Heavenly Sword, one of the first titles demo’ed for the PlayStation 3 at last year’s E3, has come a long way. After a year of hints, brief snippets of information, and a cameo appearance on Heroes, Ninja Theory’s PlayStation 3 opus has finally hit retail.

So let’s get one thing out of the way right now: If you’re a PlayStation 3 owner, you should feel strongly compelled to play this game.

Sure, it’s a bold claim. But with so many PS3 owners wondering when a well-rounded title would come to the console, a title that we could show off to friends that would make them Oooh and Ahhh, Heavenly Sword fits the bill. It’s visually stunning, a technological achievement, it has some of the most solid use of SIXAXIS controls to date, and it’s an enjoyable gameplay experience to boot.

But with that said, there’s one small bit of information that’s going to sway some of you from buying this game. And to be honest, I can’t entirely blame you.

Hit the jump, and read the full review of Heavenly Sword.

Heavenly Sword places you in the role of Nariko, a female warrior that’s part of a clan tasked with protecting the titular weapon from King Bohan and his invading army. Occasionally, you’ll also take control of Kai, Nariko’s adopted sister, to provide cover via crossbow.

The Heavenly Sword is said to be crafted by the Heavens themselves. It’s the blade of a God, with immense power that can lay waste to entire armies. But with that power comes deadly consequences for any mortal that would wield it.

As the game begins, we see Nariko entering the throes of death. As she lies on the bloodstained ground of a battlefield, enemy troops surrounding her while the Heavenly Sword exacts its fatal price upon her, you can’t help but be both intrigued and saddened by the terrible fate that has befallen this red-headed warrior. All this, and you haven’t even had the pleasure of a formal introduction yet. It’s such a poignant, powerful, and excruciating moment, as she lies in the dirt, and it all happens in the first 10 minutes of the game. From the start, you can see that Ninja Theory is playing for keeps. The game chronicles the five days leading up to the final moments of Nariko’s life. 

The gameplay is similar to that seen in God of War. The combat is very hack-and-slash (though with a few more nuances than GoW), and focuses almost entirely upon unleashing massive amounts of carnage and bloodshed in a button mashing fury. You have three separate combat stances, easily switched using the L1 and R1 buttons, which have their pros and cons when using them in battle. You’ll start the game with certain button combinations to perform key attacks, and you unlock more as you strike more and more enemies without taking a hit yourself.

But where Kratos was a blunt instrument, accomplishing his tasks through the most brutal show of strength, Nariko is like a finely crafted tool, dancing and flittering from enemy to enemy. Watching the game’s protagonist enter battle and unleash her special brand of death is like seeing artwork painted right before your eyes, a sort of graphical poetry playing out in your living room. Nariko doesn’t just fight. She dances, dodges, flits, flips, twists, turns, and performs combos with such style and grace that it’s easy to simply sit and stare at her in action. It helps that the game seems to draw very heavily from movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and other martial arts sources.

The story does a great job of drawing you in, as well. It’s difficult to NOT feel for the plight of Nariko, a warrior forced to make an unconscionable decision to shorten her own life so that others may live. Sacrifice is not always noble… sometimes, it is selfish. And when she first picks up the Heavenly Sword, when the music builds and the camera draws in to her, and this computer generated creation makes it plaintively clear of the emotional weight she bears when she chooses to accept a potentially fatal burden by picking up the Heavenly Sword in battle, you can see conflict in her emotions. You see humanity in a construct. And this is just within the first chapter of the game.

Heavenly Sword is one of the best pieces of eye candy to hit the PlayStation 3 console. The game doesn’t hit the 1080p mark, but you’ll be hard pressed not to appreciate it in 720p just the same. Sure, there’s a scantily clad woman that you get to stare at for a few hours. But look closer at the little details. Nariko’s otherwise perfect complexion is marred by a tiny mole. Landscapes are dotted with texture, color, and signs of life that do their best job to convince you that these environments are living and breathing. Even the wrinkles on King Bohan’s face move when he speaks.

And speaking of His Majesty, special praise must be offered to Andy Serkis. As both the voice actor and motion capture actor behind the ‘performance’ of King Bohan, the game’s lead villain, Serkis manages to give Bohan believability. What’s more, he helps give King Bohan a soul. A twisted, black soul that’s capable of unspeakable acts, but a soul just the same. Bohan as the chief meanie is entirely believable, almost entirely as a result of the work that Serkis pours into the performance. With the detailed motion control captures so many points on the face that when Bohan smiles, frowns, laughs, or scowls, it’s very easy to briefly forget that you’re looking at the product of a computer.

The voiceover work and lip synching are all top notch, as well. Special attention seems to have been paid to make sure that each character’s mouth isn’t just moving when they talk.... their lips appear to be articulating each and every word exactly as a human being would. It’s a small touch, but sometimes, the small details make a big difference.

Then there’s the game’s AfterTouch concept. AfterTouch allows you to direct projectiles using the motion sensing capabilities of the SIXAXIS controller. The feature is mainly used during the brief interludes when you’re playing as Kai, although Nariko gets a few moments to use AfterTouch as well.

As you fire/counter projectiles, you’re able to control their motion by tilting the SIXAXIS controller in the appropriate direction. It doesn’t take drastic movement, it isn’t confusing… and best of all, it doesn’t require extensive tutorials to get the hang of things. AfterTouch simply works. It works naturally, and works well. It works so well, in fact, that it truly gives you hope that the motion sensing capabilities of the controller aren’t going to end up as a gimmick. The portions of the game where you get to use AfterTouch are sprinkled throughout the game, so while it’s not the focus of your gameplay, it makes those projectile minigames a whole lot more fun than they might normally be.

The game’s puzzles center around throwing things. See target, throw object, hit target. It’s a simple mechanic that overstays its welcome after the second hour, once you realize that there are just no other puzzle types in the game. On the positive side, you can pick up almost anything in the game, from fallen weapons to hats to corpses, each of them controllable using AfterTouch.

Puzzles aside, Heavenly Sword’s main shortcoming is in the amount of time you’ll spend playing the game. Veteran gamers will find themselves finished with this in about four to five hours, and most gamers will be able to finish this game via a weekend rental. The game content, as beautiful as it is when you’re playing it, doesn’t quite merit a $60 entry point. Don’t get me wrong, every single minute of play you squeeze out of Heavenly Sword is a minute of joy. But at the point where you’ve really, truly gotten the feel for the game, it’s all over. While Ninja Theory has said that they have enough story for two additional games, that doesn’t really help this one. An extra two or three hours would have earned this game an extra point in its review score.

With all of that said, though, Heavenly Sword is a very worthy entry in the PlayStation 3 library. The high production values, the enjoyable gameplay experience, the well rounded (if not hugely innovative) story, and the cinematic manner in which it presents itself puts the game close to Triple A status. But that $60 price tag will leave a sour taste in a lot of gamers’ mouths when they get to the end of the game and realize that yes, that really is the end.

But don’t let that price tag sway you from at least playing this game. If you find a copy on sale, then Heavenly Sword is most definitely worth your time. PS3 owners should pick this up and try it at least once, if for no other reason than as validation of the many wonderful things that the console is capable of.

And if ever there were a more fitting purpose for a “Maximum Damage” reference, Heavenly Sword provides it midway through the game. If you don’t laugh when you get there, your sense of humor may be broken.

Final Score: B

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