Heavenly Sword

"If you own a PS3, chances are you've been waiting for this one ever since the day you laid out that half a grand on the table of your local GameStop (scary, isn't it?). You may have thought the PSN demo was short. Well, the full game is finally here and after playing through it, the reason the demo was so short is clearly apparent: Heavenly Sword is a mini-game."

"It's obvious that I, along with every other gamer, have become spoiled by the God of War series. When held up against that franchise's strengths, even a game like Heavenly Sword can pale in comparison. It's mildly unfair but because the game so obviously draws upon Jaffe and company's formula, it's also fitting. So, while it doesn't eclipse the greatness of the original title that inspired it, Heavenly Sword is still a fun, engaging, and most importantly, exclusive PS3 title that Sony fanboys can brag to 360 fanboys about. Oh, there's also one unintended side-benefit: It offers a tantalizing glimpse at the possibilities inherent in the PS3 platform, which only raises my expectations for God of War 3."

"Heavenly Sword feels like a summer action flick. It's full of nonstop action, and it looks terrific. Unfortunately, it's over far too quickly."

"Heavenly Sword comes very close to being great, but nearly every element of its design falls short in one way or another. The combo system is quite good, though it has a few holes (like no specific block button). The battles quickly become very repetitive due to a lack of interesting enemies and the "arena" battles that frequently pause your progress. Kai's sniper missions work well in theory but can be overly long, and some of the extra bits like the button matching mini-games needed a bit more fine-tuning. Heavenly Sword's presentation is stellar and nicely ties the action sequences together, but we just wish that the same amount of care that went into these cutscenes were applied to the game's pacing."

"Like MotorStorm, Heavenly Sword shows what the PS3 is capable of when the developers understand what to do with the tools under its hood, and makes you very anxious to see what the upcoming Killzone and Metal Gear games will be like, since they’re exclusives and won’t be given the sloppy seconds treatment that most PS3 games get."