Heavenly Sword (Page 2 of 3)

Opportunities to get in free shots at your foes are rare, so take advantage whenever possible

Opportunities to get in free shots at your foes are rare, so take advantage whenever possible

Pushing Hands

I should note, however, that the brand of action in Heavenly Sword is a little on the "soft" side. Nariko uses three stances during combat: speed, ranged and power. The speed stance is the default, the ranged stance--Nariko separates the Heavenly Sword into two and whips the ends around like a certain Spartan's chains--is activated by holding the L1 button, and the power stance, where Nariko swings just the Heavenly Sword, is activated by holding R1.

It doesn't take long for you get used to the controls and you'll be mixing and matching attacks from each style to form an impressive array of moves. However, the combat in Heavenly Sword never delivers the same sort of visceral punch that God of War did. Unlike Kratos, who was capable of plowing through enemies with a maniac's fury, Nariko must often rely on finesse and timing to take out her foes. Yes, she does crunch a few bones and mangles a few crotches but because most enemies can block your attacks, simple button mashing proves ineffective. I found myself mainly sitting back in a defensive shell and waiting for an opening; as a result, I never got the feeling that I was truly "manhandling" my enemies. No pun intended, of course.

The game also relies heavily on a paper-rock-scissors model that is difficult to master. All enemies attack using one of the three aforementioned stances: If an enemy exhibits a blue aura before attacking, they're coming at you with a speed attack, so you need to be in the speed stance to block it. If they glow orange, it's a power attack and thus, the power stance is required. Ranged attacks can be deflected with the ranged style until you get close enough to fight.

The problem is that you need lightning fast reflexes to switch up your stances correctly each and every time, especially when you're surrounded by multiple foes. This is compounded by the fact that in order to block, you have to just stand there and let the game automatically block for you, which ran counter to my natural instinct to mash buttons.

I should also mention that the boss battles are weird. First, there are only a small handful and they play out like a strange mix of chess and chicken. Each boss has multiple life bars and a set pattern of attack. You have to carefully whittle down the boss' life meter--again, by patiently waiting, picking your spots and counter-attacking--then wait for the next attack pattern to initiate. Rinse, lather and repeat until the boss is dead.

Every game should feature female ninjas...mmm, female ninjas...

Every game should feature female ninjas...mmm, female ninjas...

Animated shorts can be unlocked to help flesh out the game's story

Animated shorts can be unlocked to help flesh out the game's story

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