Heavenly Sword

"A lot of muscle in a little package"

Heavenly Sword is an action/fighting game taken from the mold of PS2 masterpieces like God of War, and given the next-gen treatment. You follow the epic story of Nariko and her journey to save her tribesmen and the sword they're sworn to protect from the greedy hand of Bohan, voice acted and motion captured by Andy Serkis, the man who brought us Gollum in Lord of the Rings.

Graphics
The game was designed with expansive backgrounds and environments in mind. You're not as freely capable of truly exploring the world due to the linear restriction the designers have put on where you can go, and it's truly a shame, because the world is a beauty to behold. With only VERY minimal frame rate skips during the heaviest of sequences, the graphics on this title are what you'd expect from a next generation PS3 title.

The motion capture of the characters is exceptional, and really draws you in emotionally to what is going on in the story. You really feel for the characters you're guiding, and they can tug at your heartstrings at times, particularly in the case of Nariko's friend Kai, who almost feels as if she could be Nariko's younger sister based on their relationship. Kai is wonderfully played, with a curiosity and childlike innocence that can certainly win you over.

Sound/Music
The music of the game drops you right into the heart of battle, literally. The pounding of the almost tribal like war drums add an intensity to some already massive battles. But the real joy of the game's audio is in the voice acting. The cast of the game are all professional stage/screen actors, including Andy Serkis himself playing the main villain, and their talents shine through in the emotions of their voice during the cutscenes.

Story
The story is a very tightly woven one, and there is little to do in the course of playing the game that doesn't have a direct impact on the main story. There is not a lot of sidetracking and plays very well, as if you were playing through a movie. Much of the story is rooted in a fantasy setting. Even though we're talking about a heavy combat war game, the bosses are anything but traditional human opponents, and the mystical qualities of the sword you wield is central to the plot.

Gameplay
Players who are familiar with God of War's style will feel right at home with Heavenly Sword. The game is very combat-oriented, where the player relies on taking on large groups of enemies at a time with nothing but her wits and WIDE assortment of combat moves and manhood crushing (literally) finishing moves. As you progress through the game, you earn "medals" of sorts for performing well in each chapter sub-section. Up to 3 medals can be earned per stage, and as these medals add up you unlock new combat moves, finishing moves, concept artwork, making-of videos, anime style cartoons, etc. I found that it's a shame that you don't unlock some of the coolest attacks until later because it would have been great fun to obliterate earlier enemies with the late game moves (which I did the second time I started playing through!)

Just when you think the game might get a little stale with the same types of fights over and over, the game gives you a pleasant little distraction in the form of a puzzle to enter a certain area, or a mini-game that involves pushing certain buttons at certain times to pull off some amazing acrobatic stunts. There are also stages where you play as Nariko's friend Kai, where evasion and long-range attacks with her automatic crossbow play a good contrast to Nariko's in your face death dealing. For Kai (and for Nariko in the case of thrown objects), you can hold down the throw button to enter a sort of "bullet-time" slow motion perspective which puts you right behind the object you fired/threw. This perspective allows you to use the SIXAXIS tilt functionality to guide the object along completely unrealistic flight paths to tag enemies between the eyes.

The tilt functionality was admittedly VERY difficult to pick up initially, and was a tad frustrating, but once you get the hang of it (which I did by the second stage where I needed to use it) it's great fun being able to make long range crossbow shots that Kai should have no business making. :)

The boss battles are very epic and feel like the popular boss fights in the Metal Gear Solid series, with very eccentric and melodramatic villains.

Replayability
Ah, the one black spot on an otherwise great game.....or is it? Heavenly Sword, if you sat down and played it through from start to finish with no concerns for collecting/viewing unlockables, or worrying about "Hard" difficulty (which you unlock after beating the game once), could be completed in about 6-8 hours, depending on how much trouble some stages give you.

In a way, it may leave you with a sense of "I paid $60 and that's it?!" but the more I personally played the game, I appreciated the fact that the game didn't pack extra chapters in there just for the sake of extending the length. The story is VERY tight as it is, and adding other stuff to it might feel more contrived and take away from the immersion.

However, there's no denying that unless you're fond of playing through games more than once or unlocking everything you can, you may find yourself wanting more when you're done.

Overall
It's a shame that most people's reactions to a game like Heavenly Sword is "It's too short to buy...I'll just rent it." because it doesn't do the game designers justice, who obviously put a lot of care and attention to detail into this title. Without sales, it's unlikely we'll ever see a "Heavenly Sword 2" which in this reviewer's humble opinion would be a shame. I'm glad I purchased the game, short or not, because I intend to try and get every unlockable I'm able to, as well as tackle that Hard difficulty.......... which based on the difficulty of a couple stages could take me a while. :)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/25/07

Game Release: Heavenly Sword (US, 09/12/07)