Enter Nariko!

As my regular reader (hi PH) will know Heavenly Sword arrived yesterday. Time to give it a spin and post my thoughts a la 'Currently Playing'.

First off I had to download and install an update for the PS3. These seem to be coming thick and fast and to be honest I don't seem to notice much difference but hey ho.

The game installs itself.. presumably saving some stuff to the HDD. You don't get a choice it just does it. Then onto the game itself.

Now first things first on my Bravia 32" HD telly it looks pretty jaw dropping.. Having recently played a bit of GoW2 it's a massive step forward both for cut scenes and in game. As you'd expect I suppose but still it would be the title I'd show to a friend that I wanted to impress with the shiny £400 paper weight under the telly.. Not that I'd be shallow enough to do that of course.

Anyway I know most of you will have played the demo so I'll try to keep to my observations and leave out any spoilers.

Apart from the pretty awesome visuals the voice acting is pretty good to. The cut scenes are dramatic (at least the first time) and give a good sense of atmosphere and I soon started feeling an attatchment to Nariko. Although the hair is a bit snake like. Only when Andy Serkis turns up and can't seem to say his words fast enough to go and bank his cheque does it dissappoint slightly.

As for the combat it's pretty cool so far. Moves and combos come together nicely and the three stances are introduced nicely (I found the demo a bit confusing) and I was soon linking range and power moves into my arsenal. Doing nothing to block feels a bit un natural but I have terrible timing anyway and could never master L1 for blocks on Prince of Persia anyway so it's all good.

After a bit of getting used to I started to enjoy the sixaxis 'bullet time effect' to for firing projectiles. Once fired you can hold down the Square button to zoom in Prince of Thieves style and gentle moves of the pad (which helps you not feel like a total dick) help you hit the target.

Chapter one ends having taught you the basics and let you unleash the Heavenly Sword itself.

So overall a very positive reaction. I'm liking it. If this is the first wave of pre-launch exclusives the PS3 is going to be seeing a lot more action.