I don't get Heavenly Sword. At all.

I picked this up last week for $2.50 as part of Blockbuster's crazy blowout sale (also got Tools of Destruction for the same price, and Bioshock, and a few others). I remember it getting a ton of praise on launch, and even now going back and skimming reviews it seems as if it was universally adored. I vaguely remember playing it for an hour or so back when it came out.

But am I alone in thinking the game is wretched? Or am I just missing something?

The framerate is one of the most inconsistent I've ever seen in a PS3 game - it's arguably even worse than Bayonetta was pre-patch, and that was a massive embarassment compared to its 360 counterpart. Granted, Heavenly Sword came out three years ago and had basically no competition, but MAN. The combat is also all button mashing, and makes God of War look like a bloody Ninja Gaiden in terms of combat complexity. And I don't even want to get into the sixaxis aiming of arrows (which is one notch below the awfulsixaxis hand jerking in Folklore).

I don't care that the game lacks trophies, I don't care that the main character's hair moves in an incredibly disturbing way or looks like a manniquin composite of Keira Knightly and Angelina Jolie, it's just thecombination of erratic framerate and dumbed down combat and I'm having a hard time understanding why this game is so praised. Is my PS3 just on its way out and that's why the framerate is so horrible? Someone tell me that's the case.

i really liked the game but i thought the frame rate hiccups were really annoying. i turned off the 6 axis and used the controller for the aiming and the lift combos. try the harder settings if you think its just button mashing. im not sure how far you got through it but i know im about halfway or 3/4 of the way through and combat starts becoming a little more tactical on the easy setting. it was however mostly button mashing initially (except for the boss battles)

Waaaaaiiiit, ToD and Bioshock for $2.50?? Is this sale still going on?? dk00111

For a launch game when there was ZERO out it was well put together minus hiccups that almost all games had then.........Assasins creed had a message saying if you see a glitch press x??????

yeah i found it to be very bland and short. At the time it came out though the ps3 was really struggling for good games which is why it got more attention then it deserved imo.

.Assasins creed had a message saying if you see a glitch press x??????

TJSAGE

Still has one of the best stories and best voice acting of any PS3 game even to this date. Andy Serkis delivers and amazing performance as King Bohan

the framerate was never a major problem with me, although there were a few chugs in particularly large groupings of enemies.

you can switch sixaxis control over to the joystick if you prefer (which is actually what i did and it was far more precise while still breaking up the action).

as for the combat, its really not at its best (almost bland really) when you are only taking on a few, particularly the typical goon type, enemies. the more enemies on screen (and there are hundreds upon hundreds later on), the more it shines. theres a nice rhythm of playing defensively while switching around stances and building up to your specials that take out enemies in the hundreds and then going back to building up for specials again.

the performances add some life to the characters. serkis, in particular, captures the comical yet definitely evil nature of his character. he makes for a compelling villain.

the graphics have been surpassed now on a technical level, but there are some nice set pieces (wait until you see the arena for the last boss...) and i like the art style a lot. theres an interesting visual play of the beautiful versus the grotesque that works on a sort of melodramatic level.

Waaaaaiiiit, ToD and Bioshock for $2.50?? Is this sale still going on?? dk00111

[QUOTE="dk00111"]Waaaaaiiiit, ToD and Bioshock for $2.50?? Is this sale still going on?? supa_badman

Don't give me that, Canada always get the short end of the stick.

The video store? This is exactly how it went down for me.

'When this presentation is over, you will have a video store all ready for you to use.'

'OMG OMG OMG. YUS YUS. *checks PSN store* WTF MAN?'

1 year later...

'Oh, Canada can get the video store too. So there you go.'

For a launch game when there was ZERO out it was well put together minus hiccups that almost all games had then.........Assasins creed had a message saying if you see a glitch press x??????

TJSAGE

Don't give me that, Canada always get the short end of the stick.

The video store? This is exactly how it went down for me.

'When this presentation is over, you will have a video store all ready for you to use.'

'OMG OMG OMG. YUS YUS. *checks PSN store* WTF MAN?'

1 year later...

'Oh, Canada can get the video store too. So there you go.'

supa_badman

Waaaaaiiiit, ToD and Bioshock for $2.50?? Is this sale still going on?? dk00111

It is in Canada, i went to 5 blockbuster stores and all were..stold out -_-. im going again tomorrow :D

This was perhaps the worst purchasing decision I ever made since getting my PS3 over 2.5 years ago. Terribly short and underwhelming game with garbage combat mechics and the SIRAXIS thing was just straight rediculous.

