Heavenly Sword (PlayStation 3)

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Description

Nariko is a young woman whose clan has sworn to protect a legendary hero's weapon (called the Heavenly Sword) from those who would use its power for evil. When the ambitious enemy king Bohan threatens the clan, the Heavenly Sword falls into Nariko's hands. She has to wield it to protect her people, but also has to bear its curse, as it drains the life force of those who use it.

Heavenly Sword is a third-person action game with a focus on melee combat similar to the God of War series. In most of the game, Nariko engages the enemy using the Heavenly Sword to execute spectacular feats of martial arts and swordsmanship. The Heavenly Sword can be used in three different fighting stances: Speed Stance for quick hack-and-slash attacks, Range Stance for attacking enemies at a distance, and Power Stance for slow, powerful attacks. During certain sequences Quick Time Events need to be completed as well. Players will also take control of Nariko's adopted sister, a cat-like girl named Kai, whose crossbow can be used as a long-range sniper weapon. In this and other sequences (such as holding off a huge enemy army with a giant cannon), the player can use the SIXAXIS motion sensor to apply aftertouch to the projectiles, guiding them to their targets in slow motion.

Fighting enemies relies often on counter attacks. Nariko has access to a large amount of combos for each stance, but only few of them can break guard. Attacks of stronger enemies highlight them in a colour and Nariko has to block, done automatically by not attacking, by choosing the correct stance. Blue is blocked with Speed, yellow with Power and red attacks are unblockable. The latter are avoided by evading using the right analog stick. Most of the new combos are unlocked by collecting glyphs. These are stored in pots throughout levels and also refill health, but many are awarded based on the player's performance. At the end of every section, up to three glyph symbols can be earned, by not getting hit or countering a lot of attacks. Nariko also has a number of counter moves that need to be executed at a precise moment, and for each consecutive hit a bar at the bottom is filled up. This is used to execute Superstyles, a brutal attack from up close.

Screenshots

There are no PlayStation 3 screenshots for this game.

Part of the Following Groups

• Gameplay feature: Quick Time Events / QTEs
• Games made into movies
• Games referenced in movies
• Physics Engine: Havok
• Protagonist: Female

User Reviews

There are no reviews for this game.

The Press Says

Giery.eu	Sep 06, 2007	40 out of 40	100
TotalPlayStation	Sep 12, 2007	9 out of 10	90
USA Today	Sep 13, 2007		90
Game Over Online	Oct 09, 2007	85 out of 100	85
ZTGameDomain	Sep 18, 2007	8 out of 10	80
The Age	Oct 20, 2007		80
Factornews	Oct 09, 2007	7 out of 10	70
Game Shark	Oct 25, 2007	B-	67
Maxim Magazine	Sep 12, 2007		60
Gamestyle	Sep 16, 2007	5 out of 10	50

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Trivia

1001 Video Games

Heavenly Sword appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Development

When early footage of the game was released, the title was nicknamed Goddess of War due to the similarities with Sony's God of War series.

References

• The game is referenced in season 1, episode 18 of the TV series Heroes. The characters Micah and Niki Sanders are playing the game, even though it was not released yet when the episode aired.
• In the game's third chapter, Kai's Mission, Kai needs to obtain a password for an armoury. When she traps the commander, she aims her bow at his crotch and says: "Maybe I'll hit your weak point for MASSIVE damage". That's a reference to Genji: Days of the Blade (see trivia section).

Related Web Sites

• Heavenly Sword (Official game website)
• Wikipedia: Heavenly Sword (Article in the open encyclopedia)