This week marks the release of Heavenly Sword – and after months of anticipation, weeks of “making-of” videos and the animated prequels, we’re fired up to see the game make its way to store shelves.
Considered one of the most anticipated PS3 titles of the year, the buzz around Heavenly Sword continues to build as review scores begin to pour in from leading gaming sources. A sampling of the scores thus far include: Play Magazine – 10/10, Game Pro Magazine – 4.5/5, Game Informer Magazine – 8.75/10, Electronic Gaming Monthly Magazine – 8.33/10, GameZone.com – 8.8/10, and 1Up.com – 8/10.
Here’s what they’re saying:
“Heavenly Sword is a fun, engaging, and most importantly, exclusive PS3 title that Sony fanboys can brag to 360 fanboys about.” – Game Pro Magazine
“…the combat in Heavenly Sword is frenzied and entertaining… The amazing cutscenes (with some of the best facial animations I’ve ever seen), a cool cast of characters, and the stirring musical score complement the gameplay to create an incredibly cinematic experience.” – Game Informer Magazine
“… there’s no doubt in our mind that Heavenly Sword is a winner and a work of art (eat that Roger Ebert!) that will help shift tons of PS3s come September. When it’s good, it’s truly magnificent and some of the final stages will have anyone with a 42-inch high-definition TV foaming at the mouth. No battle-scene compares to Nariko’s finale. Plus, Nariko’s home of the new face of PlayStation, going so far as to shunt Lara Croft from her throne as the ultimate game girl. Bring on Heavenly Sword 2.” – GamesRadar.com
“Heavenly Sword is among the rarest of treasures in the video game world. It is also an important game in the history of that entertainment genre. Why? Never have there been such compelling characters in the gaming world; characters you cared about, characters that could twist your emotions with the initial look in their eyes after a plot point is revealed…. Heavenly Sword is an amazing accomplishment. It is the promise of what the next-gen platforms can achieve in terms of breathing life into characterizations.” – GameZone.com
“Heavenly Sword feels like a summer action flick. It’s full of nonstop action, and it looks terrific. Heavenly Sword is a fantastic game from start to finish.” – GameSpot.com
“Heavenly Sword is the games equivalent of that showcase DVD you bought when you first got your home theatre system all set up; it’s The Matrix or Saving Private Ryan, but it also happens to be a damn good action game to boot…. one of the best experiences you can get on the PlayStation 3. Period.” – TotalPlayStation.com
“Heavenly Sword’s visuals are arguably the best the system has seen to date. I can’t talk up the graphics enough — not only are the characters and environments incredibly well detailed, but there’s very little of that typical (and easily abused) “next-gen gloss” applied to them, so you get a much cleaner-looking game than fare like Gears of War or Virtua Fighter 5.” – 1Up.com
Also, I’m embedding here the new Heavenly Sword trailer!
Lastly, I wanted to include a few reference links here to our previous Heavenly Sword posts. Enjoy!
Inside the Developers Studio: Nina Kristensen
Heavenly Sword Prequel – Part I
Heavenly Sword Prequel – Part II
Heavenly Sword Prequel – Part IV
Heavenly Sword Prequel – Part V
Heh. I appreciate the boost in confidence from all of the quotes and scores, but it’s been a sure buy for me for quite awhile. Hurray for the release! :D Hopefully, I’ll have it picked up tomorrow, in-stock status permitting.
This was a sure buy until I found out it is a 720p only game which means it will only play at 480p on my 480p/1080i. I guess I will have to wait until Sony fixes the downscaling problem. I guess I can wait a couple of more weeks and play Halo 3 instead.
By the way- Wow! I knew they were making it a cinematic game, but I’m amazed at how cinematic that trailer is! Job wonderfully done! :D
Nice job in the post with all the comments. I will be getting this game.
No 1080p = lazy.
Just to mention something, people. this is a topic about Heavenly Sword’s reception, not Lair’s, nor is it about Warhawk’s servers crashing (which doesn’t happen now that the just-released 1.93 patch is online). Relax, and just appreciate a visual masterpiece with entertaining combat and one of the best story presentations ever in a game.
