SGD '07: Joystiq hands-on with Heavenly Sword

The level demonstrated during the Sony Gamer's Day event happens right after what was already seen on an episode of Heroes. The game's protagonist, Nariko, starts running down a massive rope towards some enemies. They aren't too thrilled with this, so they start chopping the ropes off the platform they're tied to. This forces you to pull off some fairly easy Dragon's Lair type moves as the screen tells you when to run faster or jump to a side. Eventually she makes it down and lands smack dab in the middle of a fight, which is what we were waiting for.
Gallery: Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Once you pull out her weapons and start fighting, you can see why people can't help but compare this to God of War. Nariko moves at a frenetic pace and fights in a style that is similar to Kratos' -- she's even equipped with blades tethered to chains. She whips them through the air for ranged attacks, but we found that they also can help clear out some space around you if you find yourself cornered by baddies.
She does do a few things differently, however, and is much more graceful. For instance, when she jumps the tip of her blade goes into the ground and she uses it as a balance point to continue flipping over. She has long, flowing, red hair that is almost a character by itself, and it reacts to all the in-game physics. Crazy hair, for sure.
Nariko also faces a lot more opponents at once than Kratos ever did, and she has several fighting stances and moves to help deal with multiple foes. If you hold down the L1 button, she changes into her ranged attack mode, throwing out her blades and spinning around in a tornado-like fashion. Hold down R1, and she'll go into a power attack. It's really seamless in the game, and lets you change stances and attacks on the fly.
Additionally, Nariko can pick up anything lying around on the ground and hurl it at her opponents. Our favorite was the round metal shield that some enemies would drop while she was whipping them with blades. She picks that up and hurls it Captain America-style!
The demo suffered from some frame rate drops from time to time, but mostly it just sat there and looked pretty. We confirmed that there will be no multiplayer mode in the game (at least not initially), with the same applying downloadable content. We don't really know what sort of content could be dropped in (new levels, maybe?) but it sure would be awesome to have Kratos face off against Nariko. Maybe they'll do a crossover game when the numbers start dropping.












Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Xboxbydegrees @ May 17th 2007 7:44AM
The game looks awesome!! I can't wait for it to be released.
Luis Zapata @ May 17th 2007 7:14AM
...boring
Kevin Little @ May 17th 2007 7:20AM
Sorry 360 fanboys this game will bring the PS3 back into vogue.
http://www.ebizmba.com
Mikeo @ May 17th 2007 7:29AM
I'm impressed. This could be the PS3's big break.
Reminds me of PoP's fluidness in combat too.
They could make Nariko less mad however.
Ian Von Porter @ May 17th 2007 7:42AM
The animation looks incredible.
Geo @ May 17th 2007 7:52AM
Looks great. Not interested in playing God of War again though. I can't bring myself to finish II.
Stooch @ May 17th 2007 7:57AM
Looks very nice visually, but seems like very tedious gameplay. Personally I could see myself getting pretty bored of this in a short time.
But then again, it isn't out yet so who knows.
CakeOrDeath @ May 17th 2007 8:10AM
The preview forgot to mention one thing. Is it fun?
Jake @ May 17th 2007 8:21AM
@8
Seriously, you're right. The game looks kickass. But are hair effects all that separate this from Age of Conan, or is this the next God of War? I can't tell unless I play it, but the combat looked fluid and intuitive, which is pretty much key in this type of game.
I think the game looks good. I'll admit that the hack and slash isn't my favorite way to play, but if it has an epic adventure element to it like God of War I'd hit it fo sho.
They should have made the chick hotter, too. She looked a bit homely to me. ;)
baby sea tuna @ May 17th 2007 8:23AM
#2
You know, you can want this game to be good without being a dick about it...
jay @ May 17th 2007 8:39AM
Lacklustre to the maaaax.
Matthew Walsh @ May 17th 2007 10:22AM
That screenshot selection there doesn't look too good. Does it play better in motion?
