When Heavenly Sword was first unveiled, it garnered little interest from some, its footage of field battles containing hundreds of enemies leading them to dismiss it as a monotonous hack 'n' slash title in the Dynasty Warriors vein. Later glimpses generated far more excitement however, showing the central character, Nariko, performing a dazzling array of super-cool moves and gloriously choreographed quick-time events that instantly caused many to liken the game to the brilliant and beloved God of War. From this point on, Heavenly Sword had a mountain of expectation to live up to.

The first thing to become apparent about Heavenly Sword is that it is absolutely gorgeous. Despite some occasional frame-rate issues, it's nearly always a joy to behold, from the exquisitely animated Nariko herself to the stunning vistas that frequently surround her. If you want a game to show off what your PS3 can do then look no further, although I must say I'm surprised that such an important, exclusive title for Sony doesn't run in 1080p resolution. I'm also surprised that Nariko's iconic red hair looks so dodgy after what we were led to expect; rather than being flowing and elegant, it looks very angular and moves quite unnaturally, something of a shame considering the powerhouse potential of the PS3.

Ninja Theory aimed to get the feel of a Hollywood blockbuster and to give credit where it's due, they've got closer than any other developer before them. If you've been keeping track of the game's progress then you might already know that Andy Serkis (he of Gollum and King Kong fame) provided motion capture for the game, as well as his voice and directing the character performances. Whatever it cost to get him involved (and I'd assume it was a lot), it was worth it, as the digital performances you will witness in the game's many cut scenes will be the best and most lifelike you've seen in any game to date. Whether anger, confusion or doubt, emotions are expressed in the characters' faces alone, backed up by their body language. Add to this some convincing voice acting from the rest of the cast and a grandiose, Eastern-flavoured orchestral score, and it becomes clear that Heavenly Sword's cinematic credentials are solid as a rock.

The story centres on Nariko, daughter of Shen, the chief of the clan that protects the titular weapon. The invading King Bohan (it's clear to see that Serkis had a blast with this performance) wants the Heavenly Sword very badly, a divine weapon of the gods that no mortal can wield without paying the ultimate price. King Bohan's efforts at obtaining the sword have cost Nariko's clan dearly, so she knowingly seals her own fate by picking up the weapon and embarking on a quest to kill him.

The sword allows Nariko three different stances; speed, range and power. The speed stance is your default stance. By holding L1, you enter range stance, which lets you swirl chains about (in a way that's very reminiscent of God of War's Kratos) and attack many enemies at once, but with minimal damage. Holding R1 puts you in power stance, which as you'd expect causes a lot more damage but each attack takes longer to execute, leaving you vulnerable to counterattack while you pull off your devastating moves. In something of a departure from action games, there's no block button in Heavenly Sword; when an enemy begins to attack, a flame effect trails behind it, which denotes the stance you must adopt in order to automatically block (assuming you're not in the middle of performing a move yourself). Enemy attacks come in three colours; if blue then your default, speed stance will block, if orange then power stance (R1) is required and if an enemy attack has a red trail behind it then it's unblockable, so a swift jerk of the right stick is needed to roll out of the way. During fights with small numbers of enemies, the stance/blocking system works very well, but when you are surrounded by a hundred foes, with many of them attacking at once, it becomes nigh on impossible to use it in a deliberate manner, these large scale battles requiring intense button mashing to get through in one piece.

As well as the different approach to blocking, another aspect of the game that will immediately become apparent to fans of the genre is that Nariko has not been blessed with a jump button. This was a curious move on the developer's part and it feels like a huge restriction to anyone who's used to the likes of God of War, Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden - it's one less thing you can do to diversify your fighting technique. Pressing triangle immediately after a successful block triggers a counterattack that looks extremely slick and usually comes with a cinematic close up of the damage being inflicted upon your foes, the viciousness of each counter determined by how well you timed the press. Nariko also has three levels of "superstyle" attacks, which can be charged up from fighting stylishly and unleashed simply by pressing circle. Like the counterattacks, these are enhanced by a cinematic angle and from level two upwards can clear many foes at once. Eventually, motion controlled fighting moves become available and although they undoubtedly look cool, I imagine most people will seldom use them, if at all, once they've first tried them out. To use the sixaxis in a fight you must first whip your opponent into the air by pressing triangle whilst in range stance (L1) then, once they are airborne, rapidly jerk the pad upwards, which causes Nariko to jump up, where she can attack them using square and triangle. If you're knocked off your feet you can also use the same technique to recover whilst delivering a counterattack. While a novel use of the motion sensor functionality of the controller, it's just not intuitive enough to incorporate this into a fight and it seems more of a short-lived novelty than a legitimate gameplay feature.

Early in the game, there's a mission set at night where you play as Nariko's sister Kai and must stop invading soldiers using your bow and arrow. Here the sixaxis is utilised in a fun and intuitive way to guide the arrows, using aftertouch. At first it feels horrible but, as you get the hang of it, soon becomes thoroughly enjoyable, seeming like it will never grow stale. Unfortunately, the developers obviously thought this too and have overused it throughout the game. Some of the later instances it's used in, like when Nariko is guiding cannonballs to hit weak spots on enemies' catapults, get considerably more difficult (not helped by hit and miss collision detection, excuse the pun), but you can switch to conventional control via the left stick, which makes things a lot easier. The aftertouch technique is also occasionally called upon to solve the game's few puzzles, which never amount to anything more taxing than sixaxising a shield into a gong to open a door.

Due to the epic feel of Heavenly Sword, it's strange how the bosses are so unmemorable. Maybe it's because we're all spoilt by the likes of Shadow of the Colossus and God of War, but in this department Heavenly Sword disappoints in a big way. There is nothing that even comes close to the kind of exhilarating boss encounters you get in those aforementioned games - and they were on last-gen hardware! My biggest criticism of Heavenly Sword though is that, even making allowances for the massive production values, it is disgustingly short for a full price game. Completion takes between six to eight hours - it's not at all unfeasible that you could complete the game from start to finish in one sitting. Even for the slightly fainter of heart, it's merely a weekend's entertainment. Completing the main game unlocks Hell mode, for those who are inclined to tackle such things. There is also some replayability in repeating stages more stylishly to earn a higher glyph rating (your performance is rated from one to three glyphs at every checkpoint), which unlocks extra content like videos and artwork.

So is it worth buying then? In spite of all the negatives, for anyone with a PS3, Heavenly Sword is a game worth experiencing at least once. As far as review scores go, it's a 9 trapped in a 7. There are definitely moments of triple-A brilliance to be enjoyed here, but they're occasionally overshadowed by the game's shortcomings. Ninja Theory have spoken about how they perceive the Heavenly Sword franchise as a trilogy and if they right the wrongs of the original (and make it at least twice as long) then the foundations are definitely set in place for two spectacular sequels. Meanwhile, at the very least you should make it a high priority to rent this for the weekend, preferably when as many of your friends as possible are around so you can really show off the power of your sleek new PS3.

Reviewed by Luke Shaw for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).