Critical Reception For Sony/Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword

This week's edition of the regular Critical Reception column examines online reaction to Heavenly Sword, an anticipated PlayStation 3 release that critics say is "an impressive, epic hackandslash adventure" that "may not realize its full potential."

Billed as an action title that combines gameplay elements from the God of War and Dynasty Warriors series, PS3 owners and critics alike pinned high hopes on Heavenly Sword. Its success seems especially important for the PlayStation 3 at this point in time, given that the highly anticipated Lair recently debuted to a spate of below-average review scores. However, while Heavenly Sword's average rating of 80 out of 100 is described as "generally favorable" at Metacritic.com, many reviewers note dissatisfaction regarding its gameplay.