Note to self: gimmicks ruin games
Of course, those high-minded intellectuals I speak of may not always possess the ability to appreciate some of these games. Put simply, people like myself suck too much at games to fully appreciate an action title like Ninja Gaiden. For such people, there's Heavenly Sword.
Yes, Heavenly Sword is a game, but much of the time it feels more like an interactive movie more than anything else. This is due almost entirely to two components of the game: first is Heavenly Sword's difficulty – or rather, lack thereof. Heavenly Sword is a relatively easy game, but make no mistake: I'm not complaining about this.
The other component of Heavenly Sword that makes it feel only a semi-gaming experience is the absolutely beautiful way that the action plays out on-screen. It's impossible to describe how incredibly rewarding it is to watch Nariko fly around the screen beating the crap out of everybody that comes in her way. It's also worth noting the variety of on-screen attacks that correspond to just a single combo. For example, with good timing it's possible to parry an enemy attack. However, this parry changes based on the environmental context of the move: sometimes Nariko will snap the guy's neck, other times she'll gut him. It's a visceral, satisfying experience made all the more so because of the fact that it's relatively simple to control.
I mentioned that Heavenly Sword is a pretty easy game, but it's important to realize that at the same time, it's a fairly intelligent action title. Like my (strangely, sadly unplayed) holy grail of action games, Ninja Gaiden, Heavenly Sword discourages button-mashing and instead encourages you to learn the numerous combos at Nariko's disposal. This mix of approachability and intelligence in an action game is something truly special.
Heavenly Sword even gets the love-it-or-hate-it real time events down. I'm all in favor of these when they're reasonable, but too many games throw them in when you're not expecting it. In Heavenly Sword, you see them coming, they look beautiful (in many ways, they take the place of cutscenes), and in line with the rest of the game, if you fail a real time event you're not really punished for it.
Even the game's at-first-disheartening brevity isn't really a big deal. Yes, the game is fun, but the variety that is there couldn't really be sustained over a twenty hour adventure. In this respect, the developers really seemed to have understood the appeal of their project and wrapped things up in an appropriate time frame.
That said, there's one aspect of the game that makes me wonder if the development team wasn't high on something hard and got ridiculously lucky with the swordplay component of the game. While controlling Nariko probably makes up 75 or 80 percent of Heavenly Sword, the rest is devoted to these absolutely despicable sections where you control Kai, a disturbingly weird sister of Nariko's who uses a crossbow.
The developers just couldn't leave good enough alone, because Kai's sections have you aiming the crossbow and repeatedly firing at enemy soldiers. Not that bad, right? Well, there's also the fact that the arrows can be controlled once they've been fired. Still, nothing terrible. Here's the kicker: you control the arrows with the notoriously unresponsive Sixaxis controller. This sucks. A lot. At this point, know that I'm unleashing a loud stream of curses that aren't suitable for GameSpot.
This gut-wrenchingly stupid gimmick contrasts terribly with the intelligent gameplay that makes up Nariko's sections. There's something that game developers need to understand: gimmicks are gimmicks. They ruin games. They do not make them fun. Heavenly Sword is a perfect example of a really great game that was tragically ruined by a stupid gimmick that made portions of the game nearly inoperable.
Should you play Heavenly Sword? Sure; why not. Buying it is out of the question, because paying 60 bucks for the good 75% of an eight hour game is financially appealing only to somebody stupid enough to think that the Kai sections are even remotely fun. Renting it makes a heck of a lot of sense, because it can be beaten by even a semi-casual gamer in just two or three sittings. Passing it up makes some sense, too, but it would pain me to endorse that option just because if you were to skip this game you'd miss out on a wonderfully intelligent, approachable action game.