Heavenly Sword

"Heavenly Sword is a heavenly game. A must have for any PS3 owner."

My friend bought me Heavenly Sword for my birthday, at my request, and I am pleased to say that this is one of the most enjoyable games I have played in my entire life. Do not let anyone fool you into thinking this is a God of War rip-off, because nothing could be farther from the truth. This is definitely the number one game on the PS3 right now and is definitely Greatest Hit potential.

Story: You play as a woman named Nariko. Entrusted by her father Shen to protect the Heavenly Sword from the evil King Bohan, she must keep the sword out of his grasp until a heavenly deity will come and gratefully claim the sword and lead her people to the Promised Land. However, this magical sword is also a curse as well, for it drains the life of any mortal who wields its power. King Bohan will stop at nothing to claim this divine weapon, and so he throws countless soldiers in Nariko's path to destroy her and retrieve the sword. The story is simple enough, but Nariko's adventure is told in such a unique and awe inspiring way that it becomes hard to put the controller down and take breaks from playing this game. As a side note, nothing in the story resembles God of War in the slightest so stop worrying about that, Heavenly Sword is a very unique experience.

-10/10

Graphics: The graphics are phenomenal, put simply. One of the extra features shows one of the creators of Heavenly Sword talk of how he wanted to create one of the most beautiful worlds possible, and by god he succeeded. The motion capture was done superbly as every character has fluid animations and realistic facial expressions and movements. Yet, the make-believe humanoid creatures have very humorous little habits and movements, (such as General Flying Fox) that show how much care was put into the animations. The facial expressions are definitely the best I have seen in a game thus far, it is very easy to tell whether a character has a look of anger, pain, sadness, hopelessness, joy, the graphics really help one become involved with the character, especially Nariko. The environments are spectacular as well: snow, buildings, waterfalls, towns, weapons, mountains-everything is beautiful There also isn't a problem of making everything overly shiny like what is clearly seen in DMC4, the shadows are done superbly as well.

-10/10

Gameplay: Heavenly Sword really shines in its game play, never has a fighting system been done so fluidly yet been filled with so much depth. There are countless enemies to fight in this game, meaning that there will be a lot of time to hone your fighting skills. Basically the fighting goes like this: There are 3 stances, the Speed Stance, the Power Stance, and the Range Stance Each stance has certain abilities that are useful for different situations. Nariko starts off in the Speed Stance as a default. Wielding two swords, Nariko uses the speed stance to execute fast and moderately powerful attacks to rip enemies apart. This is useful for enemies that are not heavily armored. The next stance is the Power Stance. While holding down R1 Nariko strikes with the Heavenly Sword, useful for enemies armed with large shields and heavy armor, these attacks are powerful but slow. The last stance is the Range Stance; Nariko is seen using this in the previews for Heavenly Sword. While holding L1 Nariko can swing two blades at the ends of long chains to cut through groups of surrounding enemies, these are extremely fast but do little damage, it is mostly useful for breaking surrounding enemies apart. There are also aerial combos that can be done from the Range Stance. If you hold L1 and tap triangle while jerking the SixAxis controller at the same time Nariko will hurl the enemy into the air and jump by them, allowing you to execute some deadly mid-air attacks with any of the 3 stances. There is a serious challenge when it comes to bosses and enemies. Often times a boss or enemy will light up with a different colored aura, depending on that aura it is necessary to be in a certain stance in order to block their attack. Nariko can block an attack if she is facing an enemy and not attacking, however she needs to be in the appropriate stance. For regular attacks by the enemy all you must do is not attack in order to block. When enemies charge up with a blue aura you can block by not attacking while in the Speed Stance or press triangle at the same time an enemy hits you in order to do an instant kill animation. When enemies charge with a yellow aura you can block by being in power stance, and when enemies glow with a red aura it is necessary to evade with the right analog stick, as those cannot be blocked. Another fun thing as well is the ability to instantly kill enemies with some wicked animations. As enemies are killed a little golden plate meter will fill up, when it is filled press circle next to an enemy in any stance to perform a deadly insta-kill, as you progress in the game, more brutal insta-kills can be accessed. Another fun addition to Heavenly Sword is the cut-scene mini-games. For example, there is a scene where Nariko runs across a gigantic rope to reach a tower of bad guys, a symbol on the screen tells you to tap x, tapping x increases Nariko's running speed, the bad guys cut the rope, a symbol tells you to hit left, Nariko does a back flip to the other rope, the rope is cut Nariko jumps in the air, a symbol says press square, you press square and Nariko kicks the enemy in the head while she lands. These mini-games have an effect, for a wrong button press can result in Nariko dying or just falling flat on her face or something else hilarious. These are done in the boss fights as well after depleting their health enough, which makes for some truly cinematic experiences. There are some instances where the SixAxis controller needs to be used, mostly for puzzles or for playable sequences with another character by the name of Kai. Some doors may need to be opened by throwing a discus at a symbol from another end of a room or even part of a city. By holding down x while throwing an object you will switch to a view of the object being thrown and while moving the SixAxis controller you will guide the object to the target, this is also done in sniping missions with Kai, which makes for a challenging but fun change in the action. There are so many things to do and variations with how you will attack that there is a seemingly endless possibility of attack strategies, and strategy is something needed in Heavenly Sword, it is NOT a button masher, even if you did manage to button mash your way through the game, you won't be rewarded highly and features will not be unlocked. As you go through events you are given a score of 1-3 glyphs, the higher the score the more features will be unlocked, features will also be unlocked while attacking enemies based on the amount of hits executed without taking damage. Lastly, as this is a difficult game there will be times you will die. Thankfully, Ninja Theory was generous and let you continue from the place you died at so you do not have to play the entire level over again. This is by far one of the best action games I have played, if not the best.

