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Heavenly Sword [PlayStation 3]

Heavenly Sword (2007)

Action/Adventure

PlayStation 3

Developer	Ninja Theory
Publisher	SCEA

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Description

Emotionally charged, stunningly beautiful and delivering unprecedented dramatic character performance, Heavenly Sword showcases the power of PLAYSTATION 3. A dramatic tale of revenge sees Nariko, a fiery red-haired heroine embark on a quest for vengeance against an invading King and his army. The story builds around the ancient Heavenly Sword which once belonged to a powerful deity. It can never be wielded by a mortal without it draining their life-force, killing them within hours.

When the invading King (played by Andy Serkis) destroys the warrior clan that guards the Heavenly Sword, the clan leader's daughter, Nariko, takes up the sword in a desperate fight for survival. Nariko must now pay the ultimate price as she embarks on one last mission of vengeance against the King and his army before her life is finally drawn to a close…

Andy Serkis, the world's leading CG actor, famous for his roles as Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" and Kong in "King Kong", was heavily involved in the creative process. As well as starring in Heavenly Sword as the villain, King Botan, Andy was a major contributor to the character development, writing, casting, directing and performance capture for the PLAYSTATION 3 game.

The Heavenly Sword itself can Transform into Three Distinct Stances – Players can switch between on the fly allowing players to create their own fighting styles.

The Combat Engine can Scale Up – From sophisticated one-on-one encounters to one-on-many, where enemies employ intelligent squad-based dynamics, right up to combat against battalions pushing real-time gameplay and AI to unprecedented new levels.

Physics-based Combat – Players can sweep debris against opponents, kick tables to halt an oncoming surge of fighters, smash the enemy into the scenery or throw bodies into other enemies using aftertouch controls.

Wide Range of Objects and Weaponry – Including multi-skewering spears and devastatingly explosive bazookas.

Creative in-game Cinematography – Coupled with real-time story evolvement and amazing set-pieces makes the action feel like a blockbuster action movie and takes combat gameplay to new heights.

Reviews on Heavenly Sword [PlayStation 3]

Alwin on Heavenly Sword [PlayStation 3], 13-11-2007

"There are not many PS3 games yet and most of them are multi-platform and of average quality too. So I hoped Heavenly Sword would change that. And it does.
It's a 3rd person hack and slash game, a bit like God of War and the more recent Conan game. In most of the game you control the main character, a girl called Nariko, but there are some sections where you control here sister Kai.

It looks fantastic, graphics like this is what a next-gen console is all about. The girls and their enemies are rendered in many details and so are their surroundings. The cut-scenes that tell the story look even better, it's almost like watching a live-action movie. And you'll be glad, because there are a lot of cut-scenes.

The fighting in the Nariko sections is quite standard hack and slash action and can get a bit boring during longer battles with many enemies. It tends to get down to button bashing. The developers tried to make the fighting more interesting by introducing three stances (Speed, Range and Power) from which you can perform different kinds of attacks. But in practice you'll just randomly switch stances and bash some buttons. I mean, you can try to do complex combos, but there's no need to, so why bother?

The sections where you control Kai are more interesting though. Kai uses a crossbow, so the fighting is completely different. You usually use the bow to kill enemies from a distance. The cool thing here is that you can control the flight of the arrow after you shot it by tilting the Six-Axis control left, right, up and down. This works beautifully, looks spectacular and is a lot of fun. I wish the game had more Kai scenes.

The game is a bit short, but I don't mind that. I had great fun for a few hours, so I'm happy. "