A good start for things to come.
Story ~ a diminishing clan of people fleeing for their lives from a trecherous, murderous fanatic hunting them down like dogs for a sword he things will make him take over everything. A simple and good plot for a game this length. Conversations are compelling, and the voice acting is relatively right on. Facial expressions from all the main characters are well developed for a next gen sony system. Some pretty humorous events with Nariko/Gohon, and Kai as well that set a side tone from the seriousness of the plot. Think my favorite part was where Kai saves her "father" and runs off to find Nariko as he's calling after her. He then complains that after leading hundreds of men in battle and he still can't keep 2 girls in line. LoL.
Battle controls ~ Hack and slash away my friends! Nothing is better then swinging blades furiously into a crowd of mindless idiots waiting to rip you up. Complex button sequences give you numerous ways to slice those sneaky members of Gohan's army. The blocking system was something to get used too b/c most games that are on a playstation game are either the L/R buttons or one of the more active buttons on the game pad. Nope, Nariko is an auto blocker, verbally and control wise. I found it hard for the first hour to get used to not trying to actively block attacks. That got especially frustrating when it felt like she wasn't blocking where she needed to be. I am well aware there are attacks unblockable, before anyone else goes into it lol.
And for a nice bit of time you get to play Nariko's "sister" counterpart of sorts Kai. A lot of reviews I've read previously (not speaking of gamespot), complained avidly that Kai's missions seemed pointless and wasn't fun at all. Sigh, lol. I found it to be completely opposite. Refreshing seems a better term for it. Given the use of the six axis controlling system gave this game something fresh from just swinging swords like a madwoman. I appreciated the detail given when during the slow motion arrow shooting that there was a second screen at times, showing the slow down of time and the precision of where my arrows would go whether it be thigh, chest or face!
Overall gameplay ~ Easy for the most part. Hack and slash type games usually are, giving more challange to the villian bosses. In my opinion the second version of Flying Fox and then the final battle with Gohan himself were the hardest. I heavily lean on the fact it's b/c of the auto blocking system lol. *shrugs* But the fights are satisfying length, rewarded with excellent story.
Overall look/graphics ~ Beautiful in my opinion. But then I'm constantly facinated with what is appearing on these next gen systems lol. The detail shown in the expressions of Nariko's face when choosing what mission lvl you want to go back is neat. The life like look in Kai's eyes is amazing. The background is tantilizing and bright. I enjoyed it.
My only real problems with this game where probably most everyone else's concerns: The time. The game was incredibly short seeing as this game can be beaten with skilled gamers in around 9 hours time. And the auto blocking lol.
Heavenly Sword's over all replay value is minimal. You can go back through the lvls you liked the most and play again. And there are "coins" and breakable items in each lvl to unlock special artwork specifically for Heavenly Sword. Nothing to spectacular.
But overall a very compelling game. If you're not into just wailing on people and giggling at their demise like am, at least rent it. ^_^y