Relatively unknown game developer Ninja Theory had many challenges to face when creating Heavenly Sword. Not only were they making their flagship game for a system with a small user base, but one with difficult hardware to code for, and most importantly- a pair of huge shoes to fill. A game billed as the “Next-Gen God of War” certainly has hurdles to jump from the get go. PS3 owners can rejoice, because Heavenly Sword not only meets the expectations of rabid God of War fans, but goes above and beyond the call of duty by providing some of the most deliciously over the top production values seen in any PS3 game so far.

If you asked anyone without a PS3 about Heavenly Sword, chances are they’ll tell you it’s that game with a hot chick in it. This usually is how poor games attempt to sell themselves to the masses, but fortunately sexy, red-haired Nariko is a curvy breath of fresh air into the action genre. Not only is Nariko nice to look at, but she is fleshed out like a character from a high budget Hollywood movie. While it is unbelievable at first that any self respecting, gorgeous warrior princess would fight in little more than a sheet of fabric and a thong bikini; when you see how fluidly she moves, the outfit makes sense. Nariko is not a bimbo, and while offering plenty of eye candy to the player, she never gives any fan service that would detract from the character that is so very strongly created. This is why the characters in Heavenly Sword work. Action games don’t generally focus on more than a solid fighting system and pretty CGI cut scenes. Heavenly Sword says to hell with that, and shows exactly why the characters are fighting, giving you a genuine insight to their motives.

Ninja Theory didn’t stop with the lead, every single character in the game is delivered with the same professional level of detail. The actors pour themselves into even the most unimportant characters, so you will be unable to mock anything about the game. Andy Serkis, who delivered a very realistic take on the character Gollum in the Lord of the Rings films, works his magic in this game like it was his next big movie (and seems to have gotten the rest of the actors to feel the same way). This is what makes Heavenly Sword stand out from all the other generic button masher action games- this button masher has a heart, and instead of dreading the numerous cut scenes, you will find yourself re-watching them in the special features menu.

The reason why the cut scenes were talked about first is because they are what makes this game so great. Heavenly Sword, unfortunately, doesn’t add a terrible amount of new ideas to the playing field when it comes to gameplay. The core game lies with the player controlling Nariko, who feels very similar to Kratos from God of War, had he lost the ability to jump. You wield the Heavenly Sword, a dangerous weapon that has been protected by many generations of Nariko’s clan, but it feels like a mixture of two popular action series in one weapon. There are three stances: a heavy stance to inflict massive damage at the enemy’s weak point, a fast stance to quickly assault foes, and a ranged stance to deflect arrows or break up clusters of enemies. The game then throws baddies at you who use one of the three stances, and your goal is to block them (by holding the proper stance button) and not attacking. You can then attack back, counter them, or do a very stylish insta-kill, which plays a cute little scene of Nariko murdering the enemy. This all depends on how you time your button press, so you will more likely find yourself mashing and just attacking them instead of doing any fancy moves. The controls feel very natural when fighting, but occasionally there will be some battling with the camera as well. Instead of being able to rotate the camera for a better view of the action, you are only able to pan it left or right, making some fights a little harder than needed.

One of the things the game does right is to use the SIXAXIS controller to its full potential. Kai, an additional playable character through some parts of the game, would be little more than a diversion from the core story had her segments not used the tilt-aiming of the PS3 controller. Certain puzzles and sections of the game (as Nariko) will also require you to guide a projectile by tilting the controller. By effectively steering the weapon, the player feels immense levels of accomplishment. That said, learning how to properly tilt-aim does take some getting used to. The satisfaction of guiding an arrow into someone’s head while your character laughs is something few games can pull off successfully, which is why learning how to use it is so rewarding. If the player is against learning how to properly use the tilt-aim, the user can switch off the motion control in favor of an analog stick method, but this loses the intended effect the developers were going for. Besides the motion control, Heavenly Sword also offers something rather unseen in action games- level select. You can replay any of the levels completed to get a higher score (or to score headshots for fun), unlocking more of the goodies hidden in the special features menu. This is a great way to add to the replay value, as Heavenly Sword’s biggest fault is its short length.

As you play through the game you will accumulate glyphs, which unlock combos, videos, and artwork. While most players will not collect all glyphs in one run through, nothing about the content is spectacular enough to deserve any hardship that acquiring them might cause. The combos, which are just simple button sequences to remember, are not needed to complete the game as mashing is a solid enough way to play and win. The videos are quite awesome on the other hand, and show a behind the scenes look at how the game was produced. Unlike many other behind the scenes clips, the ones unlocked are very interesting and well appreciated after playing through the game and watching the cut scenes. The artwork is acceptable, but the highlight is definitely the clips.

The Heavenly Sword team didn’t forget about the gameplay when creating visuals and sounds. The in game graphics are not as clean as the cut scenes, but look better than just about any other action game on the market. Many characters are on the screen at the same time, with very few stutters, and the sense of scale is amazing. Instead of cramming you in a small room to do the fighting, you see waterfalls and towers in the distance, as well as open fields and long bridges. Even the small areas come alive by being jam-packed with enemies to slaughter. The audio is done especially well too, and while it doesn’t really have any memorable tunes, it certainly captures the mood of the scene depending on who you are playing as and what’s going on.

The overall playtime of the game rests somewhere in the 5 to 8 hour range, depending on how many times you die. This by no means makes it less of a game, but rather makes you end up wanting more. While most gamers will get more than enough out of a rental, this game is one of the few that can warrant its price tag for such a short romp. What Heavenly Sword lacks in length, it makes up with pure balls to the wall action. Heavenly Sword is a success on many levels, and should be in any self respecting PS3 owner’s library; it is not, however, a system seller due to the short time needed to finish the game. Don’t let this one go unplayed!