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In "Dante's Inferno," the hero wields symbols of both death and salvation.

Loosely based on the first part of Dante Alighieri's epic poem "The Divine Comedy," "Dante's Inferno" uses that classic work's descriptions of hell and its inhabitants as the basis for a solid action game in the same vein as "God of War."

The crusader Dante, tricked by a sinister bishop into believing his wartime sins were absolved, is seemingly killed at the start of the game. Death comes to claim him, but Dante isn't interested; instead, he defeats Death and takes his unholy scythe.

Returning home, he finds his beloved Beatrice and his father murdered. Retrieving the Holy Cross on which he pledged his faithfulness to Beatrice, Dante heads down to hell to save his lost love.

Death's Scythe and the Holy Cross are Dante's primary weapons in his battles with the demons and damned souls of hell. The scythe is used for melee attacks and deadly combos while the cross sends out blasts of searing holy light. Dante is also granted the use of several powerful magic attacks, such as a freezing forward charge.

The two weapons can be used to punish or absolve weakened enemies, earning Dante experience for his Holy and Unholy skill trees, which focus on new abilities and upgrades related to their affiliated weapon. The scythe can also be used to control large beasts once their masters have been dealt with.

Punishing or absolving enough foes will eventually unlock higher tiers of the appropriate tree, making new moves available for purchase. Fallen enemies release trapped souls when defeated; they are used as currency to unlock new moves.

Dante will encounter notable souls in his travels: Pontius Pilate, Orpheus and others. These miserable wretches will not attack him, and Dante may choose whether to absolve them of their sins for a large boost in Holy power or punish them further for Unholy gain.

The hell of "Dante's Inferno" is effectively horrifying, with walls full of the wailing damned, grotesque creatures at every turn, and imaginative renditions of hellish personages such as Charon, the ancient ferryman who carries the damned across the river – and that's just in the first circle, Limbo.

Some of the images and enemies are downright disturbing, and the game has enough violence, nudity and suggestive themes that the M rating shouldn't be taken lightly.

The PS3 version of the game is subtitled the "Divine Edition" and comes with extras, including a documentary on the game, an art collection and the text of Dante's poem.

DANTE'S INFERNO

3 stars

PUBLISHER: Electronic Arts

SYSTEM: Sony PlayStation 3, also for Microsoft Xbox 360

PRICE: $59.99

AGE RATING: Mature

PICKS AND PANS

Alice in Wonderland

2 1/2 stars

A variety of characters to control, a distinctive look drawn from the new Tim Burton film and a handful of smart game-play elements make "Alice in Wonderland" a more interesting movie-to-game adaptation than most.

Instead of controlling Alice on her new journey through Underland, players control the White Rabbit, the Dormouse and several other characters, switching between them at will once they're found.

Each has different powers – the White Rabbit can freeze time or roll it back, the March Hare can move objects with his mind, and so on. A second player can drop in to take control of a character at any time.

Alice, who follows along, is the only character who can open doors to new areas, not unlike the silent girl in the PS2 game "Ico." Alice is occasionally the target of attempts by the Queen of Hearts' soldiers to drag her off, and she must be protected, also similar to "Ico."

Nintendo Wii; $39.99 • Age rating: Everyone

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

3 1/2 stars

The title character of "The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom" is a pie thief obsessed with all the pastries that got away. He wants to steal every last pie in the world, but there's simply not enough time.

Not enough, that is, until he discovers a way to make temporal clones of himself and record their actions so he can be in multiple places at once, a game-play trick also used in last year's "Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time."

Winterbottom can jump, smack his doubles with his umbrella to send them flying, and use that umbrella to float. His doubles can also pull all the same tricks.

He has to collect every pie in a stage to move on, which isn't easy. Sometimes he has to grab them in a certain order or within a short time frame, or both. In some stages, he can make several clones do his dastardly work; in others, only one. The rules change as the game progresses. Some of the puzzles are downright mind-bending.

Microsoft Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade download); $15 1,200 Microsoft Points) • Age rating: Everyone

– Justin Hoeger

Subject Delta, one of the first Big Daddies created in the game "Bioshock," is the protagonist of "Bioshock 2."

