Heavenly Sword features oddly entertaining characters and a thrilling adventure that feels criminally short.
The game begins with Nariko, our sword-wielding heroine, explaining what's going on in the world. At first, it seems very clichéd. There's some super awesome sword that supposedly has the potential to unlock magnificent power, much like the PlayStation 3's cell. But as it goes on, you'll be interested to hear about the internal conflicts with the characters, as well as just listening to some of the oddly entertaining things a lot of the twisted characters say. The game has phenomenal voice acting, and it sets the mood well. All the characters have their own unique personality and do an excellent job of avoiding clichés.
The combat isn't anything particularly amazing, but it certainly can be entertaining. You have range attacks, speed attacks, and power attacks. Switching between these can be very effective, especially against the many bosses you will encounter. There are a lot of cool fatality moves that show off Nariko pulling some crazy move on the guy who had the unfortunate desire to meet her. These don't always change based on the environment or enemy, but there are enough that you won't get bored of them by the end of the game. There are combos in the game you can pull off, but really, button-mashing is a very effective way to deal out damage, too. It is almost too effective. Hell Mode, on the other hand, is pretty brutal and won't let you just mash on the Triangle and/or Square button without you seeing a game over screen. The game could've done with more enemy types because there are so few in the game, and you'll learn their patterns quickly.
Thankfully, the game doesn't revolve around this combat system the entire way. There are a lot of puzzles to break up the pace, and a lot of quick time events. Some of the areas you fight in have an epic scale filled with thousands upon thousands of enemies, but you usually have a special weapon of some type at your disposal.
During the course of the game, you'll play as Kai, a weird… thing that I'm supposed to believe is a little girl of some sorts. She's one of the weirder characters, and you'll certainly be waiting for the next crazy thing she will say. Anyway, during these stages, you play "twing twang," which is basically you shooting arrows at enemies. The twist is that you can guide these arrows in slow-motion with the Sixaxis controls. This is highly entertaining for a time, but after awhile, you'll dread direction your arrow to a far-off enemy, especially if you miss.
The graphics and sound are top-notch, although, you will notice some frame-rate dips. This game has the production values of a high quality action movie, and it really shows. It certainly has an epic feel to it. It may not be as awesome as taking down the Gods of Olympus, but it has its own entertaining villain.
Overall, the game is definitely an adventure worth taking if you have a PS3. The combat and arrow-shooting sections can get repetitive, but that is the case with many action adventure games. My main gripe with the game is that it is too short. Games shouldn't be able to be beaten in one sitting, and it's rather disappointing. It's over before you know it. However, those six hours never fail to impress, and you'll be on the edge of your seat waiting for the next exciting moment.