With Lair somewhat of a disappointment, and Warhawk a multi player only title, PlayStation 3 owners have been hungry for a solid AAA single player experience. Hopes and expectations have been high for Heavenly Sword, and some are hoping it will help justify there $600 investment. While I don’t think any one title is capable of that kind of justification, Heavenly Sword isdefinitely a piece of that puzzle.
Heavenly Sword is the tale of an ancient sword sent from the skies to help conquer evil in the world. Ironically, those who wield the sword are corrupted by it’s power becoming evil themselves, and killing all those in its path. Heavenly Sword puts you in the shoes (or sandals) of Nariko, a fiery red head who needs to wield the Heavenly Sword to protect her clan on the brink of destruction from an evil king.
When the game was first shown, God of War comparisons were instantly drawn. It’s very easy to see why, with a similar style of play and even a similar weapon with the split sword on chains. The developers even chose to adorn Kratos’s armor and Blades of Athena in the kings armory, and there comes a time in the game where the story almost takes a blatant God of War story twist. All that being said the game was designed to have a core mechanic quite different from GoW. While GoW was all about offense and button mashing, Heavenly Sword is more about finese and counters. That’s not to say you can’t mash your way through the game, but it’s quite obvious how the developers intended the game to be played.
Lets get right down to it, the game is absolutely beautiful. Bright vibrant colors span vast landscapes of waterfalls, huge mountains and forests with falling petals from trees in that classic Asian inspired way. During the in-engine cut scenes you will see the most realistic character faces to date, and I dare say it, they avoid the whole uncanny valley phenomenon. Each wrinkle and blemish is incredibly detailed, and when a character’s face squishes up in anger it all looks incredibly convincing. The characters themselves are so full of life not only in look, but in voice and animation. Nariko’s adopted sister Kai, the Twing-Twang girl, is particularly impressive with natural movements and some amazing voice acting. King Bohan, played by Andy Serkis of Gollum fame, is another standout character providing a full range of emotion and dialog as well as some great comedic relief. Sure it’s all very cliche’ and been done before, but it’s rarely been done this well in a video game.
Like I said earlier, the game is more about reaction than action. Once in possession of the Heavenly Sword Nariko is capable of three stances; ranged, standard, and heavy. Enemy attacks come in these same three stances, and are colored to clue you in on what kind of attack is in incoming. By countering in the appropriate stance you are able to gain a significant advantage on your opponent. Chain attacks and counters together to build up a combo meter, and in doing so you can not only unlock special attacks and more combos, but you’ll unlock artworks, videos and other various behind the scenes content. The entire game isn’t just a hack and slash, as various other mini-game style levels break up the action including firing cannons, launching rockets and of course…Twing-Twang.
Ok, so what the hell is twing-twang? It’s shooting a cross bow. Yup, no lesbian action here, sorry Yahtzee Croshaw. At first I wasn’t a huge fan of these sequences, finding the controls floaty. But the more I realized you were supposed to use the slow-motion steerable cam, ala reedeemer in Unreal Tournament, the more enjoyable I found them. There’s something inherently satisfying by following an arrow across the battlefield, sailing over soldiers heads only to steer it into the crotch of one of their friends. In fact, anything you throw in the game can be slowed down and steered with the motion functions of the SIXAXIS controller. Honestly though, I found throwing the random objects in the game like tables, pots, and bodies pretty much ineffective. The other problem with the slow-mo motion steering sequences is these are the ONLY puzzles in the game. Basically strategically placed shields are thrown and steered into gongs to open doors and drop bridges. And just to mix things up, sometimes you have to bounce the shields off a wall, or a strategically placed statue to complete the puzzle. It all feels very forced, and really is the only weak element of the game.
That’s not to say the game isn’t without other problems. As gorgeous as the game is, it does have it’s slowdowns and hiccups. In some of the larger battle sequences I experience audio pops and dropouts. That being said, these are minor and take no enjoyment away from the short title. And it is a short title. My total playtime with deaths and restarts was just under 6 hours, completed in about 3 play sessions. That’s a tough pill to swallow for someone that just dropped $60 on a game, not to mention $600 on a system.
Heavenly Sword really sets the bar high when it comes to character detail and emotion. It’s rare to see such high production values and attention to detail, watch the making of videos on the Heavenly Sword site to get an idea of what went into creating these animations, details and emotions. The bottom line is Heavenly Sword is an amazing title with very few flaws. I honestly think if the game was much longer it would have been drug out and simply gotten to boring and repetitive. If you are looking for a game that sets yourPlayStation 3 apart from other systems, right now Heavenly Sword is it.
Score: 4 out of 5
