Previews// Heavenly Sword

Sexy Redhead. Huge Sword. Next-gen!

That's how Tameem Antonaides, co-founder of Ninja Theory, described Heavenly Sword to SPOnG when we caught up with him a little while back. Having put my mitts on the game to hack, slash leap, swing and... well, groin mash my way through a chunk of Heavenly Sword I can heartily agree with his synopsis.

Heavenly Sword, if you've not had your head battered by all the hype surrounding it, follows the last days of Nariko (the sexy redhead in question) as she seeks to fulfil her destiny and avenge her father. While she's at it, however, she's got the Heavenly Sword to help her out. It sounds handy (and it is) but unfortunately every blow she lands using it takes her a bit closer to death thanks to its awesome power.

The part of Heavenly Sword that I got to play thrust me straight in at Chapter 2, so let's start at the beginning of the bit after the beginning.

Much has been made of Heavenly Sword's cinematic graphics, especially the much vaunted character animations (aided and abetted by Andy Serkis – Gollum to you and me), and it's with a healthy dash of those that Chapter 2 gets under way. I can happily report that the hype is earned.

A chat between Nariko and her strange little worm-dangling friend, Kai, shows richer characterisation, facial expression and atmosphere than I've seen in any other next-gen title.

I still want want to know what 'Twing Twang' is though...

The characters themselves look stunning, with small touches like the ever-so-slight gap in Nariko's teeth adding immensely to their believability. Similarly, the subtle nuances in their animation stand next to the best movie-CGI Hollywood's offered so far.

The lip-sync, it must be said, was a bit out. This is preview code, however, and I'm hoping that this is something that Ninja Theory will iron out before the finished game hits the shops.

The characters really started to shine, however, when I met a boss going by the name Flying Fox a bit later on. Looking very much like Andy Serkis is beavering away under his chromatic skin, Flying Fox was hands-down the scariest purple camp man with strange metal wing-bladey things I have ever seen in a game. He's just about the most believable madman I've ever seen, too.

The backdrop of the level in question was suitably stunning, too. It didn't look quite so much ravaged (as Nariko's super-sexy voiceover would have had me believe) as it did a stunning holiday destination. 'Stunning', being the operative word there. While the design and textures were solid, it's in the lighting that Ninja Theory has really excelled. A beautiful (although somehow slightly eerie, given that everything's sun-hazed) pale light pervades the level.

You might have heard Team Ninja (Ninja Gaiden Sigma) boss Tomonobu Itagaki having a bit of a pop at the control system, saying "I've never played a good game where the developers put a big icon of the button you're supposed to press on screen". Well, he's at best misleading in his description, at worst just plain wrong. Plunging into the game there's a short portion of gameplay that does display a nice big [X] icon, but it's an interactive cutscene (that otherwise would have been unplayable), and the fighty-fighty good stuff swiftly gets underway.