This ball is my favorite ball of all time. I believe it is a great benchmark ball and can handle adjustments and surface changes very well. When I still had this ball I could play all but the most extreme of conditions as long as I adjusted my my shot and where I was playing. The Inferno line and the Activator Coverstock were my favorite from Big B and had that signature "rolly" reaction for me. Honestly if they brought them back I would probably put my other stuff on the shelf and go all in on this line, more specifically this ball.

Inferno was a breakthrough ball from Brunswick with the activator cover, although it was just a slightly modified PK 18 cover.  Three things made it a great ball.  First, the rough buff finish which featured polish over the top of about an 800 grit surface made it the strongest pearl reactive on the market.  Second, the ultra low rg core really matched up well with the shell. Finally, like the PK 18 shell, activator seemed almost indestructible compared to any other shell on the market.  One note however.  There were lots of inferno incarnations  including those with the second generation activator plus cover.  By far the most popular were the pearls with low rg cores.  There were solids ( raging, ultimate, and others ), but most were much more condition specific for me.  Vapor Zone with a mild asymmetric may have been the best of all.   

 A box condition Inferno would still be as good or better than any current pearl with a symmetric core on house conditions. 

Bowling ball covers have not evolved in prolly the past 15+ yrs to make one less usefulness than another...the great feature of the activator cover was the life of the cover...we were able to keep the reaction up to 5000 games by merely maintaining the cover properly

The usefulness you will see out of a ball like that really depends on a lot of factors. One thing you have to keep in mind is that the bowling balls keep getting stronger and stronger, and the oils tend to get slicker and slicker. As such, something that was considered pretty strong 10 years ago may look pretty weak today. I know that since my center put in brand new lanes and switched conditioners, an OG Inferno would only be useful for going down and in or really, really late in a set. Now, if we still had the old lanes with the built-in friction, it would be a different story.

Long story short, just see what it does, and don't go in with expectations that it will be this or that. Use it, and then decide what it is and isn't. I'm guessing you will still find it to be a good, useful ball. It just may be good and useful on different conditions and in different situations than it would've been 10 years ago.

The point about higher volume and higher viscosity oils is very valid, but primarily only and issue on flatter tournament patterns.  On heavily walled house shots it makes little difference how heavy the oil is when there is relatively little outside of 10 board anyway.  That is the big reason you are seeing so many guys rediscover urethane. 

The Activator cover is not a weak cover

Amazing how everyone likes the older stuff. Original Inferno and Absolute Inferno are two balls I threw 300 with right out of box. Wish I never got rid of either one. Currently throwing the Cell Pearl and have two of them wishing I could find a NIB that someone has sitting around. Could possibly put the Columbia Pulse in this category of great too.

Like the Pulse?  Get the Blend10 OSW.  Modified Pulse core with an updated cover -- same old school look people are describing in this thread.  OSW actually stands for "Old School Works."

As for me, I still love my Gold and Teal Rhino Pros.  And the Activator Plus cover on the Massive Damage was crazy good.  That ball never got it's just rewards.