Epic, Beautiful and Fun, but a High Level of Difficulty
The difficulty shouldn't stop you from owning this game though. Anytime I'd run across something extremely difficult, I'd still pop the disc in to play earlier stages. I must say I'm surprised that this game didn't get more attention and that they marketed the game solely on the sword. Don't get me wrong, the swordplay makes God Of War feel almost childish, but the real bliss of this game is in the "aftertouch" mechanism. Anytime you throw or shoot an object, this gives you the ability to control the movement of that object with the six-axis AND gives you a birds eye view of the movement. It's one of the most addictive additions to any game I've ever played. The graphics and voice acting here are superb. It looks and feels amazing. You also get control of 2 characters throughout, not just the one shown on the box. The other quirky little arrow shooter you get to play with reminds me of Bjork. And I rather like that. But I digress...

Bottom line? PHENOMENAL. Certain aspects of this game can be found nowhere else. But some of the prompts are frustratingly fast-paced and some of the bosses are simply too difficult to be fun.

This is no God of War
This game and God of War are almost entirely completely different games. The action in this game is a lot slower. But what will win you over is the scenery and setting. It's very LotR-esque, it really is a sight to behold. Unfortunately, this game came out when PS3 hating was still the thing, so with the price drop this is a must buy.

Lovely Storyline
At a heavily discounted price point, this game is more than worth it. It has a lovely storyline and good graphics, with overall entertaining gameplay. The game starts slow but the storyline draws you in. Good thing the game was short because I couldn't put it down to go to sleep until I finished. Buy it cheap and you'll appreciate it for what it is.

Its Like Stepping Into a Living Painting
Though I gave the Heavenly Sword 4 stars, I genuinely believe the game comes as close to perfect as possible. The visuals alone often give me the sensation that I'm stepping into a living painting. So much care is placed on giving the characters an iconic presence. The fierce determination we see in Nariko's eyes is beyond piercing. A grand majority of the voice acting was also stellar. A few of the villains' performances fall somewhat short in my opinion though (i.e. Flying Fox). The combat system in regards to sword fighting is devilishly fun. It is especially refreshing that each set of enemies require different strings of combos to take them down. Range combat however feels pretty clunky. The use of the SIXAXIS motion controls takes awhile to truly master. The one MAJOR drawback of the game is that the replay value is shortly outlived. You most likely could power through all the unlockables and "Hell Mode" in less than a week's time. Despite this flaw, the game still holds strong and will definitely leave you dazzled while you play it.

Mediocre
Man... the PS3 fans have turned out in droves to review this one. Maybe it was the fact that there wasn't much else like Heavenly Sword on the PS3 at the time or the fact that Nariko is a mildy nuanced heroine, but this game does not deserve the reviews it has received. I recently purchased a PS3 and went through this game for the first time this week.

Being someone without all the time in the world to play games, the short length of the main game is not an issue with me. What is important is the gameplay. Action titles like this succeed or fail on the merit of their combat systems. Heavenly Sword is distinctly 'blah' in this department. You have a basic attack and a 2nd attack that also works as a counter. These two attacks are executed differently when you take one of the three stances that can be selected on the fly by holding down R1, L1, or neither. It is initially entertaining to switch between the various stances and string together short combos, but the system lacks any real depth. I found myself wanting something half as deep as God of War at most times and even that game is shallow compared to something like Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma. You will unlock more combos during the game through effective play, but it doesn't do much to remedy a combat system that feels flat. I never got a firm sense of interaction with all the bad guys on the screen. Nariko just swings her weapons around and hopes that someone will run into them. On top of all that, what may have seemed like a fun use of the 6-axis control at the time feels very gimmicky and tacked on now.

There are often hundreds of enemies on screen at once, which is fun, but regardless of the number, the screen always feels like it's chugging along at around 15-20fps. This is barely passable for an action game and doesn't have any of the smoothness that something like God of War or Bayonetta does. The frame rate also makes the ubiquitous shooting sections all the more painful.

The excellent animation on the faces of the game's characters and the use of actors like Andy Serkis draw comparisons to a major film, but if I had paid to see this in the theater, I would have either walked out laughing at the ridiculously bad dialogue, or demanded my money back.... or both. It's typical poor video game writing and even borderlines on embarassing with all the shouting and blustery overacting.

So many areas of the game feel close to great, but not quite there. So what is great about Heavenly Sword? The cutscenes are actually entertaining compared to other video game fare, but those who say this is a moving story are massively wrong. There are some attractive sites and vistas that make you take pause, but for the most part, these have been surpassed by many more recent games. The characters that inhabit the Heavenly Sword world are incredibly bizarre, but they are inventive and fun to watch. The extras that you unlock (or just download for free through PSN) are excellent. There are some very nice art galleries and an animated series that is impressive.

This game is the definition of "meh" to me. Not enough of any one well-made aspect to really hook me.