I knew this was a God of War clone going in, but I had no idea it was THIS much of a God of War clone. Even strangely trivial details like the sound design of the pause menus are eerily similar. Still, if you're in the market for playing a game that evokes the scale, angst and mythological nudity of the classic God of War titles, you can do much worse; Dante's Inferno spends the first couple of hours putting it's best foot forward with a range of enemies, locations, powers, relics and lore and then forgets to introduce any better ones after roughly the half way point. The last hour in particular is filled with frustrating and uninspired level design that will see you slowly walking across an icy chasm and repeating a combat arena 10 times.
One thing in particular though that Dante's Inferno can't replicate is Kratos. Dante ticks all the necessary boxes (angry, powerful, terrible person) but is fundamentally unlikeable in contrast to Kratos, who you can't help but feel sympathetic towards (after all, he didn't intend to kill his wife and child, but Dante most certainly did intend to commit every sin imaginable and wanders through hell as though he's above judgement).
Still, the combat feels good and the game looks okay for it's age, and much of the creature and boss design really do shine.

Having played this over a decade ago and having just done a replay of the campaign and spec ops in 2023, MW3 ends up being the weakest instalment in the Modern Warfare trilogy, purely because the first entry has the novelty of being Modern Warfare and the second entry reached almost impossibly lofty heights; there are actually plenty of fun set piece moments to enjoy here but none of them go as hard as MW2 and I can’t really pinpoint how/why that feels the case. It’s still lusciously over the top but It’s definitely missing the kick-ass Hans Zimmer/Lorne Balfe score. Spec Ops is a welcome addition as always but the missions are essentially just campaign environments rolled out in reverse. Still, fun (and frustrating) with a buddy and worth your time. Also, for all that’s said about performance of games these days, the Modern Warfare titles always run a rock solid frame rate and play just as you’d expect them to, these things are really well made and hold up pretty nicely

this thing looks absolutely sensational, the lighting, animation and effects are all top notch and the addition of the super fast hover boots and dash ability make it a joy to traverse and even reach out of bounds areas whilst skipping some platforming puzzles entirely (and I mean this as a great compliment because it never feels like you’re breaking the game by getting a big run up and jumping to a platform way off in the distance, and I would often climb some structures that clearly had intended me to take a different route). The story is nice and light and the game length just right, Insomniac are really good at this.

as with GTA IV, this has its moments where it doesn’t quite balance the meaningful story that it wants to tell with all the quirky characters that inhabit a typical Rockstar production. It’s also bookended by almost entirely joyless ranch missions. while the sequel improved on everything in a significant way, Red Dead Redemption is still a worthy achievement with great writing, amazing atmosphere and the wonderful Euphoria physics engine in full effect, and i’m super nostalgic for the online side of things as I have fond memories of playing Liars Dice and fucking around with with friends for hours in the old west.

the less said about Undead Nightmare the better

a really excellent arcade racer that is occasionally hampered by its desire to have the end of every race live up to the title; that means some serious rubber banding with some serious frustration. but this thing is addictive, looks amazing for its age and manages to conjure up more than a handful of ‘holy shit!’ moments. I wish the gameplay had just a touch of Burnout included as ramming enemy racers here does absolutely nothing. it’s a real shame that a teased sequel never saw the light of day!