Interviews// Heavenly Sword Maker: Tameem Antonaides

Ninja Theory is currently working on what could very well be the PlayStation 3’s first killer app in Heavenly Sword, a vast adventure game with the style of a martial arts movie. It features a heroine called Nariko who, cursed with only a few days to live, braves an invading army in a last act of redemption for the killing of her friends and fellow warriors.

With an interesting story and various features that make the experience as cinematic as possible (with even Andy Serkis of Lord of the Rings fame lending a hand to direct motion capture for the game), action fans are sure to lap up Heavenly Sword. SPOnG caught up with the co-founder of Ninja Theory, Tameem Antonaides, to find out more about the developer's latest project.

SPOnG: For those who don’t know, what is the premise of Heavenly Sword?

Tameem Antonaides: Sexy Redhead. Huge Sword. Next-gen!


SPOnG: How many levels can we expect to play through, and what kinds of locations might we see?

Tameem Antonaides: Snow, desert, forest and lava. Joking aside, it’s actually snow, desert, forest and water. OK, so it may be better if we just show you some screenshots.


SPOnG: Nariko’s ability to obtain different types of weapon using the one sword is an interesting design concept. What kinds of weapons might we see during the game?

Tameem Antonaides: Your sword transforms into one of three stances by merely holding down the shoulder buttons as you attack. Speed stance is the most technical and good for countering, evading, quick combos and juggling. Power stance is great for block-breaking, blocking heavy attacks and knocking enemies into other enemies. Range stance is good for clearing out large numbers of enemies so that you can focus on the tougher ones and also for deflect arrows and sweeping objects at enemies.

In addition you have aerial combos, can pick up and throw pretty much anything in the environment, and use hand-held and mounted cannons in army situations. Games like Ikaruga and Panzer Dragoon Orta have demonstrated that you can have a puzzle element to action and this is an attractive direction for us.


SPOnG: With plenty of close combat action going on, how will the enemy AI react to certain situations and approaches from the player?

Tameem Antonaides: Enemies all respond to the different stances and weapons. Each has a sophisticated one-on-one combat system as well as a higher-level group intelligence. Even in army situations, individual enemies will dive out of the way of a rocket when you fire at them.


SPOnG: Will Heavenly Sword feature continuous gameplay similar to Zelda or will the action be broken up into missions?

Tameem Antonaides: The sword belongs to a deity and anyone who wields it dies within a matter of days. So the game starts with Nariko’s death on the battlefield whilst holding the Heavenly Sword. And then, like A Christmas Carol, you get to relive the days leading up to your death in the form of flashbacks. Once you play through a flashback sequence, you can replay it in random order with any skills you have gained later in the game.


SPOnG: We’ve noticed that the game features a Life Clock during certain parts of the action. Can you explain what this is and how this ties in with the storyline, if it does at all?

Tameem Antonaides: It is mainly a narrative device and won’t limit your game-playing time. We did explore some mechanics to link it into gameplay but it was quite tough to play and felt like quite an alien concept to a lot of people so we dropped it.