Heavenly Sword

"Gorgeous game but alas, it doesn't last."

Introduction

With the PS3's hefty pricetag accompanying its launch, it needed a lineup of games to justify such a substantial spend. Heavenly Sword was perhaps the pick of the bunch and whilst its breathtaking visuals, hectic gameplay and outstanding voice acting emphatically hit home the fact that the next generation of gaming was truly upon us, the game's lack of real features outside the main quest proves its downfall. Sporting a wonderful female character named Nariko to maybe even rival Lara Croft, this is a top game which is very easy to pick up and enjoy in the short term, but is also perhaps one of the most likely to be traded in after completion.

Graphics

Incredible. The character models are detailed, facial expressions are prominent and wonderful scenery supplements each stage. This area of the game instantly captivates you, and could easily have rendered you awestruck if you bought the game at launch. Months have now passed and the PS3's reputation has heightened, meaning that the quality of the graphics doesn't now have such a groundbreaking effect on its gamers but that isn't to say they don't stand out. In both gameplay and cutscenes, everything is smooth (and considering about ten enemies or more can attack you at one time, it's surprising there's barely any slowdown!), with even little, wholly insignificant items given ample detail. When you pull off a combo and see Nariko perform a wonderfully elaborate but elegant attack, there's a sheer sense of satisfaction and pleasure seldom found elsewhere. Special mention goes to the superb selection of cutscenes, displaying the story in as magnificent a way as possible with the characters' emotions shining through at all times and the realistic people starring as if they were real-life actors. Though an early game in the next-gen, this easily hits the top note for the graphics.

10/10

Story

The story starts in fairly bizarre fashion, with the story's protagonist, Nariko, seemingly dying during battle as a result of holding her immense sword. She wakes up in a strange place something like purgatory and angrily addresses the Heavenly Sword itself and demands a chance to go back and correct her path. Following this, the events leading up to the moment Nariko fell will unfold. The Heavenly Sword is, quite obviously, a weapon, but not just any old blade, rather a legendary item defended for many ages by Nariko's tribe, headed by her father. It is said that the sword drains the life-force of its wielder but this does not stop numerous foes seeking its immense yet fatal power. The most fearsome of these foes is King Bohan, who leads a great army in search of the sword, and it is up to Nariko who chooses her fate as the sword's wielder, to defend her people, her family and her land.

The story isn't remarkably deep but the characters, both good and bad, are so full of emotion and feelings that at times you really have to take your hat off. Nariko is a fantastic protagonist, driven more than anything by the incentive to protect her younger sister Kai. King Bohan's army contains a number of equally evil characters to hinder Nariko's defence of the sword and the big leader himself, portrayed by Andy Serkis (Gollum from Lord of the Rings), is terrifically evil and cunning. It's hard not to enjoy the unfolding of this very engaging plot.

9/10

Sound

As previously mentioned, the voice acting in this game is absolutely outstanding. Credit is really due to all. There are some very intense exchanges but every line is delivered with feeling and - sorry for mentioning it again - emotion, particularly Nariko who has a number of challenging lines for any actor. Well done to Anna Torv for that. Full marks are given on the acting side, and the music does not disappoint either. There is an 'epic' feel to a lot of it, particularly in the many great battles you will participate in, and the rest gives a perfect portrayal of the situation and feelings of Nariko, whether it be angry, hurried, or dismayed (note the ommission of 'happy'!). Sound effects also attain virtual perfection with everything from sword strikes to thrown items and arrow-firings extremely realistic. The sound is another area of the game that strikes gold.

10/10

Gameplay

The game is sparkling with beauty all around it, but these wonderful aspects are, in reality, only supplementing the bulk of the game which still needs to deliver. Heavenly Sword is essentially a hack-and-slash game. You control Nariko with the analogue stick and generally run through the levels beating and slicing the life out of countless enemies. The levels are often 'path' based and you proceed through a specific route, with enemies ambushing you every step of the way, but sometimes the stages consist of big battles where you must kill a certain number of enemies to complete it. Others include more 'skill' type missions, controlling Nariko (and on rare occasions even her sister Kai) in a bid to kill enemies from a certain position with arrows or cannons. The variation is handy and stops the game ever feeling linear or tedious, with a nice blend achieved. The majority of the gameplay, in any case, features the player controlling Nariko and wielding the Heavenly Sword. Nariko can perform power attacks, speed attacks and range attacks, with a specific 'stance' used to ready each one (ie, hold R1 for power, L1 for range and nothing for speed). These stances are also relevant to enemies, as Nariko will block automatically but only if she is in the corresponding stance to the attack performed by the enemy (signalled by what colour the enemy turns when attacking). Certain attacks can't be blocked but must be dodged instead, and the right analogue stick serves to allow Nariko quick movements away from her enemies by rolling.