Wait, so you want someone to tell you that your PS3 is gonna die rather then this game's framerate isn't very good? :?Chaos_Bladez

[QUOTE="Chaos_Bladez"]Wait, so you want someone to tell you that your PS3 is gonna die rather then this game's framerate isn't very good? :?DJ_Lae

Heavenly Sword was and still is one of my favorite games. The story is short, yet nice. The characters, even though you don't see a lot about them, are intresting. The gameplay gets more complex once you actually know more about it; in order to block you have to attack which is a pretty nice addition and adds way more complexity after a while. Arrows and catapults are nice once you get used to them. Fram rate... well I was never the person to care about it since I barely notice it.

As for the hair: How could you? :( It's one of the coolest things done ever.

that reminds me of one of the old dc sales I found where I got soul calibre and about half the system's library for about $50 and some of the games weren't so great. I have only played the demo and the characters look annoying, and the combat wasn't very good but the graphics were good and I was thinking about getting it when/if I see it for $5 or under when PS4 comes out. I'm not expecting anything out of it, but hey you got some good games along with it for less than $5 so good for you, I wouldn't have any complaints personally, I love bio shock.

yeah, sorry, gonna have to disagree with you. Heavenly Sword was one of my favorite PS3 games, had a great story, great character, and some great gameplay. I played it a few times, and then made a video walkthrough for it which I put on Youtube. I found the graphics to be wonderful, and noticed very few issues, especially given the time it was released. The combat isn't THAT complex (but then, I can't say Ninja Gaiden is either, so I really must dispute your analogy), but it manages to change up the formula enough that it kept things interesting. I felt that the Sixaxis was well integrated, and since I only had to use it in a few instances, it didn't feel unecessarily integrated. On the whole, I pretty much disagree with everything you just said.Essian

I hit up that oh so sweet blockbuster sale the other day. I picked up Katamari Forever, Devil May Cry 4, Dark Void, Red Faction Guerilla, Silent Hill Homecoming, Monster Madness Grave Danger, Facebreaker, Conan, Unreal Tournament 3. Alllll for $2.50 each:D

I picked this up last week for $2.50 as part of Blockbuster's crazy blowout sale (also got Tools of Destruction for the same price, and Bioshock, and a few others). I remember it getting a ton of praise on launch, and even now going back and skimming reviews it seems as if it was universally adored. I vaguely remember playing it for an hour or so back when it came out.

But am I alone in thinking the game is wretched? Or am I just missing something?

The framerate is one of the most inconsistent I've ever seen in a PS3 game - it's arguably even worse than Bayonetta was pre-patch, and that was a massive embarassment compared to its 360 counterpart. Granted, Heavenly Sword came out three years ago and had basically no competition, but MAN. The combat is also all button mashing, and makes God of War look like a bloody Ninja Gaiden in terms of combat complexity. And I don't even want to get into the sixaxis aiming of arrows (which is one notch below the awfulsixaxis hand jerking in Folklore).

I don't care that the game lacks trophies, I don't care that the main character's hair moves in an incredibly disturbing way or looks like a manniquin composite of Keira Knightly and Angelina Jolie, it's just thecombination of erratic framerate and dumbed down combat and I'm having a hard time understanding why this game is so praised. Is my PS3 just on its way out and that's why the framerate is so horrible? Someone tell me that's the case.

I thought it was great. Granted, its not the most thought-intensive as far as gameplay, but it was still enjoyable.

Maybe I'm biased because it was one of the first games I played on my brand new PS3 however many years ago though.

Heavenly Sword is still one of my favorite games, the only thing bad I can say about it is that it is indeed a very short game. However, playing on hard mode is in fact, HARD. Button mashing gets you killed, especially on boss fights.

i have to disagree..never had any hiccups, and the story was geat, and the gameplay was fun, it was short, but i beat it about 3 times so i didnt mind..

It was good for a launch title, it's only naturally for Heavenly Sword to pale in comparison to new releases.

I didn't liked the game that much either when I played it just over a year ago.

Well i wish it was your ps3 dying cuz you dont seem like a nice person. I liked the game for being one of the early games. Story was solid enough and i liked the voice acting. Anyways sorry that people like what they like and we all dont like what you do. On behalf of all people with opinions i apologize and we will try to only like what you do.ez_moneymaker