It's a shame to let such a great game pass you this generation. Rent it first, support it later when it drops in price.
Genre: Action – Adventure
Year of release: 2007
Platform: Playstation 3.
Quite a few have years passed since Kratos shook the action – adventure world in a title which, for many, simply re-wrote the genre, offering pumped up and addictive gameplay both for the PS2 and the PSP later on. In the year of 2007 we see a new title trying to gain its place at the top, at the same time managing to raise the bar by a few points, while we wait patiently for the new 'God of War' release.
'Heavenly Sword' stood in studio for no less than 5 years and landed on the still untested land of this console. Let us not forget that the PS2 had an impressive gallery of names, so is it a wonder that we now feel their presence in the new generation? Not a chance.
Filling the almost inexistent suit of Miss Nariko, we take our first steps in what the producers announced to be "a cinematic blockbuster experience in hi-definition". I mean, they wouldn't be stupid to say something else, now would they? So moving on into an unknown universe with Asiatic tendencies, which kinda start to get annoying after a while in my opinion, we witness our hero's last moments, fighting dozens and dozens of soldiers that kept on coming to no end.
Wielding the "Heavenly Sword", we fight our way through the mass of soldiers, exploring what I can call am exciting fighting system and a theatre of fights that would please even the greatest 'Lord of the Rings' fans. But everything ends suddenly when this sword becomes a bit greedy and starts feasting on our character's life (Reaver like scene anyone?) and we only have to blink to see ourselves in the main menu. Onto the story for us from there on…
That was the beginning of this exclusive PS3 title coming from Ninja Theory and Sony. I do apologize for the rather lengthy introduction to this article, but a game such as this one, I think deserves at least this. And not necessarily for the unseen till now quality of the story or the action, but for the fact that this game is a first step to building the "new genre" games in the action – adventure section, which personally I declare myself a fan.
After being thrown with no warning and then retreated and brought back to school, we witness the action divided into 6 chapters, 4 big and 2 small.
Heavenly Sword must not be judged solely by the story for it is so short and unexplored that it can leave a huge gap in the industry. What I quoted from the producers up above is not far from the truth once you overlook the usual hype. They try, and mostly succeed, at giving us the sensation of a real cinematographic drama, complete with images in images, focus on's that complete the drama of a scene and so on. Helped by a competent graphics engine and one of the best motion captures that I've seen to date, this game is not far from full film experience.
If the story telling is good, the story itself will not win anything from no one. It is slightly slow in some parts and fast in some others, anyway, reduced from what they could do with it.
The whole "Clean out section A by using method X" does not help the story either. Of course this is a simplification of the gameplay but alas, the truth is not far away. Apart for some moments that rip you out of the continuous killing, like running on a rope and following the buttons that appear on screen, but yes apart for that, the game is based on: kill kill kill and run run run.
But it isn't that bad as soon as you discover the brilliantly planned combat system ready to be exploited. Nariko not only learned from Kratos, but managed to surpass the old Spartan general.
Now let grandpa tell you a story about the combat system: you have 3 different combat styles, between which you can hop on and on just continuously pressing L1 or R1. Combining the styles runs smoothly and naturally most of the time as such since it is easy and the controls are responsive. We have range (2 swords bounded by a chain to Nariko), speed (2 swords again just for close up combat) and power (one sword almost as big as our hero). Of course every style has its advantages and disadvantages and can be useful or not depending on the opponent. Also, the style you use can influence what kind of attacks can the miss block and what counterattacks can be used on the moment. Then we have the well defined 'Superstyle' a way to cut through your enemies like they were made out of cheese.
Ok so moving on from Nariko, here comes Kai, the other character of the game. With her help you have to shoot down enemies from a distance with arrows. Here, the situation shouldn't be that bad….but unfortunately, it is.
Kai can only fight with arrows and at some point in the game it all turns in a cat and mouse game, where you run just so you can have a moment to bring out your weapon and shoot them down, it gets frustrating.
That's one thing; the second is that you can't fire precisely AT ALL. Firstly because the enemy is too far and secondly because you can't fire many arrows at a time. The trick to this is that you have to control the arrows through the motion sensor and that becomes a pain in the b….behind sometimes. You can turn off that setting if you like but the whole thing is based on the motion controller and thus making you more enthusiasts to go back to Nariko and her swords.
To end with this gameplay before I bore you all, I have to say that this game, surprisingly does not degenerate into a button masher. You can, however play with just pressing buttons with no idea what the hell you're doing, but it's a waste of time and good gameplay. From the 'kill' point of view, I can say that few games come close to
'Heavenly Sword', the fun experience while playing and even fewer manage to surpass it.
Earlier up I mentioned the graphic engine of the game. If the fact that it can show thousand of characters on the screen without any problems and without choking the frame rate can't win your trust then all I can say is that there are few other games that could. One thing that brought the game industry alive was the development of the characters. Not only we get to have a quality acting scene but we're getting close to a cinematographically experience. This only counts for important characters, it is true, but it does not lower any of the standards of the game. Details such as scars and a skin full of imperfections, face mimic or arm movement, they all add to the game in a fascinating matter in some moments (like the king mumbling on a rock while his armies are being devastated).
I do not, however want to insist on the technical part of the game, although ironically is the best aspect of it, it is the less important. The producers wanted to create a catchy beautiful game and they managed, from all points of view. We have well designed characters (I wouldn't call them beautiful for only objective reasons sometimes) and realistic sceneries throughout we can walk the almost naked Nariko. Although, and yes I have to mention that, we can not walk to our heart's desire through the sceneries. The path is linear and large rooms can only bring lots of enemies.
The frame rate does not die when there are several enemies on the screen. Just once the game froze on me, making me restart the console (this is just to be as detailed as I can in this presentation, I do not want you to understand I never had these sorts of problems).
The audio part is not to be neglected, the battles being accompanied by a slow song in the background and the characters coming alive helped by their voices…
OK I just lied a bit right now.
Consider this scenario here: there is a vast army, let by a tyrant king; in an Asian themed game world…the entire army is voiced with an insanely polite British accent.
Am I mad or does anyone else see a problem here?
Heavenly Sword is a breath of fresh air in a genre where sequels are now a fashion and a new character can make its way through with great difficulty. It is a short game (finished it on the normal difficult in 6 hours, more or less), being placed somewhere near 'Tomb Raider Legends' from this point of view; a game that didn't use its story to the maximum potential (or maybe too serious if it wanted to be a new cinematographic production).
It's a beautiful and fun game that stumbles in its own diversification plans of action. Without having a multiplayer option and bonus missions, not including here what you can get throughout the skill points obtained, there aren't many things that may interest a gamer in 'Heavenly Sword'. There are many scenes that demand a bit more attention than what an inexperienced gamer can give them, as are many that are beyond frustration. It has good characters, interesting and at the same time the most cliché I ever saw.
In conclusion 'Heavenly Sword' is a good game, filled with different things that don't allow it to be more than just good. Nariko would be more than welcome in a sequel, Lara needing some competition. If you have a PS3 console and see this game on the shelf or rent it, don't hesitate to grab it if you're up for some hours of fun (and frustration).
Graphic: 9 - some unfinished scenes and some low resolution textures;
Sound: 8 - the way to nice voices for the characters they were attributed to;
Story: 7 - drama with some originality in it, but too short.
Gameplay: 7 - contrasted;
General impression: 8 - short but fun, massacre is rarely this engaging.
Overall: 7,8.