So I’ve taken my time talking about anything PS3 related for the reason that I’ve been both addicted to the damn thing and I wanted to make a justified argument for the games rather than just playing 15 minutes and saying something completely wrong.

The first game to start and finish on the black box of joy is Heavenly Sword. The game was created by Ninja Theory, whose only other game was an original Xbox game called Kung Fu Chaos…. right…. Turns out that Ninja Theory had a gem up their sleeve with HS though…

First off, I need to mention the presentation. This game is like playing an action movie. The graphics are superb and the cutscenes (along with the facial animations) are outstanding. It’s obvious that the team went to great lengths to make the game look beautiful.

The gameplay is mostly a hack and slash style affair with one very simple difference. Usually, hack and slash games have an attack button. Heavenly Sword uses stances. The idea behind it is you have three stances. Normally you have Speed stance which means you can do speedy combos and do moderate damage. You hold L1 and you’re in range stance, which enables you to do damage to multiple enemies at once. You hold R1 and you arrive at power stance, which is slower but deals more damage. On paper this sounds pretty standard, but in practise it adds a layer of depth to quite a shallow style of game.

The story is great, with well conducted cutscenes and a well crafted linear path. Linear doesn’t mean a game is terrible! The gameplay is satisfying and although it is close to God Of War, it stands as a great game, and so far the best PS3 game I have played.

To list it’s shortcomings quickly, the framerate can get a little choppy, especially during the big battle sections, and some of the animation can look a little clunky, but it’s not gameplay killing really. There are missions playing as Kai, Nariko’s sister (?), where you have to use a crossbow with the aftertouch (using the sixaxis in slow motion to control where the arrows go). This was a good idea, but once you get to around Chapter 3 there is a big section with this, and it does grow thin towards the end. It also could have been maybe a little longer, maybe an extra chapter just to bulk it out and make it perfect.

Of course, all of that was nitpicking, and it’s a brilliant game and a worthy addition to any PS3 collection, and I must say, I heartily recommend it!

Next on the agenda: Assassin’s Creed