Awesome Fighter, but story is too short.
i thoroughly enjoyed the story and gameplay and really appreciated the graphics. There were only minor occurances of hiccups in the frame rate.
The mechanics of this game and the fighting stances/ styles are great. i hear that there are a lot of comparisons to God Of War, Conan, and such, i don't know, I haven't played those. It is very fun to complete a combo on an enemy and watch the carniage. the counter, breakers, superstyles, and aerials are great add ons to the combat. I found that switching between styles is simple, very free and smooth the transitions. thugs are easy to deal with and fighitng in crowds is awesome. fighting bossess may take a couple times, but that is expected (this difficulty is just right) however i did find it fairly easy after a couple hours, i didn't necessarrilly have all of the combos memorized as much as i was just button mashing. you can get out of that slump to throwing objects, and performing aerials to liven things up.
The 'aftertouch' is a great addition to the mechanics of throwing. you can pick up just about any object, and use your sixaxis to steer the object while in flight. this works for thrown, fired, or shot projectiles. (swords, bodies, barrels, cannons, rockets, crossbows)
as far as story, i enjoyed it and found it captivating. i was haging on the edge of my seat several times waiting to see what would happen next. there are some weird characters that you get attached to and enjoy, and there are some really enjoyable rebuttals. i believed the 'acting' in conversations (well done) and there are a few twists as well. the only downside which affects the entire game, it is TOO SHORT. the unlocked HELL MODE is nice for going through to unlock stuff, but the story is completed in about 8 hours