Heavenly Sword

[KC]

some of the doubts on how the final version is because the game is developed by ninja theory,we simply dont know if the devs have the potential to take and make a good concept and game into a great one.

[carboncore]

One thing I sorely miss is the jump button. Its Onimusha all over again. I hope they put it in the final build.

[KC]

no jump button.confirmed.

[carboncore]

krapchap said:

no jump button.confirmed.

I'll miss it. Old habits die hard.

[sanjoy]

HS has been one of the most highly anticipated PlayStation 3 games since it was first shown in cinematic trailer form. Now the release is only two months away and the playable demo is finally available on the PlayStation Store in Europe and North America. As soon as I heard the news I rushed to my PS3 and immediately started the nearly 1GB download, giddily comparing my progress bar with that of the other Kotaku editors doing the same. As soon as the download was complete I hopped back to my PS3 (yes, I hop) and fired it up. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my impressions of the Heavenly Sword demo. First off I hit start.

Impressions arrive in September!
Sorry, couldn't resist. This is the shortest demo I have ever played. From hitting start on the controller until the message "Redemption Arrives In September", only seven minutes passed. I timed it. Mind you this was without skipping the brief opening scene between Nariko and her adorable crazy little friend, and I managed to miss a jump and fall to my death once.

After the nifty opening scene I found myself running down a series of ropes towards a platform that seemed to serve no purpose other than to have people run across ropes towards it. Via some timed button presses I made my way down to the rocky plateau pillar thing as the enemies that were hanging out there tried to impede my progress, cutting the ropes out from under my feet. With one last flying leap, taking an enemy out in the process, I entered my first battle.

Two minutes and some furious button smashing later I was standing triumphantly over the remains of two waves of evildoers. Combat was relatively fluid, though a little confusing when the enemies really start to close in. Even on a 42 inch LCD it was still a bit hard to see what was going on. My foes consisted of enemies with just swords (fodder) and enemies with shields (annoying fodder.) Every now and again I would pull off a finishing move that would zoom in as I killed guys in various creative ways.

After that fight I learned why this pillar thing was standing in the middle of nowhere. With a kick I sent it toppling towards the main square of the fortress I was infiltrating, more button presses landing me gracefully in the middle of another group of mixed enemies. Once they were down two giant wooden doors opened, revealing three large enemies...and the demo ended.

Seven minutes, and it ends just like that. No big boss fight to try out, no giant plot revelation, no finding an ancient artifact. Just, "here comes more enemies, see you in two months!" You know that feeling you get when you're about to sneeze and then can't? Exactly the feeling I got here.

As for aesthetics, the graphics were solid but the framerate was erratic at times. Sound was excellent no matter which language option I chose in order to stretch out my playtime a little by pretending I was a different guy from another country. By far the best aspect of the whole demo for me, the music was completely top notch. Very atmospheric and brilliantly arraigned.

A demo is created to give players a taste of what they can expect once the full game comes out, and honestly if this is all they can manage to scrape together I am a little worried that this will be the whole game. So far all I am seeing is button mashing combat against endless waves of enemies interrupted by the odd interactive cinematic, and that's been done better elsewhere. Bad show

[HundredProofSam]

^^ was that ur own review? if not, source please



peace

[carboncore]

It feels like button masher for the first time through. But after few tries, the combos become more clear. Similar games in this genre like NG and GoW felt like button masher during earlier missions.

[carboncore]

Release Date Confirmed

HeavenlySword will be shipping to North America on September 4th. It will be shipping as well in Europe on September 14th and in Australia on September 20th

www.n4g.com/ps3/News-55104.aspx

So PAL regions are not getting it before others. Book your copies elsewhere.

[KC]

sorce-ign
chapter 2 preview


US, July 27, 2007 - Today at the office, we were fortunate enough to receive a preview build of Ninja Theory's greatly anticipated title: Heavenly Sword. The build essentially spans all of chapter two, which is made up of a variety of levels, including a short segment where the player takes on the role of Kai, Nariko's strange young friend. Although the build took only about an hour and a half to complete, there was a great deal of new material (at least for me) to analyze, and we're going to map out our experiences for you.

The opening of chapter two was quite familiar to us, since it's the same material to be found in the PlayStation Store demo. Although, there is one additional cutscene that takes place prior to all the action. It features Kai in a pitch black environment, crouching on the ground. We're not entirely sure if this is meant to be a mental projection or some metaphorical representation, but regardless, Kai listens to Nariko's worried questioning and responds in surreal, whimsical speech. The quality of this cutscene is astronomical. The directing and voice work is simply top-notch, and I personally have never seen in-game graphics present such startlingly convincing facial animation.

So, after fighting the first two battles that you're probably familiar with by now, if you've played the demo, Nariko makes her way through the gate and must fight through several more waves of enemies. One particularly fantastic segment of the level features Nariko on a bridge, where she has to use her range stance combos to deflect oncoming arrows as she makes her way across (very reminiscent of Jet Li in Hero). There were also, surprisingly, puzzle-like segments to speak off, which involved throwing the enemies' circular shields at targets (though there were actually gongs) in order to open doors and gates. This dramatic shift away from combat was refreshing for me, and encouragingly suggests that the game won't be purely combat oriented. After all, breaking up the action in an action game is critical to a good experience, and Ninja Theory seems to have taken that into account.

