A solid action game worth a playthrough , even if just to see the wonderful visuals.
The game is short, but packed with action to such a degree that if it was any longer it would probably become tiring or boring. The story is nothing out of the ordinary, it has some touching moments, but don't expect to really get into it. Heavenly Sword is definitely a light weight game, probably intended to be a brief, refreshing experience rather than an intense trial of fire for bloodthirsty genre fanatics. Still, even though it's not really that challenging or engaging story-wise, you'll have a very good time playing it. It's fun to watch the spectacular, stylish combos with their flawless animation and that special something that makes them look like a never ending, effortless flow of motion. HS is really good to look at.
Another thing that has to be mentioned is that the voice acting in this game is also extraordinary. The voicing fits the facial animation very well, and even though Noriko's voice is a little too manly for my taste, it suits her character pretty well. The actors did a very good job, and this just adds to the cinematic experience.
The controls are good, responsive and pretty much intuitive for the beat em' up genre. There is a big variety of combos divided into three fighting styles, but you probably will end up just mashing the triangle button, because it seems that that is all you need to kill the incoming waves of enemies. The game uses a counter attack mechanism which is very easy to use, because blocking in HS is passive, Noriko is always in block when you don't press the attack buttons. Motion contorol is a very big part of the game and even if it seems a little hard to do at the beginning, after a couple of tries you become used to it and it's actually fun. Motion control is used to "steer" the projectiles you have to shoot in the game (you are actually in control of the bullet/arrow's flight).
Overall Heavenly Sword is a good game, but it has some irritating issues that can really spoil the experience. Some of the cutscenes are not skipable, so if you happen to die you'll have to watch them over and over again, which becomes very frustrating, because they're long. Another big issue that the game ends up being uneven. From start to the final boss battle the game is easy, and there is no difficulty selection. Then, after beating the game dying maybe once or twice you have to fight the final boss, who is incomparably more difficult than everything else in the game (I haven't beaten him). The game does not prepare you for such a hard fight, the boss uses unblockable attacks, blocks most of your blows and all the people running around the battlefield make it impossible to see where you are on the screen and what you are doing, so during the first couple of minutes of the fight you're just blindly mashing the attack buttons. The boss's shadow wings also block the view.
All in all Heavenly Sword is a treat for the eyes and a fun game to play through once. But it's unlikely that you will want to replay it, so if you haven't played it already, a rental is the only logical way to go.