Complimented in the graphics section were the mini cutscenes for when you successfully counter an enemy's attack, or complete a combo (by pressing a sequence of buttons) causing Nariko to stylishly dispatch her enemy with a lethal blow. Some of them take out several enemies at once and are highly impressive. Another point where the game displays mini-cutscenes are the bits where Nariko will have to jump here and there with the player quickly pushing the button displayed on the screen to not see her fall. These sequences pop up every now and then and I found them to be quite pointless. They aren't particularly difficult but messing up the last button can be very annoying. Another rather quirky feature is that of 'aftertouch'. When you shoot an arrow or cannonball (or even throw an object that you can pick up) with Nariko or Kai, you can hold down the fire button and then control the projectile manually with the SixAxis controller (yes, by waving and tilting it). It seems to be a little too desparate to copy the Wii remote and the feature is not particularly brilliant - it is usually overly sensitive and is another part of the game that can be annoying. It isn't that hard but takes a bit of time getting used to. In reality, this time is not well spend because there is an option to change the 'aftertouch' control to the analogue and I would recommend using it.

Despite these minor flaws, Heavenly Sword's gameplay is very easy to enjoy. The boss fights provide a different challenge to the rest of the slashing as you'll have to employ a more tactical approach to ascertain their weak spot before exploiting it (for massive damage, har har). The biggest problem comes in the form of its lifespan and general lack of features. You can easily complete this game with a hard day's play and this makes the money shelled out not seem so well-spent as it would have whilst working through the game. A below-average gamer could probably get to the end of this in about eight hours. However, if you are a terrible gamer, like my housemates, you may get stuck on the last boss for days and need me to do it. This is unlikely because I live in a different country to most people reading the review and in any case, this is not at all relevant to the game's score. You will unlock 'Hell mode' when you do complete the game and this difficulty level is obviously harder, but the bosses are still the only challenge it offers. Good as Heavenly Sword is, it feels a little more like a movie than a game. Don't expect to be taxed by levels for days, but expect to get through the game and want to do it quickly because the story encourages you to eagerly persue the twists of the next chapter. It's a shame, but it's the reality - the game, despite being excellent in many ways, is too short to justify an exemplary score overall.

8/10

Replay Value

As stated, Hell mode is unlocked upon completion but this doesn't add anything to the story or originality, only an obvious increase in difficulty. It's worth a try for those who found the game too easy, admittedly. For each stage you can acquire three medals in a 'rank' sort of way based on your actions, such as performing large combos. More medals means more abilities are unlocked, and also things like artwork and videos. These are neat touches but you'll actually obtain a lot of them through your first effort, and aren't compelling to the level that you'll consider them to significantly add to the lifespan, and won't really be enough to persuade your average gamer to revisit the game. Ironically, it could be argued that the lack of replay value and indeed lifespan makes the game fresher because after all, there can be too much of a good thing. If there were hordes upon hordes of additional armies to fight, and several more locations to slash your way through, it may get tedious. Maybe I'm looking too hard for positives, because I do really like the game. However, as it is, there's nothing much here to score highly. Even in other short games like MGS and even the Lord of the Rings hack-and-slash games on the PS2, there are always a number of features and characters still available, encouraging the player to go back. That's something Heavenly Sword doesn't provide.

4/10

Graphics - 10/10
Story - 9/10
Sound - 10/10
Gameplay - 8/10
Replay Value - 4/10

Overall (NOT AN AVERAGE) - 8/10

A couple of niggling flaws stops the game being a true masterpiece while it lasts, but the real let-down is its length. It's definitely worth a go for PS3 owners, and particularly gamers who enjoy God of War, LotR or Dynasty Warriors, but I'd probably be more inclined to point you towards renting rather than buying, unless you see it very cheap. It's more like a movie you might watch again one day than a game you're desperate to keep picking up. However, there are wonderful elements that shouldn't be missed so don't disregard Heavenly Sword until you've sampled it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/03/08

Game Release: Heavenly Sword (EU, 09/14/07)