Heavenly Sword Review
Sep 11, 2007
One of the first games that caught the eye of every potential PS3 owner was Heavenly Sword. Debuting in playable form at last year's E3, the action-adventure stars Nariko, a gorgeous heroine with red hair that flows like the blood she spills with her massive sword. Now, after some delay, the game is upon us. Is the action as good as the CGI glint in Nariko's eye? Color us surprised -- and thankful.
The fiery heroine holds the Heavenly Sword, and is fighting to keep it out of the hands of King Botan, which means (for the most part) using it to bash in the heads of loads of enemies. Occasionally, there's a sniper-like sub-level to break things up. And common to almost all the action is that the Sword drains life from the wielder, forcing Nariko to work overtime to destroy Botan before she expires.
Before even getting to the action you'll be smitten with Nariko, thanks to some of the best CGI we've seen anywhere, be it game or film. The cutscenes are phenomenal and the in-game action just as well executed, with impeccable facial expressions and top-notch mocap featuring actors like Andy Serkis as Botan. Heavenly Sword features nearly alien vistas, incredible architecture, and something we rarely see in games to any good effect: believable faces. It's just lovely to look at.
And almost as good to play. Almost. Most of the combat, whether you're facing off against a handful of enemies or one of the screens featuring hundreds of Dynasty Warriors-style groups, involves combos and counters. It's very much from the Devil May Cry and God of War school of combat, which is just fine. And for the most part, developer Ninja Theory has made the system work well.
Three stances define the approach to combat: Fast, Heavy and Ranged. You'll switch stances to maximize effectiveness against different enemies. Fast for the grunts, heavy for bosses and ranged when you want to show off a bit. In each stance there are many combos to learn and use, some earned as you progress through the game.
We'd like more impetus to use all the combos, however. It's easy to learn a handful in each stance and rely upon them excessively, and the game does little to discourage this. In part, that's because of the utter reliance upon the sword. Even with a blade like this providing the game's title, we've come to expect a wide variety of weapons from our third-person action games. Not here.
Regardless, between the flashing blade and combo options, you'll have a blast cutting through Botan's armies. There are some God of War style button-prompt sequences as well, and even a handful of well-designed puzzles to balance out the action.
While the basic combo system works well, the counter system is an odd choice to complement it. Instead of having a block button, there's an auto-block system. If you're in the proper stance, Nariko will automatically block an attack. But it's too easy to break the block movement by initiating an attack at the wrong time, as blocking is very dependent upon the intersection of attack animations. Once you get the hang of it, however -- and there is a discernable rhythm -- things get easier. An option to initiate a counterattack after a successful block also helps.
We bashed the SixAxis recently in our Lair review, and sadly it's time to do it again, though this time the reliance upon the tech is much lighter. For Heavenly Sword's 'sniper' sequences (in which you play another character, Kai) you'll use the SixAxis tilt controls to guide projectiles to their target. The controls aren't bad, but also don't deliver the responsiveness we'd like. Fortunately, there's an option to use old-fashioned analog stick controls instead, eliminating the outrageous irritation of Lair.
Heavenly Sword is about four fifths of the way to being a great game; hence the review score. It is almost unerringly gorgeous and a blast to play, though the combat could have been pushed forward to true God of War levels with just a few different options. Even so, this is the best action title going on the PS3 this fall.