Heavenly Sword Review

Heavenly Sword was expected to be a launch title when the Sony PlayStation 3 made its debut, but that never came to fruition. Instead, Heavenly Sword was delayed until September 2007. The game is a Sony PlayStation 3 exclusive video game. Gamers will be in control of a fairly attractive protagonist named Nariko. The storyline in Heavenly Sword is about Nariko and her father. Her father was killed, and Nariko wants to seek vengeance. In order to avenge her father’s death, she must wield a deadly weapon known as the Heavenly Sword. The plot is your usual tale about revenge and tyranny. It is nothing that we have not seen before and nothing out of the ordinary. I have seen this same storyline in a myriad of other video games. The visuals in Heavenly Sword are stunning. Facial animations entail the entire body, so every part someone’s face looks realistic. All of the environments are drop dead gorgeous. From the ancient architecture to the flora, everything in Heavenly Sword looks splendid. The exemplary presentation of the game does not stop there. The audio in Heavenly Sword is on par with God of War; (though it is not better than God of War) furthermore, the voice acting makes the characters come to life. The gameplay breaks down like this: players have three stances at in their arsenal. One stance is a swift stance that enables you to attack foes quickly. The second stance is a powerful but slow fighting stance. Lastly, there is a ranged stance that allows gamers to hit opponents from a distance. Every stance fits Heavenly Sword well, and they all complement each other. For instance, utilizing a swift stance will eradicate minor enemies. But a power fighting stance might work for a boss. There is also a satisfying counterattack maneuver (ala Assassin’s Creed) that can be executed by pressing a button at the correct moment. When it is done correctly, Nariko will perform a one hit counter attack kill. One flaw with the gameplay is that is devoid of a block button. You can block, however it is completely random and arduous to achieve. You have to match the same fighting stance that your enemies are using. If they use a swift fighting stance, then you have to use a swift fighting stance. One of three colors will radiant around your foes that will accentuate what stance they are utilizing. It seemed like blocking was an afterthought in Heavenly Sword, and the blocking mechanic is a disaster. A great deal of the gameplay is redundant but manages to keep players intrigued. Excluding bosses, most of your opponents are immensely generic looking characters that lack any depth. Speaking of the bosses, they are definitely an attention grabber. Boss fights add some challenge to the game and provide a much needed chance of pace from the repetitive gameplay. Heavenly Sword has its share of contact sensitive moments (ala God of War) that will appease God of War fans. These contact sensitive parts in the game are significantly difficult to accomplish because you are given a limited time to react when the button icons appear. Luckily, the button icons are identical each time (unlike God of War). Without giving too much away, there is one particular puzzle in the game that involves throwing a shield that will make you want to scream at the top of your lungs. Fortunately, the game developers did rectify a majority of the camera blunders in the demo. Many people will be mesmerized with the dazzling martial arts acrobatics in Heavenly Sword; others will be mesmerized with the red-haired beauty named Nariko (I know I was); some will be mesmerized by both. Overall, Heavenly Sword is not as brilliant as God of War. The most vexing aspect of Heavenly Sword has to be the length. The game is over before you know it; moreover, maybe six or seven hours of gameplay from start to finish. The final verdict on Heavenly Sword is that it is good but not a remarkable game.

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