July 27, 2007 - Today at the office, we were fortunate enough to receive a preview build of Ninja Theory's greatly anticipated title: Heavenly Sword. The build essentially spans all of chapter two, which is made up of a variety of levels, including a short segment where the player takes on the role of Kai, Nariko's strange young friend. Although the build took only about an hour and a half to complete, there was a great deal of new material (at least for me) to analyze, and we're going to map out our experiences for you.

The opening of chapter two was quite familiar to us, since it's the same material to be found in the PlayStation Store demo. Although, there is one additional cutscene that takes place prior to all the action. It features Kai in a pitch black environment, crouching on the ground. We're not entirely sure if this is meant to be a mental projection or some metaphorical representation, but regardless, Kai listens to Nariko's worried questioning and responds in surreal, whimsical speech. The quality of this cutscene is astronomical. The directing and voice work is simply top-notch, and I personally have never seen in-game graphics present such startlingly convincing facial animation.

So, after fighting the first two battles that you're probably familiar with by now, if you've played the demo, Nariko makes her way through the gate and must fight through several more waves of enemies. One particularly fantastic segment of the level features Nariko on a bridge, where she has to use her range stance combos to deflect oncoming arrows as she makes her way across (very reminiscent of Jet Li in Hero). There were also, surprisingly, puzzle-like segments to speak off, which involved throwing the enemies' circular shields at targets (though there were actually gongs) in order to open doors and gates. This dramatic shift away from combat was refreshing for me, and encouragingly suggests that the game won't be purely combat oriented. After all, breaking up the action in an action game is critical to a good experience, and Ninja Theory seems to have taken that into account.

There are also two boss battles to fight, which were particularly enjoyable (I'll return to those in a moment), but the cutscene that introduces King Bohan and his generals is priceless. Andy Serkis not only helps direct the cutscenes in the game but also plays the role of Bohan, and his immense talent easily shows. The eccentric humor and viciousness of Bohan is a must-see. His brow, eyes and mouth move almost perfectly to convey the subtlest of emotions, and seeing him interact with other characters is quite possibly worth the price of the game. Furthermore, the design of his two generals (so far) is superb. Flying Fox, a (literally) insane blade-wielder, and Whiptail, a twisted, serpentine seductress, are perfect characters to compliment Bohan and his disfigured child, Roach.

In the preview build, Nariko must face Flying Fox and Whiptail as she attempts to rescue her father, Shen, from Bohan's maniacal clutches. The battle with Flying Fox isn't particularly challenging, as long as you stay agile and avoid getting caught in the furious whirlwind of his blades. What was more enjoyable for me, actually, was watching Flying Fox speak. He's crazy. Demented, even. And I look forward to seeing what the general populace has to say about this eccentric villain. He should spawn a good number of threads on the boards, I can assure you.

Whiptail, on the other hand, is mad on a different level. If initial appearances are anything to go by, she seems to be twisted with power and rage, and an insatiable desire to please Bohan. More tangible, though, is her body language, which brims with sexuality, even though she is admittedly a foul, snake-creature. When Nariko eventually faces Whiptail, the battlefield is a large, rectangular courtyard of sorts, filled with ankle-deep water. Of course, Whiptail uses this to her advantage and sends massive waves at Nariko, who must dodge them precisely, or face a significant loss of health. I was particularly impressed with the realistic appearance of the waves, which sprayed water like a mini-tsunami. When you finally get in close though, the fun really begins, since you have a very limited amount of time to attack before the general swims away. In this small window, you have to strike and dodge frequently, and I will admit that these short little encounters are incredibly well done. Whiptail dodges Nariko's attacks in Matrix-like fashion, and it's all done in real time. If you throw a particular combo, Whiptail bends and flips out of the way, only to counterattack with incredible zeal. Although the fight grew repetitive very quickly, the initial encounters were nothing short of amazing.

During this battle, you are given a brief chance to control Kai as she lays down cover fire (well, cover fire with her crossbow) for a weary Master Shen so he can escape. This section of the build was a little long, but it was amusing to shoot arrows in slow motion and see them plunge into your targets, with devastating results. One notable moment was when I missed my first shot as a soldier charged towards the wounded Shen, and, in desperation, I fired one more wild shot which landed square in the guard's posterior. Luckily, it killed him, proving that Kai fires some very powerful arrows. Unfortunately though, you're not given the chance to actually maneuver Kai around. She remains in a stationary position for the length of the confrontation.

After Nariko finishes off Whiptail, you're treated to one final cliffhanger of a cutscene before the preview build ends. Ultimately, we were impressed with what we saw during our time with the game, but there are a host of problems that still need to be fixed. The shield throwing mechanics are definitely broken, and there were some serious audio issues which actually prevented me from hearing some of the dialogue (I didn't have the subtitles on because they didn't work yet). These issues, however serious, are still fixable though, and I hope they'll be addressed before Heavenly Sword is released.

Although I am well aware that solid gameplay is absolutely critical for making this a good game, I would buy it just for the cutscenes. Serkis clearly poured some artistic energy into the directorial elements of Heavenly Sword, and the story of Nariko and her dying clan could become one of the better told stories in recent videogame history. Check back for our full review as the release date draws near.