-10/10

Entertainment Value: There are so many extra features in addition to the amazing fun of the actual game that you will never get bored. There is an option to change the dialogue language as well, whereas in most games it is only possible to change the subtitle language. Meaning in this game, you can view the scenes in German, Italian, French, Spanish, and English adding to the entertainment value. Any cut scene already viewed will be unlocked for viewing at any time so you can watch a scene at your leisure, and concept art, behind the scenes/making of the game footage, and 2 anime episodes of the Legend of Heavenly Sword, adding more depth to the story are all accessible. Ninja Theory definitely rewarded players for progressing through the game, even more so if you do it with skill. As for the actual game, if kicking the butt of enemy's does not humor you enough, the cut-scenes will. Nariko has a morbid sense of humor at times, making her the most badass heroine of all video games. King Bohan is a hilarious pompous British King Henry type of person that is just such a sarcastic butt that you will hate him but love him at the same time. Nariko's sidekick Kai is also adorable and hilarious. Even the bad-guy bosses have very entertaining personalities. This is a dark game, but with a lot of humor to find all over the place, and it is not cheesy unintentional humor, the developers were clearly trying to make gamers laugh as well as feel sorry for Nariko, which they succeeded in doing both.

-10/10

Sound/Music: The music is very good. It has a large medieval element to it, lots of drums, chanting, panpipes; the music definitely hits the spot and is perfect for the environment. I am guessing this game was made in England as everyone in the game has a British accent, including Nariko and Kai, which is strange because everyone else in her tribe looks Japanese and has a Japanese accent. Anyway, the voices are done exceptionally well; nothing is over the top or terrible. The standard enemies that surround you all speak with a variety of funny remarks, either taunting her, shaking in fear, telling each other they are going to die and the like. Some top quality voice actors were hired for this game. Sounds of swords clanking and shields hitting, bones being crushed, body parts being cut up, they all sound excellent, it's as if the sound crew went right into a medieval war zone. No problems at all with the sound.

-10/10

Replay Value: There is no reason not to play this game again after going through it once; it is just a massive heap of fun and excitement. The replay value is incredibly high.

Rent or Buy: Buy! I suppose you could rent it, but it would be very cruddy to have to return such an excellent game, you may just buy it after you rent, so I say just buy it in the first place.

This is the best game for the PS3 as of yet. Now, for those who can only afford to buy one more game at the moment for the PS3, if you do not own this game, get this before any other. It will provide you with challenge, entertainment, and a unique and involving story. Heavenly Sword truly is a heavenly game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/18/08

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