 "Movie quality game" | 2009-08-22 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3QNJQ9TTPWP2D |
:: Overall ::
It is certainly worth it. Despite the few flaws, I was rather impressed by all it had to offer.
:: Quick Review ::
- The Good -
Interesting and unique (as far as I know) story
Good use of cut scenes
Mix of hack/slash and shooter
Smooth gameplay, load time minimal
Great visuals/audio
- The Bad -
Really short
Can be annoying to watch the same cutscene again (if you happen to die)
Difficult missions/features
:: Detailed Review ::
- Gameplay -
It's your usual hack/slash game with some shooter thrown in. Most of the game is played with the main character Nariko though there are a few sections where you control a second girl called Kai. What makes this game different, in my opinion, is the fact it seems more movie-like then game. It is littered with cutscenes, though that seems to be how games are now, but each is unique and makes excellent use of the break. Even in mid fight, you might preform a combo in which the camera zooms in and gives you a front row seat to watch the destruction. The video below shows some of these mid battle cutscenes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS-IbTxtjVU
- Storyline -
I was impressed by the storyline, despite being short. It has it's twist and unique attributes that make you want to continue. Not to give anything away, it mostly focuses one your clan trying to protect the Heavenly Sword from the power crazed King Bohan that wants it. This game takes a different approach, sorta telling you the end at the beginning. If you play it through in one sitting, you will see where the beginning scene comes into play. Other then that, you basically spend your time fighting off the enemy and trying to keep the sword safe.
- Controls -
There are a variety of moves that can be done. You start out with a few and gain more as you become better at destroying the enemies that try to stop you. The above video I pointed out shows off a good amount of the things that can be done. During the shooter scenes, there is an ability called Aftertouch which allows you to control the projectile after having released it. You can do this by either making use of the SIXAXIS feature or simply turning it off and using the analog stick. Though I enjoy taking things out by lining up on the target, it was nice to be able to adjust that extra inch instead of missing entirely.
- Miscellaneous -
The game is broken up into chapters with each chapter containing a number of sections. The end of a section is denoted by a small box popping up with the number of medals you are awarded for that section though it does not stop gameplay when this happens. The only time gameplay stops is during a cutscene or when you finish a chapter (which normally follows a cutscene).
There are no trophies in this game, however, you are awarded medals for destroying enemies effectively, collection pots, and other things. It is difficult to determine what exactly causes you to earn each medal, but even without, you'll be able to collection about 80 out of 129 without trying. That alone made me redo chapters multiple times for those few sections that got only 2 out of the 3 medals. If you are a completion person, you will probably play each chapter a few times. For replay value, I still continue to redo missions just for the fun of snipping people or watching the battle cutscenes. One annoyance is that if you wish to redo the first section of a chapter, you must redo them all (I believe) in order for your medals to be saved. It could be I just haven't found the way to avoid that, but thought I'd throw it out there.
If you watch the cutscenes, the game will load in the background, making it a cleaner transition between areas. However, if you die or decide to skip, you are faced with waiting for everything to load, though it was minimal in my eyes. I still recall a few times in a chapter where I'd complete a section and go straight into the next without a cutscene or anything, which smoothed out the game and could be what lead to it being shorter.
You really can't stop mid chapter, as far as saving, though normally I was so engrossed that I didn't want to stop (despite it being 5 A.M.). Again, perhaps I just didn't figure out how to, but regardless, I wouldn't play this game if you don't have the time to at least complete a chapter (or have no problem leaving your system on when you leave).
When you die, you are brought back to the beginning of the section you died on. It was nice to be saved from doing all the chapter again, considering the number of games that do that. Sometimes it can be annoying if you can't complete it, but there is little else to do.
Minor, but if you're a stickler, you might get annoyed with Nariko hairs after a while. I found it odd how they did such a great job modeling the area, people, all the expressions, and yet sorta lumped her hair in one mass. Not that I'd expect them to do every strand, but her long hair is just a large clump with a few smaller clumps to make it seem like it is hair. Not the quality I'd expect next to everything else they did.
As previously stated, I would recommend this game. Ignore the minor issues and such, it has a lot of good things going for it in my opinion. Even if you don't want to buy it, I would still recommend renting/trying the demo to see what it has going for it. |
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 "Great story & production value, strong gameplay" | 2009-08-18 |
| - Reviewed By User: A34ZR7CVAJIC95 |
Pros:
- Great story. It's kinda remind me of "300". The pacing and the way the story unfolds is right. The performances may be a little weird but I think it's also very entertaining.
- Great production value. Animations are great, not just the combat moves or in-game animations but the performance also. Art direction has a certain appeal. Characters and environment look great. Sound effects and BGM tracks are top-notch. Again, it's like watching a good, highly stylized epic movie, like "300".
- Strong fundamental gameplay. You have combo moves, counter attack, special attacks, and some cool SIXAXIS tricks that you can play with. You get to play 2 characters. The good thing is that the secondary character helps making the game more fun, not dragging it down like many other games.
