PS3 Impressions: Heavenly Sword
by Ross Miller 
{ May 10th 2006 at 7:30PM }
At only 50% complete, Heavenly Sword is shaping up to be an impression action title for the PlayStation 3. The demo we played featured our female protagonist facing off against a group of Asian baddies and a final boss (the developer we talked to noted that the level we were playing are part of the second chapter of the game). At first glance, and maybe even second and third, Heavenly Sword feels derivative of God of War. The fighting is flashy but pretty simplistic: a few button mashes and we were doing chains of foe-killing action. It's all eye candy, but the developer promises that the difficulty will be knocked up a few notches by the time it launches.
What we love about Heavenly Sword are the three fighting styles available: by holding L1 or R1, you can switch to ranged chain attacks (major God of War similarities) or combine your two swords into one giant scimitar. The boss fight was a combination of standard fighting and context-sensitive button masher, or "ninja sequence," according to the developer on hand. Although not specific, we do know that the title is expected to use motion sensor functioning.
As we stated earlier, the game is visually stunning but needs a lot of tweaking. The shadow and lighting is gorgeous and indicative of next-generation power, but the character models (specifically our heroine and her hair) suffer from ugly aliasing and jagged edges. We could not judge audio because the Sony booth was too loud, blasting Franz Ferdinand's Do You Want To? ad infinitum.
The game is only half complete and already looking promising. Most importantly, the game is fun to play, and we look forward to seeing how it develops.
What we love about Heavenly Sword are the three fighting styles available: by holding L1 or R1, you can switch to ranged chain attacks (major God of War similarities) or combine your two swords into one giant scimitar. The boss fight was a combination of standard fighting and context-sensitive button masher, or "ninja sequence," according to the developer on hand. Although not specific, we do know that the title is expected to use motion sensor functioning.
As we stated earlier, the game is visually stunning but needs a lot of tweaking. The shadow and lighting is gorgeous and indicative of next-generation power, but the character models (specifically our heroine and her hair) suffer from ugly aliasing and jagged edges. We could not judge audio because the Sony booth was too loud, blasting Franz Ferdinand's Do You Want To? ad infinitum.
The game is only half complete and already looking promising. Most importantly, the game is fun to play, and we look forward to seeing how it develops.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
meddow @ May 10th 2006 7:35PM
*yawn*
Shiro @ May 10th 2006 7:38PM
"Although not specific, we do know that the title is expected to use motion sensor functioning"
You know what else has motion sensing functions? You may not know this, but I heard that Nintendo's new system does that a little bit.
Sounds like a Sony rip-off though. Those jerks at Nintendo. They should come up with original stuff.
Not Impressed (Dmitri) @ May 10th 2006 7:38PM
Zomgwtf??? Thankyou Sony for providing something OTHER then CGI!
"Hey guys. See that Wii on the other side of the building?"
"Niiiice."
"O shit! Im in the wrong line!"
"AHAHAHAHAHAH OWNED" *As the nerds point and laugh*
Phil @ May 10th 2006 7:39PM
Looks pretty good, nice to know everyone here can't wait as well!:p
Brian @ May 10th 2006 7:49PM
Jesus, if you guys don't like the PS3 don't read posts about it. Really, spare us your irrational hatred of jaw-dropping graphics and solid proven gameplay. There are plenty of places for you to bitch about Sony ripping off Nintendo. But I am just going to say one thing about it, having someone else do something similar will push both parties to makw things better. It is inevitable that things get copied but when they do it becomes a contest of who uses it better. And by imitating Ninendo, Sony is challenging them to keep making better games.
Wolfrain @ May 10th 2006 7:57PM
Yes we get it Sony blatently ripped of Nintendo with the motion detecting, boo fricking hoo. What you gonna do, cry to your mother?
Mind you though, Sony did patent a motion detecting controller way before Nintendo annouced thier Wii-mote. It had a problem though as it was like first generation wireless keyboard and mouse. It had to have a line of sight, so if someone came in the way it would get messed up. But in this concept Sony kidnapped Nintendo and shafted him/her at the back and did not even bother pay him/her.
I guess it is not a question of who got the idea first because Microsoft released a sidewinder that detects motion about 7 years ago. It is who can implement the controller scheme better.
Another question arises though is what will Microsoft do about having no motion detecting controller. I mean you can;t just release a new motion detecting controller and force developers to make games for and/or with the controller in mind as not every 360 owner would have this optional controller.So I see the 360 losing developer support if they don't think of a viable solution for the long run or they will start to get watered down versions of games.
I guess Microsoft will nto start to get watered down games in terms of playabilty. (Matters alot)
Nintendo will get watered down games in terms of graphics. (Does matter but not a huge extent)
Sony can recieve games that can be played on 360 that would not have been possible on Wii because of raw power and vice-versa vecause of Wii-mote.
But Sony had to ruin by putting up a huge price on the darn thing.