In "Bioshock," the protagonist battled hulking figures called Big Daddies. In "Bioshock 2," the protagonist is a Big Daddy.

As Subject Delta, one of the first handful of Big Daddies created, the player is a slightly different mutated-and-fused-to-a-diving-suit beast than the typical Daddy.

Instead of being conditioned to protect any of the creepy Little Sisters of Rapture, the Art Deco underwater city where both games take place, Delta was bonded to a specific one named Eleanor Lamb.

But Eleanor was the daughter of Dr. Sofia Lamb, one of the chief political rivals of Andrew Ryan, founder of Rapture. Dr. Lamb wasn't keen on Delta's presence, so she had him neutralized shortly before the civil war that led to Rapture's downfall.

Several years after the events of the first "Bioshock," Delta is reawakened. He learns not only that Eleanor is still in Rapture, but that Dr. Lamb has begun a cult in the ruins of Rapture and has started kidnapping children to turn into new Little Sisters.

These glow-eyed moppets roam the halls of Rapture collecting the genetic currency called ADAM from corpses.

But Delta has abilities of his own. Unlike normal Big Daddies, he has a degree of free will and can use Plasmids, genetic modifications that allow him to throw fire or conjure lightning or send swarms of insects out from his hand.

Delta is more fragile than other Big Daddies, but he's a lot more versatile, able to wield a giant drill, a rivet gun, a machine gun or a shotgun with equal aptitude. He can hack machines to take control of them – the method is much faster and simpler than before – or use hacking darts to do the job from a distance.

Each Plasmid also has three levels of power, and higher levels add some impressive effects.

It takes ADAM to buy Plasmids, Gene Tonics and other upgrades, and that ADAM comes from Little Sisters, one way or another. The Little Sisters trust Delta as they do any Big Daddy, and therein lies a choice.

After dispatching their guardians, players can accompany and defend the Sisters on their ADAM-collecting rounds, then choose to free them from their task forever or harvest them for the ADAM they carry, a fatal process for them. There are consequences if Delta consistently saves or harvests the Sisters, including influences on the game's story.

The first game was a single-player adventure, and so is the main campaign of "Bioshock 2," but this sequel also features a multiplayer mode.

PICKS AND PANS

Tekken 6

3 stars

The "Tekken" series of fighting games, like "Soul Calibur," "Virtua Fighter" and "Mortal Kombat," has a distinct fighting system that varies little from game to game.

Four buttons, for left and right punches and kicks, form the core of each warrior's moves. Each of the game's 40 or so fighters has a wide array of special attacks and combos.

Several new fighters have joined the roster since "Tekken 5," so there are brand-new moves to master. Players can customize their characters' appearance to make them stand out in online play, or just for fun.

A new addition is Rage – when a fighter's life is low, the life bar will flash red and the character will gain a boost in power to help even the odds.

The game looks great, sounds good and has responsive controls; it's an well-done portable version of a beefy fighting title.

Sony PlayStation Portable, also for PS3, Microsoft Xbox 360; $39.99 ($59.99 for consoles) • Age rating: Teen

Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter

2 1/2 stars

"Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter" is a sharpened-up remake of a game that, in 2001, shied away from the trend toward more realistic shooters to offer an experience more like the first-person shooters of the 1990s, featuring endless waves of dumb monsters and tons of weapons to mow them down with.

The game is violent and bizarre, with hordes of headless enemies, strange monsters and cybernetic beasts. The weapons range from standard fare such as pistols and shotguns on up to rocket launchers, lasers and more.

There's a four-player cooperative multiplayer mode, and the visual upgrade means the game looks pretty good, but the super-smooth frame rate may leave some players with a bit of eye strain. But the game was dated by design when it first came out, and graphics aside, this version does nothing to change that.

Microsoft Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade download);

$15 (1,200 Microsoft Points) • Age rating: Mature

– Justin Hoeger

Tekken 6

Sony Computer Entertainment "Little Big Planet" allows gamers to create and upload levels of play themselves and download others' levels.

"Glory of Heracles" is set in a version of ancient Greece, an uncommon locale for a Japanese RPG.

This is actually the fifth game in the series; the other four have been released only in Japan, the last one in 1994. But this one feels like a good jumping-in point.

