14 DAY TRIAL // Does an action adventure title really need to run at 60 FPS in order to be attractive to gamers? The people at Visceral, those who are creating the upcoming Dante's Inferno, are saying “yes” and the need for a constant and fluid frame rate is so great that the company committed to reaching 60 FPS and delivering that experience even if its meant extra work on the videogame.
Talking in an interview with Gamasutra, Jonathan Knight, one of the leaders of developer Visceral, said that “There was a fair amount of angst over that decision. And there was definitely a strong feeling from myself, and my boss, Nick, the lead engineer, Brad, and the lead designer, Steve. Most of the leads understood why we were doing that... But yeah, we had to evangelize that decision.”
Knight stated that all those working on the title needed to be on board in order to make the move to 60 FPS and speaking about the final look of the game, the developer revealed that “I'm totally convinced that it was the right thing to do. And it's not just for gameplay - in my opinion, it's not as simple as sacrificing visuals for gameplay. I actually think the visuals benefit from the higher framerate.”
The idea is that the game is smooth enough in order for the player not to be able to sense any drop in the quality of the details offered in any scene. The faster pace that Dante's Inferno is delivering benefits from the higher frame rate more than it lacks when it comes to on screen details.
Dante's Inferno is a modern retelling of the ancient poem created by Dante detailing his travels through Hell. The game pits the player against a variety of enemies drawn from the poem while also offering them a wide array of moves with which to take them out. The game is being offered on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the PSP handheld.