A month late, but I've finally got my hands on Heavenly Sword and I'm really liking it.

 

From what it looks like, I'm getting pretty close to the end and I'm guessing I'll have clocked in at 5-6 hours once I finish it. So far, I've put in about 3.5 hours or so worth. I can see complaints about the game's length, but while it's part of the reason I like to rent, any longer and it would start to get annoying. I don't know about anybody else, but I sure liked ICO and any longer than about 5-6 hours would feel like the game would be dragging on.

Honestly, I'm really enjoying Heavenly Sword. The downright most impressing thing is the audio. Just about all of it is perfect or very well done. I've noticed a couple of stupid/cheesy lines (mainly from the soldiers), but the weird boss characters and their voices haven't turned me away like other games do. In actuality, the boss characters have intrigued and entertained me because they're all very unique and have a lot of humor in them with how they interact and such. Compare that to other games where you have a totally crappy voice actor trying to act a serious part and such, the characters drift in and out of serious and humorous without any penalty in performance. Take Kai for example, funny because she's so weird, yet her voice actor hit terror VERY well.

The next best thing about the audio is the general sounds of battle. The clanking of metal and the other sounds of battle is VERY realistic and sounds very much like swordplay in a movie. I've enjoyed going in close quarters combat against the Flying Fox.

The gameplay is good too. Sure, it feels a little repetitive, but that is the style of this game and I'd be lying if I didn't say that God of War 1 and 2 didn't get repetitive with the button mashing. That's why I said what I said above, that it's good that the game is on the short side because if it lasted an extra X amount of hours (8-15+ seems to be the butter zone for whiners) then it would feel dragged on and start to get very boring. I also really enjoy the button tapping sequences, they're MUCH more forgiving than God of War 1 and 2 are in that there is a little more space to do them in and you can make a mistake or two during the sequence without having to restart the whole damn thing.

To further explore the gameplay, attacks feel more complex by being able to switch between the stances and change your style to suit different kinds of enemies and their attacks. At first you have to get used the different blocking scheme, but it's better once you get used to it and feels natural to block attacks. The camera isn't too impeding, but I'd rather have the quick dodging than rotating the camera. The worst aspect of the controls are the motion controls with the sixaxis. The quick shakes to start a combo and to recover from getting knocked into the air are good, but the aftertouch to control projectiles feel a bit awkward compared to using the left analog stick.

Another aspect of the game that I really enjoy is the story. It's not like some cheesy storyline and has progressed rather well and is made better with the characters, especially their quality voice acting. Kai's missions are a little iffy when you're being charged by a soldier up close, but who doesn't love Jon Woo's Strangehold aiming slow-motion projectiles hitting enemies?

The next aspect of the game that's good is the graphics. There are a couple of areas (short instances really) where the frame rate hits a low point, but it's manageable throughout the entire game. However, a smooth frame rate would have been better. Still, the game is very lovely to look at and there is a lot of detail in the characters and the environments. Well, I do have a problem with the enemy soldiers because they all look the same so fighting a group of 20 (or thousand) of the same guy is a little odd. Some variation would be nice, but it doesn't really hamper too much on the game as they're just sword fodder anyway. One awesome thing about how the game looks is the physics. The add that extra touch the to game to kick a table and have everything on it go flying or to break a bunch of shelve and have it crumble.

Anyway, I'm still playing through it (second Flying Fox fight) so my opinion may change for whatever reason. However, I would probably rate this game at about an 8.

I'll see if I can break it down once I beat it, but an 8 is where I seem to be standing.

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Big question here if you've read this far, has anybody had any controller problems with this game? My controller has wigged out multiple times in my time with Heavenly Sword. The controller completely lost it's connection to the PS3 twice and I lost control of movement for a moment a couple of times as well. I also have a problem with my triangle button sticking and I partly blame that on having greasy hands from a pizza or some other food or something like that, but I've heard that the triangle button has given other people troubles and I'm wondering if I might have to open up the controller to fix the problem.

I'm about were you are and I've had the game for almost a month. I don't have much time to play, sadly. :(

I agree with your score. I would give it an 8.5, but the framerate drops and screen tearing really bug the crap out of. Cutscenes should not skip around. It totally ruins the feel, imo.

This is supposed to be a trilogy right? HS2 should turn out very well, as Ninja Theory will have a better grasp of the hardware. It will look prettier, have a more consistent framerate, and most of the other minor complaints from reviews will probably be solved, like the meager length and repetitive shield throwing puzzles. :P

I believe they might make more depending on sales, but I don't remember. I haven't thought the aftertouch puzzles were that bad, kind of a nice relaxer before you go to the next battle.

I do hope that if they do make more, that they do improve all the problems with this one. I also hope they keep the same quality that their actors have done with as well. Andy Serkis has an amazing role with the king, I thought his acting throughout the game is awesome and I found it pretty funny in the scene where Nariko wields the sword where he says his line and does a stupid looking smile and there is the stuff between him and Flying Fox.

It's freaking amazing.

