, but they're so bloody and satisfying that you won't mind the old and hoary trick used to make to a game more cinematic. You'll unlock magic as you go, and using said magic does add another layer of tactics to the battles, but this is a pure, balls-out action game.

All of the action requires tight control and a solid frame rate, and luckily the game provides both. We keep bringing up how much of the gameplay mechanics are ripped directly from God of War, but if you're going to rip off a game, rip off a great game and do justice to the ideas that made it so much fun. Dante's Inferno is a joy to play, front to back.

It earns the M-rating

It's rare for us to talk about how a game earns its rating, but Dante's Inferno deals with sin as its main topic, and is loosely based on one of the most popular treatises on the failing of human morality ever written. It gets creative when it deals with these topics.

You'll fight unbaptized babies in Limbo, there were scenes in the Lust section that made me gag in revulsion, and nudity and sexual topics are common. The game's marketing department were creative in getting the game discussed in the press, but the game's designers were even more creative in showing each of the discrete sections of hell in order to make a point.

The game uses its setting and source material with creativity, and may not be the dumbed-down version of the original text that we first anticipated. This isn't high art, by any stretch, but the story and voice acting are much better than expected.

In conclusion

The game was a pleasant surprise, and it matches its high graphical polish with responsive controls and familiar—if well-worn—gameplay. A few battles felt cheap in places, and some of the swinging puzzles were a little touchy, but those are our only complaints. There is even an online co-op mode with user-created content called the Trials of St. Lucia coming in April... the game will be getting more content and modes to keep you interested after launch.

EA will be forgiven for "borrowing" with such heavy hands due to the quality and polish on Dante's Inferno. If you're in the mood for an action game, and don't mind some rough subject matter, this is a trip to hell you'll want to sign up for. On the other hand, most people won't care enough about future content to want to hold onto the game until April, and you'll be able to beat the game in under 10 hours or so if you don't mind not finding everything. This isn't an automatic buy, but it's much better than it has any right to be. If you do drop the $60, we won't blame you.

Verdict: Rent