Heavenly Sword is shorter than most games but definitely worth the time you put into it.
Drawing from the elements which make a great movie, Ninja Theory, sunk a ton of effort into making the game look great, sound great, flow great and have memorable characters. Graphically, Heavenly Sword is a masterpiece. The environments are very detailed and the backdrops are gorgeous and expansive. Nariko's attack animations flow and move beautifully and at times, the amount of characters on screen is amazing. Unfortunately, the game features only a handful of different enemy models. This helps when you need to determine which approach you need to take when fighting them but can bring about an element of repetition to the game. All of the story told in Heavenly Sword is done so through the many cutscenes between almost every section in the 5 chapters of the game. All of these focus on a limited set of main characters interacting with each other with heavy emphasis on facial expression and body language, which is quite amazing to behold. Character models are great and wonderfully detailed and move extremely well thanks to all the motion capture work that went into the game. Many cutscenes feature just head shots of the characters and the detail is extraordinary and among the best ever seen in a game. The voice/lip movement sync is a bit off but hardly takes away anything from the story or game. The soundtrack, with a very Asian feel is excellent but the voice acting steals the show in the audio department. All characters/cast deliver a solid, big-screen caliber job for their respective part with special recognition to Lord Bohan;s voice actor (Andy Serkis) who also lent his considerable talent to the motion capture technology for the game. The sound effects are also top notch.
Gameplay is very tight and has to be when three different fighting styles are available, especially when they can be changed mid-combo. Ninja Theory was light on the QTEs but they are placed well and feel paced to the situation they are used in. Included with the combo system is a blocking scheme as well as a similar counter attack feature. If an enemy attacks in a certain stance, you can counter or block their attacks if you are in the matching stance. This is identified by a glowing aura which surrounds the enemy before he/she attacks. Blocks are pulled off automatically, given you are not performing an action and countering is done with the triangle button. Each time you counter or string together combos without taking damage, a meter fills up, allowing you to pull of some devastating multi-enemy, wide range attacks which are useful in large groups of enemies.
To further mix up the gameplay, you can also take control of Nariko's sister, Kai. She is not all there but can still dole out the pain in her own way. She attacks primarily using her crossbow but does have a stun attack if an enemy gets to close. Kai's sections are almost always long range assaults on enemy positions and use the "aftertouch" control scheme heavily. By holding down the fire button after pressing it to fire, you enter a slow-mo, behind the projectile view in which you can guide the item up, down, left or right to hit your target. This is cool and incredibly powerful and Kai's fights hardly seem fair to the baddies. Especially powerful attacks occur when you fire an arrow, pilot it through a flame and hit a explosives/fireworks box. Expect crazy projectile trajectories with every shot.
Heavenly Sword offers an element of replay with an extra difficulty level after the first go through as well as unlockable content in the form of movies/artwork which can be achieved by mastering each section of the game. Early in the game, you naturally approach each situation mashing buttons but as the game progresses, and you find the power in the counter attack and combo system, you may want to go back and tackle some sections where you got beatup a bit and try them with your new, smarter tactics.
Heavenly Sword is a short game, about 7 hours but is a site to behold and an all-around great experience on the Playstation 3.