If it’s short, then that’s a negative, but note that it’s not space that limits the game, it’s the amount of resources you have to spend on next-gen games creation per hour of gameplay. In case you haven’t noticed, games are getting shorter these days. Gears of War is less than 10 hours, Halo 3 is reported to be well under 12… think of it as buying a really good movie, but three times as long and twice the price and a bluray.
Either way, nice job and i look forward to seeing what sony can do next to try to even up the games divide betwen it and the xbox in terms of casual DLC and retail games. Here’s to a price drop and 2008 game lineup.
I know this is entirely off topic with the subject of Heavenly Sword but I have to ask.
Are you guys making a Lair soundtrack available on CD? Even if you can’t answer me, I’d be happy enough with a hint. I absolutely love the game’s music, and I want it someplace other than in Lair’s Concert Hall. The score is among the best videogames has to offer, and ranks up there with the best movie soundtracks (Star Wars, Lord of the Ring, Gladiator, exc).
If you can answer me that, I’d be a very happy person.
@The_Rick_14
Good job bro. Just put that pic on the Vaio, PSP, and PS3 thanks.
That trailer should be the commercial for the game. I can’t wait to see the cut-scenes! Usually I skip through them or just get the jist of the plot. Now I’m dieing to watch them!
I’ll be picking this up and playing it the second i get off work.
Why are we paying $60 for 6 hour games like Lair and Heavenly Sword? Is Ratchet and Uncharted going to do this too?
Hmm i dont know why so many ppl are complaining about the playtime of Heavenly sword. More over than half of the games on the market can be finished less than 6 hours.
For an example…
-Luigis mansion that i played on one sit 6 hours straigth and finished it.
-Lost planet which i played trough 7,11 hours
-Medal of honor: airborne, campaign done in 5 hours.
-Mgs3 can be finished a lot less than 5 hours. My best time was lil less than 5 hours.
Those all are great games (for me atleast).
Go Heavenly sword go!
So much excitement about just 1 game…….is it maybe because there are NO games avaliable for the PS3 at the moment that they are making so much noise about this, i mean its no Killzone2, it looks ok and the demo was not bad but pls, 60 euro’s for 6 hours playtime, they could have done a little better instead of filling 10GB with music and another 10GB with cut scenes…..they should have concentrated on the replay value and maybe online in my opinion.
give me 6 hours of quality entertainment instead of 20 hrs that is a drag. To be honest if you want a perfect game? STOP gaming!!! Because there will never be a perfect game.
I await HS I get it next week here in Europe.
Hooray, good reviews for a big PS3 exclusive! Congrats! A much better reception than the last ‘big’ PS3 exclusive ::cough::Lair::cough::
6 hours, $60 bucks…
I do believe i hear a chanting chorus…
it says, “rental….Rental..RENTAL GAME!!!”
lol
I just can’t see spending $60 for such a short game! No matter how good it is! That’s why there are game rentals!
Thank you Sony for picking Ninja Theory up!
@ Gamesblow I dunno I have to agree with you on that. $60 bucks…+tax 65 or collectors edition if its out $70+ dollars…for the games I’ve gotten lately are highly disappointing. Only game worth keeping I’d say is Warhawk cuz you’re online all the time with other intelligent…some intelligent people ;-P I’m sorry but if you run up to me with a knife cuz you just spawned and hate the pistol…I WILL SHOOT YOU WITH THAT PISTOL!!! Pistol is awesome :) Can we get DUALIES?!? That’d be awesome!!! Sorry got off topic, but yeah…shorter games= more money cuz of not always free addons. Yeah you get stupid addons for free like the new Genji outfits…which I havent seen any updates on since.
BUT! did you play the game 6hours straight? Maybe just to beat it? Sometimes well example because i’m pissed we aren’t getting the FF Crisis Core PSP pack…FFVII was a game a bunch of people would rush through but then…there was SOOO MUCH MORE!!!
Well i’m at work sorry for it not being very organized.
@cagalli
Im not a reject I know that god of war was around 7 hours. But it was on a DVD not a blu-ray disc, the whole reason for sony using the blu-ray disc was for the games to be longer and more epic. Why is heavenly sword 7hours?
