Heaven sent?
To play Heavenly Sword on PS3, it’s almost impossible not to think of God of War. Playfully labelled Godess of War with good reason, Heavenly Sword promises action-packed hack-and-slash fun aplenty for owners of Sony’s third system. For another thing, Heavenly Sword, like Sony’s tour-de-force was on PS2, is promising to push its own hardware to another level.
Cutting-edge next-gen visuals
To say that Heavenly Sword will deliver cutting-edge next-gen visuals wouldn’t be doing justice to developers Ninja Theory, who with Heavenly Sword have crafted a game as stunningly beautiful as any we’ve yet seen. It’s a near jaw-dropping fantasy fiction with animation in particular setting a new standard for the industry; Andy ‘Gollum’ Serkis acting as a lead actor and acting coach for the members of the game’s cast to produce the most lifelike and emotive facial animation ever showcased on console.
Such high-tier production values bode well for Heavenly Sword’s epic story, too. Heavenly Sword is a game that’s not light on narrative, telling the epic tale of fiery redhead Nariko’s quest for revenge against the invading King Botan. Picking up the legendary Heavenly Sword, Nariko’s tale is a tragic race against time to slay the king before her life force ebbs away, drained by the weapon she wields.
Combines familiar gameplay with next-gen production and its own unique spin on scrolling combat.
And that’s where the game part comes in. Heavenly Sword will see players taking on the role of Nariko and wading through intense hack-and-slash action that’s immediately reminiscent, though somewhere between, the likes of God of War, Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden. Perhaps not the most original concept ever, what sets Heavenly Sword apart is the way it combines this familiar gameplay with next-gen production and it’s own unique spin on scrolling combat.
Heavenly Sword’s fighting engine is based on a system of three different stances, selected with the L1 and R1 buttons, allowing you to attack enemies with speed, power, or ranged moves using square, triangle and cross buttons. On top of this there’s a dodge on the right analogue stick, and Superstyle finishing moves on circle which are accessible once you’ve built up your combo meter. Cleverly, each stance is assigned a colour, with enemies flashing different colours as they attack – so you’ll need to change stances to counter their advances.
Robust and spectacular
That could get quite difficult though, from what we’ve seen of Heavenly Sword’s action sequences so far. They’re literally of monumentally huge scale, with bad guys flying at you from all sides and a genuinely frantic feeling to the game’s violent to-and-fro. Heavenly Sword's large scale boss battles meanwhile should deliver a different, equally arresting type of challenge, while the presence of Quick-Time Events will be familiar to all videogame action fans.
With such majestic Hollywood-style production values, Heavenly Sword has long been a darling of the PS3’s 2007 release lineup; but its great looks would seem to bely a robust and spectacular scrolling brawler with a surprisingly moving narrative. Perhaps 'heaven sent' is going a bit far, but Heavenly Sword could be another great addition to the PS3's growing games catalogue.
Preview by: Mark Scott
Published: 31.08.07