Combat, "Puzzles" And The Boss Fights

The good news is that Nariko still cuts an impressive figure on the battlefield. She has three stances once she takes control of the Heavenly Sword: ranged, speed and power. The speed stance is the default and has her dual-wielding the sword in two parts. The ranged stance extends the swords on a set of chains (*cough* like God of War *cough*) and the power stance brings both parts of the sword together into one heavy blade. The speed combos have more panache than the others and result in more spectacular acrobatics. You're able to switch stances on the fly and you'll need to in order to block effectively.

View the Heavenly Sword slide show (24 images)

Nariko will block automatically - another problem area of the combat model - but each stance will only block the same style of attack. That means if the enemy attacks with a three-attack combo and the first two are speed while the third one is a power attack, you'll have to switch stances in the middle to block all three. Nariko can also counter-attack after a successfully timed block. The combat is fun for a while but grows repetitive. You unlock more combos as the game goes on but the enemies don't get any smarter. Most of the action in the game consists of Nariko running into an open area where 50 guys jump out and get cut to ribbons. It just loses some of the excitement later in the game.

As if going through a checklist, the developers also included some non-combat "puzzles" for Nariko to deal with through her journey. This brings us to the after-touch system, which is one of the memorable features of Heavenly Sword. Nariko can pick up practically any loose object - including a dead body - and hurl it at oncoming attackers. The after-touch system enables you to throw these objects in slow-motion and guide them using the six-axis controller. All of the puzzles use this feature and all involve, strangely enough, throwing hats. It's already a little insulting that every ladder you can use flashes but to have the camera fly through the solution to a simple puzzle is just too much.

Can't we figure out anything for ourselves? It wouldn't take your average gamer long to come to the conclusion that they need to climb a ladder to continue. It certainly wouldn't take them long to figure out that they need to throw a hat at a gong to open a door. It sounds like a Monkey Island puzzle but believe me when you see a box full of hats next to a closed door and a bright shining gong in the distance you'll put it together. What you won't need is the box glowing, the gong glowing and the camera to fly between the two. With that in mind, I guess I should say that Heavenly Sword doesn't have any puzzles at all.

Nariko's sidekick Kai specializes in ranged attacks and rambling insanity.

Nariko isn't the only lady you'll be entertaining through Heavenly Sword. You'll also take her sidekick Kai for a spin. Kai is not so much about the hand-to-hand but quite deadly with her crossbow. The Kai sections of the game play more like a sniper mini-game using after-touch than a fully-realized playable character but they are a nice diversion when they come up. Guiding arrows into the body parts of your enemies and seeing them react accordingly is its own kind of fun and the Kai mission objectives are mixed-up with some nice variety. Sometimes you'll pick off attackers from a distance while other missions put Kai in the mess herself requiring the player to create distance between the enemies to get a good shot off. I doubt you'll see Kai in her own game anytime soon but she's a nice addition to Heavenly Sword.

Something Heavenly Sword does well is the boss battle. The boss battles use both the regular combat system and "hero sequences," requiring the player to hit certain buttons when they appear on-screen (*cough* like in God of War *cough*). The boss battles are great but the hero sequences don't work very well. The window of opportunity is too short and there's almost no chance you can get through them the first time. For many of them you'll have to play through the section until you've seen them all and memorized the sequence. Thankfully, they aren't very long. Unfortunately, many of the bosses heal - sometimes to as much as 75% of full - when you fail a step or two. It's the kind of thing that makes you want to stop playing. It's too bad because the boss battles are the best parts of the game; specifically the last boss.

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