Penny Arcade said it only has 5 hours of gameplay and half of that is spent in slow motion sixaxis controls. Sounds like the ultimate rental to me.
I have a problem with my ps3:
I cant update to version 1.93 every time it reaches 4% it says an error had occured and something about troubles with the server.
I agree with Loucifer, I have both systems and the only JOKE is the PS3. Go look on major Nelson xbox live sight and you will see that more content was released in the last few days than 12 months of PSN. Also can u say exclusive Ninja Gaiden 2 or the fact that Unreal 3 may be delayed. I love my PS3 but its only playing DVD’s at the mo and HS is in know way gona help chnange my mind about sony.
@Torment74
I luv my bluray player too…i just hate Sony right now!! :)
I will probably try to pick this up sometime today. It is disappointing that the game is only in 720p, (if that is the case) but I haven’t played an action slash’em’up title in a while so I think Heavenly Sword will be a nice change of pace for me.
Now if I can hold off my Warhawk addiction enough to play HS! :P
I don’t read or listen to reviewers they all suck… it’s my own money so i do with it what ever i want.. jeez i bought double agent so how [DELETED] could heavenly be ;-) compared with that anything is good and worth it. it’s gonna cost me atleast 10 games before i’m over that piece o’ booboo…. Still.. Heavenly is just not my kind of game.. so thats why i’m not getting it.
Liked the demo and considering the game.
The “6 hour gameplay” part is bothering me a bit though.
Gamesblow is a known troll he is on gamefaqs and always say nothing good about the PS3 etc…
He is an xbot fan. Also he goes on every PS3 board and spread lies etc…
Just to let u guys know this!
@joel
It is a button masher and i do own a PS3 (unfortunately)
I did play (not buy) Bioshock,
and in my opinion the Game is:
*Too easy (all you need is a wrench, no need to collect all weapons)
*Too short (can be beat within 5-8 hours)
and speaking of short are you a midget everything is up high, i kept checking to see if I was crouching, you have too jump to reach items!
* Graphics are NOT as good as people say(backgrounds and water looks nice, enemies are choppy)
*NO A.I. (enemies are either walking around talking to themselves or bum rushing you)
NOT TO MENTION, How this game promotes violence against chrildren!!!
Blu-ray had nothing to do with my previous coment. So…Loucifer if you not interested in what Sony is doing than STFU and get out. This is not a playground for you school yard punks to BAsh the PS3!
Id like to see if it is true, when the ps3 is updated to 1.93 give me your psn id, and I will send you a message, if you respond then you own a ps3 if you dont then your an xbox fanboy hating on the playstation. Why did you guys ever leave the ps anyway?
All I want is to be able to play warhawk again.. I can download 1.93 from DLB, but Im afraid if it isnt the official one(not saying he isnt official he is great by the way).
I could say so many things about the xbox 360, but I wont risk, loucifer…there are mods here you do know that :D
LOL, im enjoying this. I thought there were people on hear over the age of 5, guess I was wrong. And for the record I have Ninja Gaiden Sigma which im playing through and LOVE it. Give me more SONY
@joel; so you care to read his emotional personal problems on a forum about games? well i’m sorry i don’t! these sad kids need to wake up the hard way.
Based on all of the “making of HS videos” a lot of hard work and effort went into this game. which leaves me with a whole new respect for HS, not to mention how it is one of the first games to really capitalize on the power of the PS3 and pioneer the technolgy.
Even if i enjoyed this thread and wish Loucifer will leave soon… we are so off topic guys lol..
Im planning to go by HS this afternoon, it looks very great even if im not a fan of this kind of game… i dont care if its short or not, i will judge it by myself.
Im waiting for Folklore :) and Eye of judgment ( i didnt play card cards for a while, it looks promising)
I guess Ninja Theory could use the engine now its complete and give us HS2 that would be a 20 hour epic.
I want to play my freakin ps3 already!!!
For those of you that cant wait to update your ps3
https://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=130057014
Search for it and you get the 1.93 update about 119mb.
nobody is realy using the full power of the PS3 right now.. they are just getting used to Bluray and just in that there is a major difference compared with those last gen DVD systems. NaughtyDog said they had only reashed 30% of the ps3 potential so there is alot more to enjoy in the future . if i compare uncharted with Heavely i think Uncharted already looks more next gen… not to mention Ratched and clank.
