A game every PS3 owner should play
Story: Heavenly Sword had a wonderful story. The story is easy to follow and straight forward. Although a bit predictable, it was none-the-less a great storyline. Characters were developed, but there was still room to go deeper. Since this is an action/hacknslash game, I suppose I should expect less than I would be with an RPG.
10/10.
Graphics: I'm somewhat of a graphics whore and I get nitpicky about frame rates (maybe because I play PC games a lot). Cinematics were of topnotch quality (as any game these days should be). Cutscenes were also of good quality. Actual gameplay graphics is good but could be better. I saw some screenshots online that looked horrible...I'm not sure if it was a pre-release screenshot, or what, because my game did not have Nariko looking so un-Nariko-like. Anyways, gameplay suffered from some frame rate issues, but nothing that makes it unplayable. It probably does not help that my room is quite hot and my PS3 is right next to my PC :P
8/10
Gameplay/Controls: Before I mention anything here, I'd like to point out that I have the Japanese version and did not expect the directions to be in Japanese (too much kanji)....so if I say anything stupid....you know why. First off, I found the color scheme pretty cool, but even at the end of the game, I couldn't block everything that was thrown at me. I found myself using roll quite a bit. Not being able to jump was a bummer...Nariko is an agile female...and she cannot jump?!? I must admit that not being able to jump wasn't that bad. The fights Kai had seemed dumb (I'm talking about the non-bowman enemies). Aftertouch was difficult at first, but makes it so much sweeter when you hit the mark. The L2 and R2 seems retarded....why would I want to sway the camera to the sides rather than have a simple camera turning action? And the final fight made the camera spin quite a bit...could cause motion sickness or something. The button pressing I would still mess up sometimes (due to unpreparedness or retardation). The puzzle part of the game worked, but seemed a bit....stupid...perhaps. Why would hitting a gong open a door? Overall, gameplay worked, as I finished the game without much frustration, but it could have been better.
7/10
Sound: The voiceovers were pretty well done. I must admit that I didn't like Nariko's voice very much, but it had emotion and such. Enemies sounded good, especially when they were getting thrashed. Explosions were cool and made my subwoofer shake quite a bit (and it was accompanied by dualshock3). I would have played with the Japanese dialogue, but the game is lacking English subtitles so I did not have that option. I find it reassuring that the game contains both languages (I dont think the US version had both tho....could be wrong). The background music fit into the feel of the game.
10/10
Tilt: I really liked this game and would recommend it to any PS3 owner. Not a console seller tho. And I wouldn't pay $60 for this game.
10/10
Overall: 9/10