Heavenly Sword is a tale of a sword...from heaven o_o
Story
Long story short, bad guy wants sword, good girl gets sword to protect her people and then a bunch of random relatively uninteresting stuff happens in the middle.
The story for heavenly sword is pretty decent but where the game stands out really is in the acting. The voice actors do an exceptional job of portraying their characters and successfully conveying emotion from the character. Even though the game is about a yr old, No game has come close to heavenly sword in this regard (Nope not even MGS4 or Uncharted).
The game creators did a good job and they knew it however they felt they did such a good job, they felt the need to add an unnecessary amount of silliness into the game. The boss characters i'm sorry to say are all stupid. Roach is the only one that wasn't stupid which is ironic because he is actually stupid. They tried to make the boss characters do too much and while they did a good job with their acting and mocap and all that everything was just over the top and excessive
Graphics
Nothing else to say really, heavenly sword is a beautiful game. Playing it for the second time, i actually forgot how good the game looked. The graphics haven't aged one bit.
Gameplay
Short and simple the game is pretty much a button masher. The gameplay is also made wierd by the removal of a jump button and a block button. When you fight there are three stances, speed, normal and hard. That is pretty much it. You can mix these stances on the fly to achieve your combos. And you can just button mash your way on normal mode and you will beat the game regardless (at least till you get to the final boss). The counters are also worth mentioning since there is a little cut scene for each successful counter. The counters are relatively easy to pull off. When you button mash, just hit triangle a lot and you will be countering with ease
The gameplay is pretty solid for a button masher. It could be better but it could also be worse. During the course of the game, the game puts you thru some puzzles. Some very unimaginative SIXAXIS puzzles that let you maneuver projectiles in slow motion to hit random objects that open doors. The SIXAXIS controls are very good and they control well but i just wish the developers would have had a little bit more imagination with the puzzles
All in all, heavenly sword is a good game (not great). It lacks a certain something that would elevate it to greatness and it lacks a lot of things that would take it to fantastic status. The game once was compared to the God of War franchise but it ultimately falls short. The combat lacks the depth of ninja gaiden and also lacks the satisfaction of GOW. The game is relatively short approximately 6hrs and there really isn't much replay to be had from the game.
I wish the game was better and i wish i could say this could stand amongst the greatest of action games but unfortunately as beautiful as the game is, it simply falls short
The PlayStation 3 may not have been the strongest generation for Sony, but there were still some diamonds in the rough that deserve a revisit as PS5 remasters.
Even if they could just remaster and put on PSVR2, some would still look great as VR titles and could do a whole lot to bolster the headset w these exclusives! I'd imagine the investment of reworking these titles into VR would be way less than building new games from the ground up, and they could be amazing experiences, and VR often makes flat games feel fresh again. The Resistance and Killzone games are particularly what I want to see!!
I played killzone 3 in 3d and it really changed the game per being immersive.
In vr, that would be even more awesome.
Funny you mention that... my son wanted to play some PS3 games in 3d on my PS tv and he was blown away by how good KZ3 was. It really was a great addition to the game. Im surprised there have not been more 3d games from that era being ported to the PSVR/VR2.
resistance 1-3, killzone 1-3, uncharted 1-3, uncharted golden abyss, folklore, socom 4 , motorstorm, twisted metal, MAG, heavenly sword
Killzone 2+3
Sly Thieves in Time
Crack in Time
God of War Ascension
Motorstorm
Modnation racer
Infamous 1+2
Killzone trilogy in VR would be amazing bonus points if they offer shadow fall.
There was a psvr1 Killzone project that supermassive was working on at one stage which wasn't up to scratch and Sony brand it back in house I was hoping we would see that on psvr2 eventually.
Personally I'd love to see some more love or acknowledgement of psvr2 from Sony in general it was a expensive headset and Sony barely acknowledge it's existence
The amount of work needed to remaster these games wouldn't be beneficial on a financial and business sense.. MGS4 would probably be the best bet as it would need the least amount of work!
The time is perfect for a resistance fall of man game campaign coop multiplayer
The resistance series is str8 trash to me. Socom 3 I would welcome. Or killzone MP.
Resistance was ok but Warhawk and Starhawk was better and kept me coming back for almost a decade of fun and petty revenge on the loud mouth unskilled players 🤣
Edit I loved capture the flag dropping the pot on the flag carrier was extremely satisfying as well as transforming your plane in bot form and stumping them to death 😱
In this interview, we will delve into the creative process of David Brochard. Behind the scenes with concept artist David Brochard, showcasing his creative process in gaming industry from Call of Duty to Dark Souls 3 and Star Citizen. Discover how his passion & skills bring immersive worlds to life.
Grab your katana, and slice your way through this list featuring the best hack and slash games the PlayStation 3 had to offer.
Dante's inferno... an excellent GoW inspired game. So sad the sequels will never be.
I recall enjoying it well enough at the time, but it wasn't a patch on God of War 3 which came out around the same time I think.
I own it and fired it up on my PS3 about 6 months ago and time hadn't been particularly kind to it although it still very much nailed the atmosphere and it is a cool as he'll setting and universe.
Dante's Inferno needs the GOW treatment. No cut camera, with a real hellish depiction of the 9 circles and a story as dark and as serious would be amazing.
Still pretty amazing there was a PSP version that was actually pretty good. I remember playing it 10 years ago. I had the PS3 version when it first came out and loved it.
Yup, I remember being blown away with Heavenly Sword. I remember holding out hope that they would go back and add trophy support as a incentive to go back and replay the game, but I don't think they ever did?
I couldn't beat the final boss though! Spent several days trying but eventually gave up, lol. Still enjoyed it though.
heavenly sword was such a short, but amazing game. that game should be prime material to be made into a download only remaster.
I really enjoyed Castlevania, but struggled to get into it again reattempting it a few years back. I still think it does another of things well; story, presentation, level varietily and art style at least. Gameplay maybe has not stood test of time unfortunately which makes it a chore to get through.
I agree. I kinda liked the combat though =D It was entertaining and not too repetative as in *Spoiler* your weapons change and then you get a whole new toon half way through... Variety for such a short game was really good. Overall good review though. =D Game on!
I have to agree and disagree with this review. I think that you brought out some good points though. I think that Heavenly Sword was a very fun game and I was satisfied with the combat. However, I do agree that some of the puzzles in the game really weren't all that great.
But I think that a lot of people tend to overlook the story in Heavenly Sword even though it was a short game. The voice acting and lip synching in the game are just spot on and Heavenly Sword definantly has high production values just like most PS3 exclusives.
Personally I would give Heavenly Sword a 8/10 because even though it's short, it's still a pretty solid game.
i agree about the puzzles but i have to disagree about the gameplay.to me the gameplay was good and the game deserves an 8.5 out of 10.
Just because casual gamers can get through it doesn't mean that's it's a button masher. If you mash your way through it you won't even see half the combos. I don't think it should be punished for trying to go mainstream. Just look at the Ninja Gaiden 2 sales. It uses the most overdone concept in videogames(kill bad guy with ultimate sword) but somehow every aspect of this game feels inspired. 6 hours is short, but games aren't as long as they used to be. Heavenly Sword has perfect dialogue(how often does that happen?) and probably my favorite non-rpg storyline in a game. Why do 9/10 and 10/10 games seem "meh" while 7/10 games have me jumping out of my chair?
It had a unique auto block system and you would have to switch stances in order to block different attacks. The combat was good. Not the best in the genre, but it deserves respect.