Successor to God of War? Not so much.
When the first Heavenly Sword trailer debuted, I thought that HS would rival God of War in greatness.
Unfortunately, I was wrong. Heavenly Sword is a so-so experience with many flaws and a few inspirational qualities.
Heavenly Sword's biggest flaw is that its combat system simply isn't very fun to use. Ninja Theory decided to employ a new sysetm whereby the character automatically blocks, but the user must be in the correct stance in order to deter an attack successfully.
This idea, while innovative in concept, just isn't much fun in practice because it doesn't make much intuitive sense. Furthermore, Nariko neither controls with the agility of Ryu Hayabusa nor the fluidity of Kratos. The game's battle system is a valiant effort, but ultimately fails to deliver a fun experience. Add to that the fact that the game's level design resembles a series of arenas linked together with painfully obvious puzzles, and the gameplay gets old very quickly.
Heavenly Sword's cutscenes are also very cheesy, and the side characters' voice acting doesn't help much either. The game is very short, taking about six hours to complete.
However, there are a few high points. The ending, for example, is really well-done and the animation for the digital actors is revolutionary in the videogame medium. Graphically, Heavenly Sword is a sight to behold, and its music is top-quality as well. The main character--Nariko--is captivating and well-developed; it's just too bad she was cast in a mediocre story with melodramatic supporting actors.
Overall, Heavenly Sword is a game heavy on flash and light on substance. Ninja Theory is a talented team, but they need to focus more on polishing game design than filming pretty cutscenes for their next endeavor.