@loucifer: Dude?.. never mind…. you’re right… i’m gonna ignore you now like the rest of the world…have a sad and lonely life and enjoy your dreamed up PS3.
I think saying ‘getting use to blue ray’ is not what they are figuring out after all it’s only a storage medium. I think the key is getting the ceel, GPU (Nvidia) and memory all humming along on the same tune and then the REAL power should come through.
Geez guys!! – Less with the hate, more with the love!
I speak as someone who lost his father 6 years ago to motor neuron disease and unless you’ve been unfortunate enough to loose a parent that you loved and loved you then you have no idea of the pain or anguish that it entails.
You shout ‘360 troll’ and say how mature you all are and then openly try to emotionally devastate someone you’ve never met with childish & flippant comments. The sad fact is that unless you’re really unlucky and predecease your parents then you too will one day experience the horror/loss/devastation of loosing a parent – I can only hope that those around you are a little more understanding and sympathetic.
Whether Loucifer does or does not have a PS3 is beside the point – if this blog was for PS3 users only then they should authenticate when joining that you do indeed possess a PS3. I don’t, I’ve got a 360 but I use both only a daily basis, get to see and play most games that are released as well as a few alphas & betas that haven’t seen the light of day yet. Every one can have a valid opinion and every one deserves to have a right to say what they think.
Yup I’d agree that there are a small proportion of 360 loyalists that come here with the intention to dismiss the PS3 for no other reason than they bought the ‘other’ console. There is a far larger proportion of people that absolutely love Sony and feel that they can do no wrong whatever they do (not so many in Europe) and there again there is a substantial segment of people (like myself) that are unbiased either way but like to hear both sides of the story and feel that Sony could do with hearing the truth whether it hurts or not.
Anyway I digress – ease off on the hurtful, spiteful and immature personal attacks, it makes you look like total twonkers!
Peace.
@swiss
Sorry but no one is going to read that essay.
@ Siss Trev – “ease off on the hurtful, spiteful and immature personal attacks, it makes you look like total twonkers!”
I have no idea what a twonker is, but I am in agreement with you :)
@Swiss Trev
Well said my good man
Great, I have been looking foward to this title and definetly pick it up when it arrives in Finland. It may not be as long as many wanted it to be but 6+ hours is enough for games like this and maybe the harder dificulty and unlockables last untill warhawk gets relased.
Good job Ninja Theory!
@ Swiss
The fact is not there… this subject should not have been on the playstation blog and in a HS thread… He tried to get our sympathy or something… (we dont know if its real or not and we dont wanna know really…if he needs to talk about it and need help, he can go see a psychologist..
Its a place that Sony put on to talk about games and such, unfortunetly some only complaint about things here, so whats the deal of even writint a comment. if you are not happy, go somewhere else…
I understand what an opinion mean but complaint and opinion are 2 words
…and dont get me wrong, i feel sry for you swiss, but theres nothign we can do here
Hey Loucifer,
How much does MS pay you to troll and write MS comments on Playstation blog. I am sure is MS was so great you would be playing games and hanging out on MS blog instead right? Tell MS that you have been found out and will have to change your login so you can post you BS with a nother login name. Heavenly sword looks great – great job sony – can wait for home.
I’m picking this up after work. This is what me, my PS3, 42″ LCD, and surround sound system have been waiting for. Thanks Sony/Ninja Theory. Can’t wait!
I only mentioned this cuz you act like a child as anyone noticed in the posts you made in every threads on this site.. if you were so mature then why its always you VS everybody else … all i see is @ loucifer, @loucifer, @loucifer, stop acting like a kid and grow up if you are not one
..and we dont need comparaison with xbox and what they can do and what we can do
Like i said before and ill say it again, if you are not happy just go to the store ask them how much will they give you for your ps3 and sell it thats it..
leave us alone, you and your negative comments
@Daver
and like i’ve said to numerous ppl and i’ll say it again!!!…and AGAIN!!!!
Im not going anywhere so build a bridge and get over it!!! :)