There are also two boss battles to fight, which were particularly enjoyable (I'll return to those in a moment), but the cutscene that introduces King Bohan and his generals is priceless. Andy Serkis not only helps direct the cutscenes in the game but also plays the role of Bohan, and his immense talent easily shows. The eccentric humor and viciousness of Bohan is a must-see. His brow, eyes and mouth move almost perfectly to convey the subtlest of emotions, and seeing him interact with other characters is quite possibly worth the price of the game. Furthermore, the design of his two generals (so far) is superb. Flying Fox, a (literally) insane blade-wielder, and Whiptail, a twisted, serpentine seductress, are perfect characters to compliment Bohan and his disfigured child, Roach.

In the preview build, Nariko must face Flying Fox and Whiptail as she attempts to rescue her father, Shen, from Bohan's maniacal clutches. The battle with Flying Fox isn't particularly challenging, as long as you stay agile and avoid getting caught in the furious whirlwind of his blades. What was more enjoyable for me, actually, was watching Flying Fox speak. He's crazy. Demented, even. And I look forward to seeing what the general populace has to say about this eccentric villain. He should spawn a good number of threads on the boards, I can assure you.

Whiptail, on the other hand, is mad on a different level. If initial appearances are anything to go by, she seems to be twisted with power and rage, and an insatiable desire to please Bohan. More tangible, though, is her body language, which brims with sexuality, even though she is admittedly a foul, snake-creature. When Nariko eventually faces Whiptail, the battlefield is a large, rectangular courtyard of sorts, filled with ankle-deep water. Of course, Whiptail uses this to her advantage and sends massive waves at Nariko, who must dodge them precisely, or face a significant loss of health. I was particularly impressed with the realistic appearance of the waves, which sprayed water like a mini-tsunami. When you finally get in close though, the fun really begins, since you have a very limited amount of time to attack before the general swims away. In this small window, you have to strike and dodge frequently, and I will admit that these short little encounters are incredibly well done. Whiptail dodges Nariko's attacks in Matrix-like fashion, and it's all done in real time. If you throw a particular combo, Whiptail bends and flips out of the way, only to counterattack with incredible zeal. Although the fight grew repetitive very quickly, the initial encounters were nothing short of amazing.

During this battle, you are given a brief chance to control Kai as she lays down cover fire (well, cover fire with her crossbow) for a weary Master Shen so he can escape. This section of the build was a little long, but it was amusing to shoot arrows in slow motion and see them plunge into your targets, with devastating results. One notable moment was when I missed my first shot as a soldier charged towards the wounded Shen, and, in desperation, I fired one more wild shot which landed square in the guard's posterior. Luckily, it killed him, proving that Kai fires some very powerful arrows. Unfortunately though, you're not given the chance to actually maneuver Kai around. She remains in a stationary position for the length of the confrontation.


After Nariko finishes off Whiptail, you're treated to one final cliffhanger of a cutscene before the preview build ends. Ultimately, we were impressed with what we saw during our time with the game, but there are a host of problems that still need to be fixed. The shield throwing mechanics are definitely broken, and there were some serious audio issues which actually prevented me from hearing some of the dialogue (I didn't have the subtitles on because they didn't work yet). These issues, however serious, are still fixable though, and I hope they'll be addressed before Heavenly Sword is released.

Although I am well aware that solid gameplay is absolutely critical for making this a good game, I would buy it just for the cutscenes. Serkis clearly poured some artistic energy into the directorial elements of Heavenly Sword, and the story of Nariko and her dying clan could become one of the better told stories in recent videogame history. Check back for our full review as the release date draws near.

[carboncore]

Heavenly Sword gets a release date, delayed to 12th September

ps3.ign.com/articles/810/810523p1.html

[KC]

Heavenly Sword - There's an interview with Andy Serkis
Get your blades sharpened as Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that Heavenly Sword will hit shelves on September 12th. Developed by Ninja Theory and published by Sony Computer Entertainment exclusively for the PlayStation 3, the game is Sony's attempt at creating the equivalent of a summer blockbuster with extremely detailed cutscenes and action sequences that borrow style from martial arts films.
- There will be 6 animation clips on PSN which will tell the story of the Heavenly Sword.

- The gameplay is comprised of combat, exploration, puzzle solving and third person shooting.

- The gameplay features which depend on motion sensing have a faster response time now.

- 6 acts, 48 missions.

GRAW2 got 86/100 btw

[jackhammer06]

Hey kc,are you getting this one on the release date??

[KC]

[carboncore]

Itagaki at his best

gamers-creed.com/?p=215,

Itagaki is at it again. Itagaki Tomonobu who is the lead graphics programmer of Tecmo, refers to Heavenly sword as half assed in the latest EGM magazine in which there’s a Heavenly Sword preview and a little article.

Ninja Gaiden creator Tomonobu Itakagi goes on the record as an outspoken critic of Sword’s Hero Sequences.
“I’ve never played a good game where the developers put a big icon of the button you’re supposed to press onscreen,” Itagaki says. “I look at Heavenly Sword and it seems really half-assed, because it’s asking you to do all these button-timing sequences but you are not getting much payoff from it.”

[KC]

You wont believe it one of my posts on how itakagi is an idiot is up for approval at n4g