The aftertouch isn't bad at all. It's just that the puzzles involving specifically a shield and a gong are far too numerous. They could've at least done a stick and a lever or something. :P

And yes, Andy Serkis does an excellent job. I love the way the Flying Fox just appears out of no where and Bohan is all like "WTF!?!" lol

I thought the after-touch in heavenly sword was freaking AMAZING, like I couldn't believe how well havok physic's affected the performance, the cannon balls fealt heavy and were a bitch to move around, when I tossed a giant hammer it seriously fealt weighted on one end, and the arrows were very swift and easy to controll. My friend and I are obsessed with the sixaxis controll stages XD (we've put in 20+ hours) just going for headshots/etc

IllegalPaladin said: From what it looks like, I'm getting pretty close to the end and I'm guessing I'll have clocked in at 5-6 hours once I finish it. So far, I've put in about 3.5 hours or so worth. I can see complaints about the game's length, but while it's part of the reason I like to rent, any longer and it would start to get annoying. I don't know about anybody else, but I sure liked ICO and any longer than about 5-6 hours would feel like the game would be dragging on. The gameplay is good too. Sure, it feels a little repetitive, but that is the style of this game and I'd be lying if I didn't say that God of War 1 and 2 didn't get repetitive with the button mashing. That's why I said what I said above, that it's good that the game is on the short side because if it lasted an extra X amount of hours (8-15+ seems to be the butter zone for whiners) then it would feel dragged on and start to get very boring. I also really enjoy the button tapping sequences, they're MUCH more forgiving than God of War 1 and 2 are in that there is a little more space to do them in and you can make a mistake or two during the sequence without having to restart the whole damn thing.

Isn't the fact that you acknowledge the game would get boring if it was longer a red flag that something is wrong with the game?  The staple comment of video games used to be "That was so much fun, I wish there was more."  Now it's "Dang, I'm glad that game was short.  I couldn't take any more of it."

That aside, it makes me sad that game developers can sell half-games these days and not only get away with it but have people praise them for it.  At least Heavenly Sword lives up to the rent-only mantra it has built up.

Words Of Wisdom said: IllegalPaladin said: From what it looks like, I'm getting pretty close to the end and I'm guessing I'll have clocked in at 5-6 hours once I finish it. So far, I've put in about 3.5 hours or so worth. I can see complaints about the game's length, but while it's part of the reason I like to rent, any longer and it would start to get annoying. I don't know about anybody else, but I sure liked ICO and any longer than about 5-6 hours would feel like the game would be dragging on. The gameplay is good too. Sure, it feels a little repetitive, but that is the style of this game and I'd be lying if I didn't say that God of War 1 and 2 didn't get repetitive with the button mashing. That's why I said what I said above, that it's good that the game is on the short side because if it lasted an extra X amount of hours (8-15+ seems to be the butter zone for whiners) then it would feel dragged on and start to get very boring. I also really enjoy the button tapping sequences, they're MUCH more forgiving than God of War 1 and 2 are in that there is a little more space to do them in and you can make a mistake or two during the sequence without having to restart the whole damn thing. Isn't the fact that you acknowledge the game would get boring if it was longer a red flag that something is wrong with the game?  The staple comment of video games used to be "That was so much fun, I wish there was more."  Now it's "Dang, I'm glad that game was short.  I couldn't take any more of it." That aside, it makes me sad that game developers can sell half-games these days and not only get away with it but have people praise them for it.  At least Heavenly Sword lives up to the rent-only mantra it has built up.

I agree with you there.  I've never got people who've said "If it lasted a couple more hours i'd of hated it."  I guess it's how the modern gamer is being conditioned though.  That and the fact that i've played a lot of RPGs.  When your used to putting in 40+ hours just to get through a game once.  Let alone going back for all the secrets or in some cases like Chrono Trigger, endings you tend to get used to long games. 

Also. If your answer to "would I want a sequel." is yes. I definitly don't see how you can say if the game would of been too long.

Words Of Wisdom said: Isn't the fact that you acknowledge the game would get boring if it was longer a red flag that something is wrong with the game? The staple comment of video games used to be "That was so much fun, I wish there was more." Now it's "Dang, I'm glad that game was short. I couldn't take any more of it." That aside, it makes me sad that game developers can sell half-games these days and not only get away with it but have people praise them for it. At least Heavenly Sword lives up to the rent-only mantra it has built up.

Perhaps I should explain it. The main reason I said that is that the game and it's pacing feels about right. I'm not exactly saying that it would be terrible if it were longer and I'd definatly playthrough it a second time once I beat it because the rest of my post talked about how much I really enjoyed it (you know, incase you didn't see that).

 

It has to do with games that start to feel dragged on after a while of doing the same stuff. Heavenly Sword is a God of War clone and thus it's very heavy on the button combo mashing. God of War 1 and 2 are good games, no? However, I beat them in around 6-8 hours.

Were they fun?
-yes

Would I have liked an extra 3-4 hours of the exact same stuff (at least of the main storyline)?
-Hell no, it began to get boring of fighting the same enemies or the same groups of enemies with mashing down on the same three combos. Still, the pacing of the game was good with it's puzzles, encounters, ect and if they paced it well and balanced all the aspects of gameplay, maybe I'd feel better with more time. 

Rather than question the actual lenght of a game (and why is there a post above talking about a 40+ hour RPG, that's obviously a totally different league and tells me that maybe you've taken my post wrong) the question I'd find myself asking would be the level of replay (with all that extra content, side-quests, ect) that a game offers and that seems to be the main problem with Heavenly Sword, not exactly it's length. For example, Call of Duty 4 is about a 5-6 hour game, but it has the extra content in the multi-player that makes the shortness of the game not matter as much (unless of course you either don't have any or have a poor internet connection).

Lastly, remember that I said that I was renting it too.

Kasz216 said: Also. If your answer to "would I want a sequel." is yes. I definitly don't see how you can say if the game would of been too long.

You two seem to strike me as the RPG type of person. Both of your posts seem to be just about the lenght of the game and apparently that seems to be it. RPG's are very fun I own a couple of Final Fantasy games and I also have Oblivion. Like I said in my other post, as you both went directly into when I talked about lenght, you seemed to have missed that I said that I'm really enjoying it and I find it to be a very good game. In which, why shouldn't I want a sequel of a game that I really enjoyed?

Again, lack of extra content other than just the main storyline is the problem I find.