Heavenly Sword (Sony Playstation 3, 2007)

Last week, Sony released a demo to one of the most anticipated games for the year.Playstation 3 – Heavenly Sword.

The game stars a female character by the name of Nariko, A ninja fighter with a lot of killer moves. Though the game is nothing like God of War, If you liked god of war, your going to love Heavenly Sword.

The demo starts with a cut scene that does really give much away about the story line. The cut scene is not real time it’s a video (that sucks). When the cut scene concludes, you control Nariko standing and overlooking the terrain from a high cliff. The graphics are amazing. The environment has waterfalls cascading down a cliff, A rainbow that fades out or becomes more solid looking as you change the camera angle, and the wind movement. After checking out the breath taking scenery, you much walk over to a glowing orb look alike thingy.

The first action in the demo takes place descending down a rope that is connected a pillar off in the distance. The scene is done in real time and follows the God of war type button presses to forward the action. Once you made it down to the pillar, you engage in combat.

Heavenly Sword uses a unique battle system that differentiates it with God of war quite well. There is a lot more countering strategy than God of way and you can pick up almost anything and throw it at your enemies using the Sixaxis motion control.

After defeating all of the enemies, you cut the final rope connected to the pillar and descend down to the next playable area of the game. More enemies attack and the demo gives you a few more minutes of showing off its fight system. You will notice during the fight sequence, a lot of times you will get these close ups, showing the moves you used to kill your enemy.(very nice)

The demo ends with axe enemies breaking through a door nearby. Although the demo is less then ten minutes long, It does have a load of replay value. You can go back through and see all of the different combos or just look around at the environment. The graphics are simply amazing.

In closing, a five minute demo is just to short to make me go and spend sixty bucks on a game. Though the demo does not talk much about the storyline, I believe that is what is going to be the main selling point. I personally would just rent the game.

ADDED 9/15/2007

OK, I just got the game from my local rental store and I have to say, I'm very impressed with this game. The graphics and game play is just amazing to say the least and the story line is what brings the best in this game.

Make Sure and watch the 5 heavenly sword movies to get a in depth look into the story. just look at (google search heavenly sword small movies)

You need to rent this game so you can see the playstation 3 doing what it does best...create amazing graphics.

"This is true next gen"
This game is the meaning of next gen. The entire thing was epic, it really left me wanting more. Most games can't hold my attention for very long, the characters, the story, the combat, just the game itself is of superb quality. I'm glad I bought this game, and did not rent it.. This game is in no way short, because the story engulfs you, you wont even realize the true length of the game.

We've been waiting for a title like this, the devs have been throwing pure crap at us for the past 2 years. I own both a ps3 and a 360, and I get my dosage of the Wii at a friends house. I've played all of the latest releases, and none have kept my attention like Heavenly Sword. I don't mean to bash anyone's favorite game, we're all entitled to our own opinion. On with the review:


Game play: 10/10

Absolutely flawless, watching as Nariko sways through the air slashing the heavenly sword about. The combos are endless, you have your scripted ones, but if you are creative, you can make your own. This is not a stated feature, it's something I discovered while playing. Not once did I find a hiccup while playing.


Sound: 10/10

Again, flawless. It is of the utmost quality, just as I said for lair. Slashing the sword about and hearing it whistle through the air, the clank of the chains on the sword as you hear 20+ enemies scream at once. The voice overs are a work of art, only once have I been this intrigued by a game series, and that is by Metal Gear Solid.

Story: 10/10

Epic, just Epic. I wont say much here, as this is the point of this game. Let's just say you will feel for each character as if you knew them personally. Especially Kai, and Roach.


Control: 10/10

Not much to be said here other than it could not have been done any other way. The lack of jump button doesn't bother me one bit, because when you play this game, you realize that it just wouldn't fit in.



Overall 10/10

A true masterpiece, a true next gen title. This title got a lot of heat for being a GOW rip off, it is in no way a rip off. I've played GOW, and as of right now, Nariko is a much better character than Kratos. This game has one of the best stories next to the MGS series in my opinion. Bravo Ninja Theory, Next to Kojima Productions, you are my favorite game developer.


