How are you guys getting past the part where you have to shoot down those machines? It's so hard because you gotta use the motion controls to move the projectile. It's fun as hell, though.

I'm waiting for my copy...

grandmaster: According to reviews, you don't? Try just using the analog stick?

It's super hard to land a hit without using them. I finaly beat the part I was stuck on, though.

Alright Impressions Time. Will avoid spoilers.

Just played through the first 3 chapters. I'm on chapter 4 but I didn't start it.

The key things so far:

- Took me 4 hours to complete the first 3 chapters almost exactly, died twice (with Kai not Nariko) and messed up two parts (with Kai once again).

- This game is the reason why people are claiming the presentation of video games is reaching the level of movies. Seriously, so well made audiovisual part (will detail below).

- First off, if you are expecting a typical action game from this you are going to be disappointed. I can safely say at least 1/3 of the game has been shooting parts and not fighting parts.

- No need to go burn your copies yet, the shooting parts have oddly been some of my favorite parts of the game so far. Specifically the long range shooting parts are very fun and actually more challenging than most of the game. It took me a while to get the hang of these parts, but once I got into the whole aftertouch sixaxis guiding stuff I started loving them. There is nothing more satisfying than hitting a guy with a crossbow from miles away by guiding your arrow the whole way swirving and moving all over the place (I sometimes would hit at places that were further from the targets to have more fun with trying to get the headshots lol. Not to mention the cannon parts or where you shoot arrows through fire and light them up to hit exloding targets...

- The closeup shooting parts are definitely weeker but are decent, but they do vary in quality from below average to good.

- Voice acting is amazing. Some of the best in a game period. Facial expressions in the cut scenes are better than any video game I've ever seen.

- One thing this game definitely shares with God of War other than the button sequence parts is the music. The music is very reminiscant of the God of War style but with more of an oriental/middle eastern/indian feel. Really suits the game and is mostly quality stuff.

- There are two characters in this game that are awesome and neither of them are Nariko, the hero. That character is fine but is nowhere near as interesting or funny as Kai (the other playable character) or the main villain Bohan. I think everyone will either hate or love the Kai character because she is very 'out there'...

- The rest of the character are pretty weird for the most part, outside of Nariko's father, they are all colorful to say the least.

- The game has a lot more humor than I expected. Do you laugh often in games? I don't, but I did get a few laughs in this one so it's a good sign. There is even a joke poking fun at Sony. I won't ruin it but let's just say there is no way you will miss it if you follow gaming news and it has something to do with Genji and it is very very obvious :P and it's actually funny.

- Moving on, when I played the demo I thought the combat system was better than God of War's and I'm sticking by this assessment after playing this much of the game. The average enemy is cannon fodder and there's a lot of them. There are more than 4 types of enemies :P. This claim was made, but I'm 3 chapters done and there are 7 types so far that I can think of. The parts where you don't have the heavenly sword feel so weird compared to the parts you do, so at the very beginning of the game you have only one style and it's not as fun or interesting as later on (you do lose the heavenly sword access in parts).

- The game is easy. I think the main thing that was overkill on this was the health pots. There are too many health pots. If there weren't so many, you would still manage and it would be much more challenging and in my opinion fun.

- The boss battles. So far I've fought three bosses, the first fight was a disappointment. The second one was much much better and was pretty good and the third one was somewhere in between those two in quality but closer to the second. The bosses are definitely not on the level of something like God of War but they're not as uninteresting or boring as I expected.

- The story is good, I wouldn't say it's amazing. It definitely has some good dialogue (such a relief compared to the Kindergarden level dialogue in Blue Dragon) and Nariko herself is a pretty good protagonist (not exactly a very happy camper). The presentation makes the story come off a lot better as well, it has a very movie-like feel to it.

- One thing that is probably known already, the game looks amazing. One of the best looking games out there on a console and maybe the best looking PS3 game period so far (need to see Lair up close to compare). One thing that makes this a beautiful experience is this is really the first game at this level of graphics with huge environmental backgrounds. There are several places where you just have to stand there and look around at how good the surrounding areas look. They even pull a God of War a few times where they completely zoom out so far that you are tiny and they show how amazing the world looks.

- A lot of little nice touches besides the ones I've mentioned. The main menu of the game is actually really cool, you go to this cutscene where Nariko talks to someone but it feels more like she is talking to the player and it's pretty well done and then the camera zooms in on her face and the menu comes up. Each time a new chapter is about the start, there is such a cutscene, very well acted and then a huge sword comes out of the ground and the chapter name comes up. It's basically a cutscene menu in this game, you got Nariko in the middle of some huge empty valley and you got your menu, it even zooms out far away when you go to options on the menu.

Anyway, I still have to play the rest of the game and finish it but I already think that the 8s this game has been getting are way too low. Yes, it's on the short side and I can tell that already by how far I am at this time in the game. But aside from the close up shooting parts feeling like a weak Resident Evil 4 and being too easy, the game has been amazing, a lot better than I expected from the scores.

I will say this without any hesitation, this is the best PS3 game so far in my opinion. I like it a lot better than higher rated games on the system (VF 5 and NGS are probably my second and third favorites at this point and Warhawk is 4th).

Edit: Almost forgot, there are quick time events at the end of boss fights like in God of War (but shorter I think) and there has been one interactive cut scene (like in RE 4) where you are doing a quick time event whil the cutscene goes on. I enjoyed that part and it brought back some RE 4 memories :) 

Get used to it, there are parts similar parts later that are harder but it's so awesome once you get the hang of the whole aftertouch system.  I seriously think those parts are some of my favorites in the game, such a good surprise. Didn't you love destroying the army with those cannon hits? I know I did lol

Great post, Ck. I agree with you on the shooting thing. I had a blast trying to shoot down those machines. Not only is one of the best games for the PS3, it's one of the best games on all three nex-gen consoles. 3rd best PS3 game behind Resistance and Ninja Gaiden.

Hey, did they use the "Loading screen replaced with Cutscene trick" that the Darkness used? Because that definately is something I would like to see used more often. If you don't break the immersement, well, it's... more immersive, and fun?

Three bosses so far? (chapter 4) ...  I thought  there are only 4 overall (The  Fatman, Freak with blade "wings", Moray chic and Bohan himself). I think The Fatman is the first real boss to face. Did you fight him?

damn i want this game... gamefly is really ticking me off.