The game opens with an amnesiac young man washed up on a Cretan beach. He's found by a young warrior named Leucos, who not only figures out that this bit of driftwood is an immortal but who is, in fact, one herself (or is it himself?).

Surmising that the mysterious wash-up is none other than the legendary Heracles, Leucos joins him, and before long, they've gathered several other immortals to their band.

The presumed Heracles adopts an assumed name, and the group resolves to journey to Mount Olympus to find out why they've been made immortal – it's no treat, apparently. Heracles, of course, wants to have his memories restored.

The basic structure of the game is very familiar: Travel on a map to reach the next town, temple, dungeon or other location, talk to people, battle monsters in random encounters and so on. It's fine, but nothing that hasn't been done a hundred times before. The stylus controls pretty much everything, and sometimes it's a little finicky.

The battle system is a treat, however. It feels a lot like the combat from the older "Suikoden" games, with fast-paced attacks, lots of reactive and complementary abilities, and a quick progression that for the most part keeps individual fights from dragging on. Party members will act effectively if instructed to fight automatically, which keeps things moving along for low-stakes battles.

Heracles, Leucos and the rest can learn new abilities at various statues of the gods scattered about Greece.

Skills and abilities can range from special attacks using certain weapon types to protective abilities, attack and healing magic, and support skills. There are two rows of combatants on either side of a fight, and some abilities affect the entire front or rear rows, or can be used to reach enemies hiding in the back, or move enemies from one row to another.

Magic is the most complex aspect of the battle system.

Characters each have a pool of magic points they draw from to cast spells, but each battlefield also has a stock of ether, ambient magical energy that corresponds to the magical elements.

Each spell can change the balance of ether, and casting a spell of a certain kind – say, fire – when that element's ether is depleted will damage the caster.

The visuals are something of a mixed bag. They tend to look pixelated and low-resolution, especially during the quick zooms and camera movements of heated battles, but the sprites are detailed and fluidly animated. The game looks much better in motion than in stills.

GLORY OF HERACLES

3 stars

PUBLISHER: Nintendo

SYSTEM: Nintendo DS

PRICE: $39.99

AGE RATING: 10-plusSmall World

There's not enough space to go around in "Small World," a fun, light territory-control strategy game with a silly fantasy flavor.

Two to five players each pick a fantasy race, such as Elves, Halflings, Orcs, Skeletons or Trolls, and take turns conquering patches of land. It takes two of a race's limited stock of markers to conquer an empty territory, plus one for each enemy piece or other marker there.

Each controlled territory gives a victory point to its controller at turn's end; whoever has the most at the end of the last turn wins.

Each race has an innate power: Skeletons gain a new marker for every two occupied territories they conquer, Humans get an extra point for each region of farmland they occupy, and so on. Races are randomly paired with special powers for an additional bonus. Commando Orcs can conquer with one less marker than usual, for example.

No matter the race and power combo, eventually a race will be unable to expand any longer. At this point, the savvy player forces that race into decline, remaining in control of territories already conquered by the race but unable to fortify its defenses or use its powers. The player then chooses a fresh race and power combo to begin conquering anew.

Board game; $50; • Ages 8 and up

PICKS AND PANS

Small World

3 stars

There's not enough space to go around in "Small World," a fun, light territory-control strategy game with a silly fantasy flavor.

Two to five players each pick a fantasy race, such as Elves, Halflings, Orcs, Skeletons or Trolls, and take turns conquering patches of land. It takes two of a race's limited stock of markers to conquer an empty territory, plus one for each enemy piece or other marker there.

Each controlled territory gives a victory point to its controller at turn's end; whoever has the most at the end of the last turn wins.

Each race has an innate power: Skeletons gain a new marker for every two occupied territories they conquer, Humans get an extra point for each region of farmland they occupy, and so on. Races are randomly paired with special powers for an additional bonus. Commando Orcs can conquer with one less marker than usual, for example.

No matter the race and power combo, eventually a race will be unable to expand any longer. At this point, the savvy player forces that race into decline, remaining in control of territories already conquered by the race but unable to fortify its defenses or use its powers. The player then chooses a fresh race and power combo to begin conquering anew.

