Gamings equivalent of Crack - A murderous adrenaline rush that leaves you wanting more, but over far too swiftly.
First off, lets start with the good. The game is beautifully designed. I don't often say that (check my previous reviews if you don't believe me) so understand how brilliant it looks. No character ever gives the location they live in (you could think from their accents they live in Britain, but, you'd obviously be wrong), but it can be assumed that they live in Feudal Japan. But this is a Japan in which each cherry blossom gently falls as you walk by. Where each catapult gets picture sharp the closer you get. And where each character, even the nameless cannon fodder peons, have a face, and not just that, but facial expressions. This all does nothing to affect gameplay, but it looks damn cool.
Next, the combat. A lot of people compare this game to God Of War, saying that the combat style and quick-press button situations seem a lot like those titles. While in some situations the two are similar, they differ on some key points. Nariko has three fighting styles, speed, power and range, and with each comes a whole new set of moves, combo's, and blocks. So, in order to survive, you must be constantly shifting between the three. Button mashers will find their arse being taken by the enemy as a trophy in no time if they don't learn this. Also, as well as three styles of combat, Nariko can also incapacitate enemies from a distance by throwing things at them. What things, you ask? Well, the technical term for them is "pretty much anything". Pushcarts, jars, stools, pieces of tables, food, utensils, tools, enemy weapons and even passed put enemies can be picked up and thrown full force at an enemy. And seeing an enemy take his comrade to the gut is one of the funny times in this rather serious game.
However, the game also knows just how to keep you on your toes. Whenever you look like you're getting bored with decimating whole armies with a single stroke, your control shifts to the Legolas/Gollum clone mentioned before, Kai. A lot of people have been taking the phrase "We may need you to play Twing Twang" from the demo out of context and asking what it is. Well, here it is. Twing Twang is insane little girl talk for sniping. And this is sniping like you've never seen it before. Armed with only a crossbow and a sight dot made of a tilting mirror, there's no way this girl could take out a moving target from 100 feet away, right? Wrong. The game demonstrates why it couldn't work on any other console, with one more masterstroke - Afterthought (the system is called afterthought). Using this, Kai can direct her arrows mid-flight, making therm dodge barriers, curve through fire and windows, even turn right angles, and then embed them in the enemies skull. This is done by tilting and turning the Sixaxis controller along the path you want. But, even with this power on your side, the levels where you are sent by Nariko through rooms filled with guards with no qualms about killing little girls can be pretty scary, but all the more rewarding when you beat it.
And of course, the bosses. Each one offers you a chance to test your skills, from the speedy-as-&^%* bat-creature to the long distance pummeler fish-mistress to the moving mountain, and finally the king himself. Each one is challenging, taking a few goes to get right, and rewarding to kill (well, except the moving mountain, but not for the reason you think).
And now, the bad. The game is short. Like, criminally short. Like, action movie short. if you'd started this game while a friend was watching the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, you'd be done before he'd got to the credits of Towers. Worse still, aside from a slightly harder mode and a ranking system, there's not much replay value. If you're playing right you should be getting full marks automatically, and the slightly harder version should be no problem if you managed to beat the final boss. Worse still, there's no Multiplayer, and *SPOILER AHEAD* no chance of a sequel, due to the Heavenly Sword sucking Nariko's life from her after the final battle. *Spoiler End*
Despite all this, the game ranks a pretty solid A in my books. If nothing else, this is a game that is made for rentals. Even so, it should definitely go down as one of the strong points of the PS3, along with Resistance and Uncharted.