Phranctoast @ May 17th 2007 9:02AM
This game looks awesome. Since when did being compared to god of war a bad thing?
Phranctoast @ May 17th 2007 9:02AM
This game looks awesome. Since when did being compared to god of war a bad thing?
Gott @ May 17th 2007 9:05AM
No online mode?? HAHA When will Sony learn?
No one wants to spend 60 bucks on a game you play for 2-3 weeks and then put it on the shelf to collect dust...Sony is so far behind in terms of online play it is getting pathetic.
Moe @ May 17th 2007 9:09AM
@Gott: hmm right. Would you rather play a single player game that leaves a lifetime impression on you or would you rather play a game that's meant to be single player but has a poor boring online mode. Honestly i can't think of a way you could have an online mode for this game. Did you mean online coop?
jsn @ May 17th 2007 9:10AM
Single games don't sell consoles. When the PS3 has a strong lineup of fun, exclusive games, then I'll go pick one up, but until then it's not worth it. It's going to take more than 3-4 games for that to happen too, since the games they're counting on to save their system don't really appeal to me (mgs, god of war, etc).
Pete @ May 17th 2007 9:17AM
Wow, people will really find any reason to bash a game. I'm sorry, but give it up for the PS3 when credit is due. It's really starting to flex its muscle, and this is coming from a 360 fan. I wish Halo 3 looked anywhere close to this game graphically.
Matt B @ May 17th 2007 9:35AM
They just had an article here yesterday about an online mode being down loadable.
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/16/heavenly-sword-may-get-multiplayer-as-dlc/#comments
Research before you spout off and make yourself look dumb.
AG23 @ May 17th 2007 9:36AM
I cannot wait for this game.
To the people who say this game looks boring or they are not impressed...
Give up your damn fanboyism for once and give props where they are due. This game looks great and even though you may not like Sony or the PS3, you know you want to play it. You just won't admit it.
ScreamingSkull @ May 17th 2007 9:38AM
It is real pretty, and hey, maybe it's got a SD unlockable mode!
Geo @ May 17th 2007 9:58AM
Ive been called a fanboy so much I find myself starting to believe it at times. This looks very nice, but what is next gen about playing the same games? No one is denying how close to GOW this looks.
Phranctoast @ May 17th 2007 10:35AM
theres some videos on gamevideos.com you could check out. The new video I saw today looked awesome.
Ian Von Porter @ May 17th 2007 10:57AM
Huh, ive seen some more videos and theres no blood? I want next gen. persistent blood splatter like NG Signma. Maybe they toned it down for wider distribution.
Luis Zapata @ May 17th 2007 11:11AM
I'm not a fanboy. I own a 360 and a Wii which I enjoy very much. I'd buy a PS3 if I could spend the money right now and the current games appealed to me. I'm just not into more clones with better graphics and the current games and price haven't convinced me yet to really need a PS3, and because even if I wanted one, I would have to wait.
Phranctoast @ May 17th 2007 11:10AM
@24 "Huh, ive seen some more videos and theres no blood? I want next gen. persistent blood splatter like NG Signma. Maybe they toned it down for wider distribution."
There was talk that the game would be rated T and not M. in a T rated game you could have blood, just not excessive gore. Also, in a T rated game, you could display the game in kiosks in stores, were doing this with M rated games is a little iffy.
Theta @ May 17th 2007 11:21AM
I like some of the environmental interactivity and the art direction but I have to step in line with some of the critics of the apparent gameplay mechanics.
We'll see how it plays when it comes out.
Phranctoast @ May 17th 2007 11:25AM
@Theta
by critics, do you mean people here on joystiq who havent played the game and are basing it on the videos and screenshots, or real critics?