Cons:
- Learning new combos can become a chore. You'll end up using the same simple sets of moves over and over if you don't want to memorize the more complicated ones. Also, using 3 kinds of attacking and blocking requires some getting-used-to.
- No character upgrade. You unlock new sets of moves as the game progress but that's about it. No weapon or status upgrade of any kind.
- Not much replay value. You can unlock some special feature videos and art gallery, but nothing related to gameplay, except the Hell difficulty.
In Conclusion:
It's a junior version of "God of War" and "300" combined. It certainly has rooms for improvements, but the fundamentals of a good game are already there.
If you could get a good deal on this game, buy it. At least, rent it and give it a try. You'll have fun. |
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| "Wonderfull!" | 2009-08-11 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1WZ1EPLC0HWBN |
| This game is very good! The scenaries are very detailed. The graphics are amazing. The battles are greate. |
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| "Play this game" | 2009-07-18 |
| - Reviewed By telmore22 |
| I just finished Heavenly Sword about 20 mins ago. It's a great game to play. Graphics, music, storyline, gameplay are all good. Some reviewers complained about using the Sixaxis motion feature, but it's fun once you get the hang of it. The only negative for me is that you can't jump unless it's a cut scene. If you're into action games like Devil May Cry, God of War & etc you will more than likely enjoy this game. It's not that long but that doesn't mean it's not worth playing. I wouldn't pay full price since you can get it for around $35. |
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 "Fun, but short and best for Twitchers" | 2009-07-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2F7C2DHIYTBPI |
WARNING 1. This is a short game. Rent it, do not buy it. Despite "2" below, I was able to get to the final boss battle on a weekend (about 14 hours before I quit in disgust, see "2" below). A real Twitcher could complete this in about 5 hours.
WARNING 2. This game has no way to vary the difficulty and if you are not a Twitcher, this game can be very difficult. I am nearly 60 and mostly play computer MMORPG's. This game turned out to be so difficult for me that I quit during the second phase of the final boss battle. There were segments that were quite difficult for me before that.
If the game was longer and if the user could control the difficulty, I would have given it a 4. There are very few games I would give a 5. (Citizen Kabuto for the PC many years ago is one. Warcraft 2 and its expansion would also qualify.)
Now, was the game fun? I gave it 4 stars which is the fun factor to me. There is a huge amount of variety in the game play.
Most of the game is hand to hand combat which works well.
There are a couple of cannon shooting segements that are difficult because there is no decent aiming. You must use a "bullet-time" mode and the Sixaxis capability of the controller to aim the cannon balls to their targets. You do have a cannonball eye view as your cannonball mostly misses the target until you practice, a lot.
The final boss battle is ridiculously hard which is why I quit the game.
There are jumping puzzles, for which you have to memorize the pattern because when the button shows on the screen, you do not have time to click it. Luckily, when you fail, you go right to the beginning of the puzzle and are ready to start again.
When you do fail sometimes you must endure a long cut scene. If the scenario is difficult, you see the same scene over and over until you beat the scenario. All saves are automatic at the end of a segment.
There are some throwing puzzles that are interesting and rather fun once you get the hang of it. These again use bullet-time and the sixaxis controller to guide them.
Far and away the most fun is when you play Kai, the main character's ward, who is an archer. Here you have an aiming capability and bullet-time and zoom and the sixaxis capability. You can literally shoot around walls. You follow the arrow to its final destination where it hits a foe with a satisfying show of blood. Even better, one segment, you use flaming arrows to blow up gun powder to kill enemies. That was insanely fun. At the end of that segment, there is, oh, I won't spoil it for you, but the high point of the game for me.
The animation is great. The voice acting is pretty good. All in all the production values were excellent. There were no bugs or glitches to hamper gameplay and the framerate seemed fine even with lots of characters on screen.
Sounds are well done. The music was about perfect. Whenever you noticed it, it was good and it never interfered with the game play.
The story is adequate. I mean, super sword, birth right, save the world, been there done that. It wasn't Arthurian, but it was OK.
If this game was longer and had different difficulty levels, I would highly recommend it. As it is, I still recommend it as a rental. As exasperating as some of the segements were, especially the final boss fight, I did enjoy the game as a rental and recommend it even for old spazzes like me. |
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 "Complete ripoff" | 2009-06-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2X62KOYWZY37H |
I just thought I'd drop by and give a horrible review score to Heavenly Sword, the PS3 game that REFUSES to ever come down in price. There is no good reason whatsoever that this game is still $[...].
This game should be $20 or less. Paying full price is insane. Unlike in 2007, at this point the PS3 has tons of other games available that are better and cheaper than Heavenly Sword. For example, as of this writing I can buy InFamous, which just came out three weeks ago, on Amazon for $[...]. I can buy Fallout 3 for $[...]. I can buy Dead Space for $30. I can buy Burnout Paradise for $20.
Screw you Heavenly Sword and your $[...] price tag. Go enjoy that landfill. |
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