Board game; $50;

Ages 8 and up

Little Big Planet

3 1/2 stars

"Little Big Planet" for PSP has nearly everything the PS3 version does, aside from the multiplayer options, which are gone. The game's story mode features new levels, new music and new items with which to customize the player's little Sackboy avatar.

But once those levels are done with, even a solo player can find plenty to do in a game like this, in which users can create and upload levels for any other player to try.

A robust editor allows players to tweak existing levels or create their own from scratch.

This version's game play is identical to that of its big brother: same side-scrolling action through whimsical levels, same slightly floaty controls that can make maneuvering through them frustrating at times. But the game's charm and friendliness wins out over its annoyances.

Sony PlayStation Portable; $39.99

• Age rating: Everyone

– Justin Hoeger

Sony Computer Entertainment "Little Big Planet" allows gamers to create and upload levels of play themselves and download others' levels.

"Glory of Heracles" is set in a version of ancient Greece, an uncommon locale for a Japanese RPG.

This is actually the fifth game in the series; the other four have been released only in Japan, the last one in 1994. But this one feels like a good jumping-in point.

The game opens with an amnesiac young man washed up on a Cretan beach. He's found by a young warrior named Leucos, who not only figures out that this bit of driftwood is an immortal but who is, in fact, one herself (or is it himself?).

Surmising that the mysterious wash-up is none other than the legendary Heracles, Leucos joins him, and before long, they've gathered several other immortals to their band.

The presumed Heracles adopts an assumed name, and the group resolves to journey to Mount Olympus to find out why they've been made immortal – it's no treat, apparently. Heracles, of course, wants to have his memories restored.

The basic structure of the game is very familiar: Travel on a map to reach the next town, temple, dungeon or other location, talk to people, battle monsters in random encounters and so on. It's fine, but nothing that hasn't been done a hundred times before. The stylus controls pretty much everything, and sometimes it's a little finicky.

The battle system is a treat, however. It feels a lot like the combat from the older "Suikoden" games, with fast-paced attacks, lots of reactive and complementary abilities, and a quick progression that for the most part keeps individual fights from dragging on. Party members will act effectively if instructed to fight automatically, which keeps things moving along for low-stakes battles.

Heracles, Leucos and the rest can learn new abilities at various statues of the gods scattered about Greece.

Skills and abilities can range from special attacks using certain weapon types to protective abilities, attack and healing magic, and support skills. There are two rows of combatants on either side of a fight, and some abilities affect the entire front or rear rows, or can be used to reach enemies hiding in the back, or move enemies from one row to another.

Magic is the most complex aspect of the battle system.

Characters each have a pool of magic points they draw from to cast spells, but each battlefield also has a stock of ether, ambient magical energy that corresponds to the magical elements.

Each spell can change the balance of ether, and casting a spell of a certain kind – say, fire – when that element's ether is depleted will damage the caster.

The visuals are something of a mixed bag. They tend to look pixelated and low-resolution, especially during the quick zooms and camera movements of heated battles, but the sprites are detailed and fluidly animated. The game looks much better in motion than in stills.

GLORY OF HERACLES

3 stars

PUBLISHER: Nintendo

SYSTEM: Nintendo DS

PRICE: $39.99

AGE RATING: 10-plusSmall World

There's not enough space to go around in "Small World," a fun, light territory-control strategy game with a silly fantasy flavor.

Two to five players each pick a fantasy race, such as Elves, Halflings, Orcs, Skeletons or Trolls, and take turns conquering patches of land. It takes two of a race's limited stock of markers to conquer an empty territory, plus one for each enemy piece or other marker there.

Each controlled territory gives a victory point to its controller at turn's end; whoever has the most at the end of the last turn wins.

Each race has an innate power: Skeletons gain a new marker for every two occupied territories they conquer, Humans get an extra point for each region of farmland they occupy, and so on. Races are randomly paired with special powers for an additional bonus. Commando Orcs can conquer with one less marker than usual, for example.

No matter the race and power combo, eventually a race will be unable to expand any longer. At this point, the savvy player forces that race into decline, remaining in control of territories already conquered by the race but unable to fortify its defenses or use its powers. The player then chooses a fresh race and power combo to begin conquering anew.