Anyway does any one know how much it will roughly cost in pounds sterling. They did not release figures for British people for some reason.
icantdrawanime @ May 10th 2006 7:58PM
if your version of solid proven graphics involves staring blankly at the screen and pressing a few buttons count me out cause im a nintendo fanboy.
that said, ive been a bit disappointed in the shallow uses for the nintendo controller as well... sigh looks like whatever thunder nintendo had is gonna drop away rather fast.
RageOverdose @ May 10th 2006 8:32PM
Didn't get to play the parts with huge amounts of enemies (at least, it was promised)? That's what most excites me about this game.
I had a feeling it would be awfully similar to God of War (not necessarily a bad thing though), but I'll keep judgement until I play it. Not that it matters, I like God of War. ;)
No screens?
James @ May 10th 2006 8:37PM
It's like God of War is not derivative of other games that preceeded it.
Michael @ May 10th 2006 9:19PM
these nintendo fanboys are freakin' rabid
Andrew @ May 10th 2006 10:05PM
Joystiq - Wii coverage
Kotaku - Wii and 360 with PS3 bashing
Gamespot - hype
Everywhere I go, I see PS3 articles being ignored, or spammed by people who are biased against the system. I'm personally behind the Wii, but I like to see the systems given some respect. I personally, personally mind you, hate Xbox. But I don't trash it online, or flame the 360 threads. This week has been the worst experience I've ever had reading these websites, because nothing it done to stop the harassment.
Stephen @ May 10th 2006 11:04PM
I agree with you totally Andrew
It would be nice if people would be more objective and rational on the net these days...
disappointed @ May 10th 2006 11:27PM
I'm glad somebody else noticed this as well.
What i've done is to just stop reading the comments. They seem to be populated with irrational, extremely biased points of view from 16-year-olds.
That said, I also feel that some posts on the blogs mentioned are guilty of bias themselves, albeit to a lesser degree.
But since these are blogs, i can't fault them. We have to take the term 'blogging journalism' with a pinch of salt i guess.
Baya @ May 11th 2006 12:14AM
Andrew, Stephen, and disappointed... I agree totally, and am shocked that some people out in the wild still have some common sense, and whether or not you like a *platform*/*game*/*company* can be objective about it.
Siraris @ May 11th 2006 2:04PM
It's like this all the time on these sites, not just during E3, there just happens to be more articles available to flame now.
It's mind boggling to me to see posts like "I HOPE NINTENDO AND MICROSOFT TEAM UP TO CREAM SONY SO THAT MICROSOFT CAN TAKE THE TOP SEAT." Like any of these people have a vested interest in seeing Sony stop making the Playstation. The funniest thing is, they don't realize that the game industry would collapse if the PS3 failed. The entire industry depends on Sony at this point, and I don't think anyone at Sony, or Microsoft or Nintendo wishes to see any of their competitors fail. They just want to make money, and penetrate the market. All the stuff that Peter Moore says about the PS3, or Ken Kutaragai says about the 360 is designed to generate hype and interest in the systems.
Brian @ May 11th 2006 2:38PM
#15,
Great point. Can you imagine what the industry would be like if there was only one game system?
jgrey @ May 11th 2006 7:26PM
Blue corner, Sony fanboys bending over backward becoming apologists.
Red corner, Nintendo fanboys taking cheap shots at Sony.
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!!
But anyway. I'll be happy when FF comes out on PS3. It is true that we don't seem to have much to talk about PS3 other than its graphics. I'm still happy though, as that's what they're marketting PS3 for.
In the end PS3 and Wii are on a completely different path. I just wish Sony did something about that $600 price tag. In that sense, it all balances out with Wii's criticism of lacking graphics power.
You can compare 360 with PS3 lads. But not really PS3 and Wii. They're just too different in focus.
Herman Allen @ May 12th 2006 10:31AM
I really enjoyed the last 4-5 posts. Nice to see people with brains and no fanboys. The Wii seems gimmicky to me, but I have yet to play it and it might actually be cool. I will not purchase one though because every time I get a Nintendo console there seems to be no game support for it other than kids stuff. But at the lower price and with all these Nintendo fans it should do well. As for the Xbox, the games are nice and they should do better this time around, but Japan has yet to embrace them. That Heavenly sword does look hott, and I am glad to see gameplay at last. No more trailers please! Last but not least, that Sony price is a bit high, but the market will probably force it down within the next 2 years. i can remember when people last year where shocked to see MS go over 299.99. Guess what, they bitched but bought it, even though its launch games were not much better than the latest xbox games. People actually buy the 399 ipod and its an mp3 player. The point is, yeah, its high but it will sell, and yes the price will go down. Most consoles are actually sold once the price drops anyway. Buy the games you like fellas, and see you online. Peace!
wii man @ May 13th 2006 7:31PM
sony has no substance and x box is a computer nintendo isnt the greatest but is the only one that still knows how to make a console game. if nintendo goes, consoles are officially dead.