I hope this review has helped you in your decision to either rent and play, or hopefully buy and play.

read more reviews @ http://blog.graduategames.com

Heavenly Sword is a hack and slash action game similar to God of War, but more heavily focused on the action aspect. It has beautiful graphics and is an amazing start to a franchise despite its missteps, the biggest of which is the brevity of the game's story and single player campaign.

Gameplay: 8/10
Pros: 3 different stances with some great combos and transitions, engaging story, exciting and chaotic action gameplay.
Cons: The ranged stance is almost entirely useless, only 2 attack buttons, not enough puzzles, and an extensive overuse of "aftertouch" (tilt controlled) aiming /firing missions.

Graphics: 9.5/10
Pros: Absolutely gorgeous with a fantastic art direction and amazing character design and animation. Cut-scenes are gorgeous. Impressive number of characters on the screen. A truly technical feat that exemplifies the PS3's power.
Cons: Repetitive enemies, and some questionable character design choices (Roach?)

Sound/Music: 8.5/10
Pros: Great voice acting, epic score, and excellent weapon twings& twangs. AAA music/sound fx.
Cons: Not a fan of the retarded girl sidekick Kai, though in the end her story makes it better to swallow. Flying Fox is the most annoyingly voiced character in recent memory...he's terrible. Roach is also a little cliched...though voicework is good.

Lasting Appeal: 6/10
Pros: Extremely entertaining from beginning to end with a very engrossing story which comes to a satisfying conclusion.
Cons: Practically no replay value...repetitive gameplay and earning new artwork and combos is not enough for me.

Average: 80.00%
Tilt: +/-: -5.00%

Heavenly Sword was a very enjoyable and engaging rental. I beat the game in less than 2 days and had fun doing it, but I didn't even come close to playing it nonstop. The game can really be flown through. It's a shame that there wasn't more depth in the combat or harder puzzles (and possible backtracking) a la God of War to lengthen this game out. I like the variety of missions, even if some are not as crisp as the main combat ones. The monotony of the gameplay is decently broken up to get you through the game and story, but a game that is over so quickly is definitely not worth $60.

Verdict: 75%

First and foremost, the artwork in Heavenly Sword is the star of the show. The gameplay comes in a close second, though. Nariko, the main character, is gorgeous, and well acted during the cut scenes. The stroyline (no spoilers from me) is compelling enough, and takes you from one stunning location to another.

Heavenly swords gameplay does take specific advantage of SixAxis, allowing "aftertouch" control of projectiles, in slow mation. SixAxis works great with this feature and the whole effect is mesmerizing.

One of the rewards for play is unlocking art and movie features, which is a nice touch. The game itself is a bit short, and takes place in a "closed" world, so you cannot really go wander off. Puzzles are not too complicated, but typically fun to solve.

Playing Heavenly Sword really is like watching an incredible animated movie, punctuated by some intense battles. The system of progressive combos works well, allowing casual gamers to get through without too much hassle, and advanced gamers to really turn up the heat and trigger some awesome "kill" animations.

Worth the price just for the amazing visuals, acting and story... but also a nicely balanced fighting/puzzle/shooting game, with a gorgeous star... that's heavenly sword.

I bought this game a couple of months ago. I have beat it already and I must tell you.....This game is one of the most beautiful games of all time (and I have been playing video games since 1984). The control on this game is very easy to learn and execute....but allows for a vast array of ways to play. You can be an aggressive fighter by just mashing buttons, or you can be more like a ninja by being agile and graceful with your attacks, or you can play defensively by counter attacking at just the right time. Best of all is mastering all three ways of fighting to just be a killing machine.

The neatest feature of this game (aside from its graphics) is the ability to use your controller's motion sensors by adjusting the tilt and axis of the controller (moving it around). This actually stears/aims thrown or ballistics objects. Totally cool!

The story in this game is semi-deep and very attention grabbing. Graphic detail is completely off the hook. This game is the perfect companion of a hi-definition home theater system.