A slice of heaven: impressions on the Heavenly Sword demo

Heavenly Sword - Image 1

After what seems to be eons of waiting, Ninja Theory‘s Heavenly Sword demo is finally up, and last we heard – as Bj commented – Europe‘s PlayStation Store also has it as well. So, have you already ditched plans with your girlfriend for a date with Nariko tonight? We assume jimbo777 already has.

The demo starts with a bit of intro cinematic with Nariko telling of how her father and his men were taken by King Bohan (finally we know how to spell his name). Our heroine stands atop a plateau with her friend Kai, and orders her to keep watch – told her to find a hiding place since they might “play twing twang” later – see, I told you they have a Xena-Gabrielle relationship going on.

Once you get control over Nariko, you have to move over to the left side of the cliff edge and trigger a cutscene – the tight rope scene, which some described as pretty “tight” (nyar-har-har). Nariko descends onto the top of a pillar and you must clean it off of them baddies.

When you’re done, you cut the final rope that’s keeping the pillar tethered and, since our heroine seems to be intent on having big entrances, you land in the thick of battle with quite a big bang. After lopping off more heads and unleashing Nariko’s PMS, three armored guards appear – thus ending your playtime for the demo.

More impressions, implications, combat Stances, twing twanging, and a comment on my l337ness right behind the Full Article link below!

Heavenly Sword - Image 1

After what seems to be eons of waiting, Ninja Theory‘s Heavenly Sword demo is finally up, and last we heard – as Bj commented – Europe‘s PlayStation Store also has it as well. So, have you already ditched plans with your girlfriend for a date with Nariko tonight? We assume jimbo777 already has.

The demo starts with a bit of intro cinematic with Nariko telling of how her father and his men were taken by King Bohan (finally we know how to spell his name). Our heroine stands atop a plateau with her friend Kai, and orders her to keep watch – told her to find a hiding place since they might “play twing twang” later – see, I told you they have a Xena-Gabrielle relationship going on.

Once you get control over Nariko, you have to move over to the left side of the cliff edge and trigger a cutscene – the tight rope scene, which some described as pretty “tight” (nyar-har-har). Nariko descends onto the top of a pillar and you must clean it off of them baddies.

When you’re done, you cut the final rope that’s keeping the pillar tethered and, since our heroine seems to be intent on having big entrances, you land in the thick of battle with quite a big bang. After lopping off more heads and unleashing Nariko’s PMS, three armored guards appear – thus ending your playtime for the demo.

Heavenly Sword demo: a slice of Heaven - Image 1

So. Right off the bat, let us say that the graphics were nothing but astounding – that’s to say the least. The cinematics were ace, some of which were even interactive to boot. I’m referring to the rope scene here. Now interactive cutscenes aren’t altogether new (RE4, anyone?), but see, the keen thing about those in Heavenly Sword is that general gameplay feels as if it’s cinematic to begin with. A comment by WTF!?!?!?!?! sums it up rather colorfully:

THIS GAME ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! // This makes ninja gaiden look like a wrist watch LCD game!!!!!!!!! // We’ve gone from scratching the surface of the PS3 to digging a spa size hole…..next comes the pool!

Did someone say Ninja Gaiden? Well, if you used the demo of Ninja Gaiden Sigma to compare it with that of Heavenly Sword, the first thing that’ll probably stand out is the amount of content chucked into the demo.

The biggest complaint thus far is the Heavenly Sword demo’s playtime being too short. Some say that the demo can be played within three to five minutes; some say ten. It probably took longer for you to download those 998MBs than to actually play it in your first run through – which isn’t altogether that big a deal, since it is a demo after all.

Heavenly Sword artwork - Image 1Gameplay-wise and overall experience though, it’s probably the most orgasmic ten minutes of your life. From the demo alone, you can glean how different it is from your usual Action-Adventure title. You might think that Heavenly Sword is just like your average hack-and-slash, but if you want to treat it as such, you won’t get very far.

Case in point: myself. Upon sitting through the game on my first run and throwing all efforts of stringing combos out the window, ever-so-friendly Ceasar S. was quick to interject: “Lotsa flashy moves… which one of them actually strikes an enemy?” His statement implies either of three, ahem, two things:

  1. That Ninja Theory messed up the combat system
  2. That I’m not a good hack-and-slash player
  3. That I’m not a good combat player at all

I place my bets on the last implication, FYI [note to self: get back at Ceasar for commenting on my l337ness]. And for all intents and purposes, the game isn’t hack-and-slash. You can clearly see the effort put into polishing the combat system. The combat cinematics in the demo can even compete with Ang Lee’s choreography on “Crouching Tiger.” Some even commented that the game was a dead ringer of God of War.

Well, that’s to be expected: critics have compared Heavenly Sword not only to GoW, but to Prince of Persia as well. And we’re not comparing apples and oranges here though, are we? These games are similar, true (in the same sense that apples and oranges are both fruits). But really, their seeds – their cores – are way different.

For one, make sure you’ve read the tips that Ninja Theory developers gave the other day. Those proved crucial in squeezing what I can from the short demo. Get a feel for the different Stances during your first run through, and when you’re comfortable, try to bust out those Superstyle moves. Try to play a “finesse” game in your consequent run-throughs. If you’re short on the guidance, you can always pause the game and access the Combo List.

As for the issue with the flickering background at the start of the demo… well, we’re sure the retail version would be fixing the frame rates. September isn’t all that far off, and for now, we’re happy with the demo. Despite it being short, it’s brimming of content if you find thrill in connecting combos. The demo’s lived up to the hype of the game, and if it’s done anything, it made us even more eager for the full version. If you haven’t downloaded the demo yet, you’re missing half your life…or maybe at least missing 10 minutes of it.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Gollum is MIA in the demo. Aw, snap.

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