ExMcloud @ May 17th 2007 12:26PM
Yo this game is a arena battle style hack and slash so I dont know why they keep compairing it to GOW. I guess the chains on the blade but that should be about it.Right......? well anyway game looks great I might actually buy my PS3 for this if they don't keep pushing it back...And oh yeah just for the Fanboys Halo 3 Beta FTW. ROFL.....No but seriously the beta was the shit
Phair @ May 17th 2007 12:41PM
Is this game comming for Xbox 360?
SuicideNInja @ May 17th 2007 12:43PM
"Single games don't sell consoles."
Hardly true. It's called "Xbox and Halo," right? LOL You could say "Final Fantasy and Playstation," too.
Where's Ninja Gaiden II? I'll pick HS up, but if it's anything like God of War, then it will get old halfway through the game. But I need something to play on the PS3.
We need better combat systems really. God of War did fairly well, but I'm still akin to the running on walls and smoothly navigating between enemies in Ninja Gaiden. This game looks to have potential...but we'll need to play the finished product.
alienclay @ May 17th 2007 1:16PM
"Is this game comming for Xbox 360?"
no
Digi Smalls @ May 17th 2007 1:26PM
this game looks amazing, everybody please stop fronting.
i'll finally be able to stop folding on my PS3. hopefully it will be deep as well as fun and not just pretty and fun like Motorstorm was.
should up my PS3 game collection to a grand total of 3.....
.
skyz @ May 17th 2007 1:26PM
i love it..Heavenly sword and Ninja gaiden Sigma ..im sold!!
Sesur @ May 17th 2007 1:44PM
Yeah, Godess of War 3 is BEAUTIFUL. They are totally concentrating on the "wow" factor with insane graphics and even more insane gravity-absent physics-defying combos. It'll be sexy, it will be fun, but it will not redefine generic hack-n-slash gameplay. I wonder how long it would take to beat?
Not bad Sony, but it's been done.
ginnal @ May 17th 2007 2:31PM
single player doesn't sell games huh?
RE4?
God of War?
Prince of Persia : Sands of time?
Legend of Zelda Twilight princess?
Yeah those were huge flops.
You dont have to shove an online mode into every game.
Sidepocket @ May 17th 2007 2:55PM
The animation is uninspiring. When are games going to get "movie level" graphics and "cinematic" preformences. Seriously no excuse.
The game looks horrible up close and basically its a God of War clone. Whooop-peee.
*pass*
OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ May 17th 2007 3:07PM
Looks good. I had been unaware of Sony news recently with all the fun DS games coming out, so the blitz of Sony news late night yesterday kind of blindsided me. This is pretty good stuff.
Triforceowner @ May 17th 2007 4:17PM
It looks like you can't just hit the x button all day, because the AI will block, that's definitely good for a hack'n'slash, but what's up with these combos. They seem too easy to pull off.
Gouki4u @ May 17th 2007 4:42PM
Heavenly Sword is exactly the kind of game I love, but it alone will not get me to buy a PS3.
alun @ May 17th 2007 5:24PM
Hey... check out Nariko's hair 'placement'.. it is different in the GameTrailers' and YouTube's videos after she lands and gets up (after the pillar crashes down). So it's a cutscene but still using the in-game system (i.e. the physics system.. hence the different hair movements).
Neat! :)
Jitty @ May 17th 2007 7:54PM
Wow, that boss, talk about fat bastard...
sammy @ May 18th 2007 12:12PM
I have seen a lot of detractors talking about Sony's lineup... I personally think it is looking fairly tidy right now. I mean when in it's history has Sony produced so many strong looking first and second party titles. 4 or 5 games may not sell the console alone but they certainly go a considerable way to filling the obvious void in the PS3 games list.
It has a lot of ground to cover to catch up with 360 still...but it is making the right moves finally.
The game itself looks a bit vapid...but hopefully there will be some padding to the abstracted battles we have witnessed so far.
John @ May 18th 2007 10:33PM
Where are the artists? Did no one notice the incredible lighting in this game? I have never seen a game that looked like this, before.