Heavenly Sword Review (6 out of 10) ...

March 28, 2007 ... Review by Chad

The Playstation 3 hasn’t exactly had a huge library of fantastic games to show off in its young life. Fewer yet, are those that are PS3 exclusives. Thankfully Heavenly Sword came along and not only stood in that small group of PS3 exclusives, but also as a graphical centerpiece for the system.

Judging the stills alone, you may not be able to understand where I’m coming from in calling the game beautiful, but once you see the game in motion there is no denying that it’s one of the best-looking PS3 games to date. Two things in particular stand out graphically, the character animations and the environments. Both are fantastic, and have to be seen in motion to be believed. I actually don’t think these graphics are possible on Microsoft’s platform.

The story in the game isn’t exactly groundbreaking though. Everyone is trying to get their hands on a sword that is supposed to grant the wielder unthinkable amounts of power, at the cost of drastically shortening the wielder’s lifespan. The game even starts of in God of War-fashion as you see the main character Nariko’s final moments, and then you play the past five days leading up to that moment. Stop me if you’ve heard this before.

Also run-of-the-mill, is this game’s battle system. I really wish I could say that the battle system in this game is fantastic, but after playing games like Devil May Cry 4 and Ninja Gaiden Sigma, this game just seems to control like a car stuck in first gear. What makes the unresponsive controls even worse is the fact that the developer used two of the most annoying features in gaming today, quick-time events, and six-axis motion controls to try and spice up the lackluster combat. Both of these are used and abused to the point where I found myself cursing my PS3. The quick-time events are so bad in fact, that I lost against the final boss on my first try because I didn’t hit the right button at the right time to execute the finishing blow. By the way, once you actually do pull off the finisher, you’re treated to a cinematic that looks as though it was stolen straight out of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, where Cloud tears Sephiroth apart with his famous omnislash.

The six-axis controls are what really upset me though. There were plenty of times through the course of the game where I knew I was playing the game perfectly, but I couldn’t destroy a catapult because I wasn’t tilting my controller at the right angle for the right amount of time. Although I’m sure it’s quite a sight to behold, I’d rather not squirm and grimace my way to victory in a game. If the game were genuinely a challenge, I would have been happy, but crippled controls only make a game frustrating. In games like DMC4 and NGS, when I died, I knew it was my fault and I was eager to get back into the thick of things and play better. In Heavenly Sword, I just had to get luckier the second time around, or memorize a quick-time pattern.

The score in this game is really nothing special. I’m generally a sucker for epic soundtracks, and this one just seems to be forgettable. The one thing in this game that isn’t forgettable though is the game’s production values, especially in the acting department. I’m still amazed as I write this review at how well every bit of dialogue was delivered, how each of the character’s faces moved, and how you would actually forget that there is always a possibility of a quick-time event popping up during one of the cinematics. I can’t stress enough though how much those quick-time events got on my nerves while playing this game.

As a whole though, this game can be beaten in a rental, and that’s how I would suggest you play it. Because you can literally beat the game is a day, there is no way I would tell you to buy this game unless you could get it at a “Greatest Hits” price or something to that effect. There’s no real incentive to replay the game, other than bragging about beating it on “Hell Mode”. In the shallow library that is enjoyable PS3 exclusives, Heavenly Sword is a game that sits in that library, albeit with an asterisk next to it. It’s definitely a good game, but one that has too many flaws to be considered a great game.

6/10

Best Qualities – Beautiful presentation and graphics. Character actors did an amazing job. Main characters are designed extremely well. Excellent behind-the-scenes material.

Worst Qualities – Quick-time events, there are simply too many. Fighting gets stale quickly. Enemies aren’t very diverse. Controls aren’t tight enough. Use of the six-axis controls.

Completion Time – 6 hours.

Heavenly Sword At A Glance
	6	The Good	Beautiful presentation and graphics. Character actors did an amazing job. Main characters are designed extremely well. Excellent behind-the-scenes material.
		The Bad	Quick-time events, there are simply too many. Fighting gets stale quickly. Enemies aren’t very diverse. Controls aren’t tight enough. Use of the six-axis controls.
	Decent	The Verdict	This game can be beaten in a rental, and that’s how I would suggest you play it..

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