The character War, one of the Four Horsemen, is blamed for the apocalypse at the outset of "Darksiders."

As ludicrous in its own way as the recent "Bayonetta," "Darksiders" likewise revolves around a battle between the forces of heaven and hell.

But instead of being on one side or the other, the player, as the apocalyptic Horseman War, is caught in the middle. Someone has summoned War too soon for the end of the world, but end it does, and the blame is pinned on him.

The Charred Council, a circle of stone faces that keeps the balance between the forces of good and evil – and for whom the four Horsemen work – is not happy. The council sends the weakened War back to the now-ruined and demon-infested Earth to battle demons and angels and try to clear his name.

"Darksiders" is a pastiche, drawing bits and pieces from successful games that have come before and smooshing them together. It isn't the best-looking game, nor is it very original, but all that it does, it does well.

The exaggerated style of the characters calls to mind the designs of Blizzard's games, for example. War himself looks a bit like the Death Knight Arthas in "WarCraft III" crossed with the Blood Elves. Huge creatures and massive enemies abound, all with a distinctive look.

The combat borrows aspects from the "God of War," "Devil May Cry" and even the "Legend of Zelda" series, with War able to combine attacks from his great sword, Chaoseater, and a couple of sub-weapons, a giant scythe and a hefty gauntlet. Each weapon can be assigned an enhancement, such as Hellfire or Bloodthirst, to boost its effectiveness.

Wrath abilities are powerful special moves that War can employ when he has gathered enough yellow souls; the Blade Geyser does about what it sounds like, and Affliction summons demons and spirits against War's foes. He'll gain a number of passive abilities as well, such as shadowy wings, a monstrous Chaos Form and the ability to summon his great steed, Ruin.

War eventually gathers a selection of useful tools, some similar to those Link might find in a "Zelda" game – the Abyssal Chain can latch onto enemies and objects, the Crossblade can be thrown at multiple targets, the Earthcaller horn blasts enemies backward and opens certain gateways. The lock-on mechanism in combat also feels a lot like that in most 3-D "Zelda" games, allowing the camera to center on a single foe while War maneuvers around and attacks it at will.

All these borrowed elements, and more, combine to make an entertaining whole.

Picks and Pans

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, 2 stars

In "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers," players take the role of Layle, one of the few Crystal Bearers of the world.

The young Layle – an outcast, like others of his kind – works as a mercenary. On an escort job, the airship he's protecting is attacked by one of a presumed-extinct race of beings, the Yukes.

The "Crystal Bearers" graphics are great, but the game play isn't as good as the looks. That's a shame, because the game has some neat ideas.

A crystal embedded in Layle's cheek allows him to control the powers of gravity magic; he can grab and manipulate objects, slow his fall, pull himself to distant objects, throw switches and so on. These actions are mainly controlled with movements of the Wii Remote.

Occasionally the player must engage in a mini-game, such as blasting attacking enemies with a gun or steering a failing airship through canyons.

Layle's main mode of attack is grabbing a foe and throwing it, or throwing something else at an enemy, but aiming these throws isn't very accurate. A poor camera and a useless world map make navigating the game's pretty locations a pain.

Nintendo Wii; $49.99 • Age rating: Teen

Dark Void Zero, 3 stars

"Dark Void" was recently released for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. "Dark Void Zero" is the 1980s-era game it's supposedly a remake of, only "Zero" didn't exist in the '80s. Instead, it's a clever piece of faux-retro gaming, and quite a good one at that.

Players control Rusty, whose only weapon against the alien race the Watchers is a peashooter of a gun, until he finds his rocket pack. Then he can jet around the game's sprawling stages in search of card keys that open locked doors blocking the way to the exit. He'll sometimes be forced to discard his rocket pack and make his way on foot.

Rusty can pick up various other weapons, such as a rocket launcher, to boost his firepower, though like the pack, he'll often be forced to discard one for another in order to progress. This gives the player flexibility in many areas but requires one to work with the tools available in others. It's a good balance.

Nintendo DSi (DSiWare download); $5 (500 Nintendo Points) • Age rating: Everyone

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers