Is Heavenly Sword good?

[forevercloud3000]

Heavenly Sword is a strong 8.9 in my book, it is inches from greatness.

+Story: King Bohan will seriously force you to loathe him and respect him at the same time due to his sadistic humour. He is played by Andy Serkis from Lord of the Rings/King Kong fame. Nariko is not your "A-typical heroine which I love about her. She is a strong spirit, a bit of an anger issue, and god like combat skills. The story is subtle yet strong at the same time, and will be the one thing you remember most from the game.

+Combat is great. There are litterally dozens of possible combos and moves. There are basically 2 different play modes. One is with Nariko and the other with her Sister, Kai. Nariko uses the Heavenly Sword's 3 distinct fighting styles while Kai uses her crossbow for long range. Periodically you will be told to pick up a cannon and take down armies from a vantage point. Anytime you use a projectile in this game u will b given the option of Aftertouch(ability to direct the projectiles where u want).Nariko blends her Strength, Agility, and Range attacks with ease. That is why the game's tagline "Death has never been so beautiful..." is so fitting. The game has a really strong countering mechanic that usually leads to some devestating moves.

_Which leads me to one of the cons. One of the issues many people have is that the enemies always surround you and wait for YOU to attack first. You can litterally wait upwards 30 seconds before one will even attempt to attack you. Precision is heavily emphasized, so its always in the benefit to let them strike u first, then go for the counter.

-Not much as far as collectibles or side missions. The game is pretty straight forward.

-The game is Arena style. You almost exclusively go from one arena to the next. This is typical of action games, yet its more apparent here with HS's short length.

-My pet peeve is that the game is literally only about 6hrs long with nothing to truly keep you playing other than a Hard difficulty.

+The Characters are great. Roach, Whiptail, Fly Fox, and King Bohan are star characters, with great personalities that make you want to tear their head off. Nariko becomes very relate-able in her personal plight. Its a story of her having to overcome oppression, and all though she was unwanted she has to be the hero they needed. Kai is a ball of fun.

My Verdict says buy it if its for a really cheap price. Everyone should at least experience such a touching story. Ninja Theory was a FOOL to abandon it and I find it funny it is still their best performing game.