Heavenly Sword

An almost-great game.

There are so many things it does well. The graphics and music are gorgeous, character animations are stunning, voice acting is superb, and the action is often exciting.

But it doesn't go the distance. The game world is intriguing but the story barely scratches its surface. The characters are so alluring but fleshed out only in cutscenes. The set design is breathtaking but the levels are pretty much just round or rectangular rooms. And traversal couldn't be more linear. Somehow the pacing is tedious, too. It ends up being just one fight after another. There is some variety in the kinds of fights, and some of the bosses are cool, but ... there's not enough variety, and they aren't cool enough.

It's obvious that this was intended to build on the success of PlayStation 2's God of War, updated for the PlayStation 3's new technology and with an Asian flair. The production is indeed extremely impressive, even though it's only superficially "Asian". Unfortunately, the gameplay is in some ways a step backwards. God of War starts off very linear but opens up in the late game. Heavenly Sword doesn't.

Happily, lessons were learned and the studio's next game, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, delivers on everything lacking here.

So, should you play Heavenly Sword? There are much better action adventure games. But if you've played all the rest and just want to spend a few hours hacking and slashing your way through hordes of enemies in a beautiful setting then it will satisfy.

RPCS3 emulation notes

• Annoyingly the game requires those gimmicky motion controls. So it means you likely need a PS3, PS4, or PS5 controller to play. Even so, I recommend you disable "Aftertouch" in the game settings so that you can aim arrows with an analog stick instead. Unfortunately there is still an instance in the game that absolutely requires motion.

• You can (and should!) go up to 60 FPS by setting the VBlank Frequency to 120 Hz (that's right, twice the FPS). However, be very careful about increasing the Resolution Scale. The game uses a picture-within-a-picture effect (very cool!) that eats up massive amounts of GPU VRAM. It's also a good idea to turn off anti-aliasing for the same reason. And don't worry, it would still look great at 1440p or even 1080p.