Welcome back to “The Backlog,” the weekly column that reviews video games based on a certain topic each month. This is the first edition for April and our time for the semester is starting to wind down. As such, I wanted to spend the last few weeks gushing about my favorite games from my childhood. This month we are going to be reviewing nostalgic video games, and the first one on my list is “Heavenly Sword.”
“Heavenly Sword” was developed by Ninja Theory and published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2007 for the PlayStation 3. This hack-and-slash experience received praise and admiration during its launch.
The story follows Nariko, the daughter of a clan protecting a weapon known as the Heavenly Sword. Even though she’s the daughter of the clan leader, Shen, Nariko is thought to be a cursed child. A prophecy foretelling that the sword’s original wielder would be reborn in the year of the “fire-horse,” but Nariko was the only child in the clan born during that time. Her clansmen took her birth as an omen of misfortune, making a mockery of the prophecy.
Years later, Nariko and her clan are being chased by King Bohan who wants the sword to stake his claim over her clan and the world. In an act of desperation to save her father and clan, Nariko wields the Heavenly Sword despite its toll.
The sword grants the wielder strength and power, but it drains their lifeforce until there is nothing left. Nariko’s act seals her doomed fate, and she must race against time to defend her clan before the Heavenly Sword claims its price.
In terms of gameplay, fans can see the resemblance between “Heavenly Sword” and “God of War,” which was released two years earlier. The third-person camera, hack-and-slash style and finishers are reminiscent of old-school console games.
Using the Heavenly Sword, Nariko has three types of move sets: speed stance, range stance and power stance. When using speed stance, Nariko dual-wields the sword with moderate damage but fast attacks.
In range stance, she utilizes the chains attached to the swords to hit multiple enemies around her. The attacks are quick, but they don’t do a lot of damage.
While using power stance, Nariko uses the Heavenly Sword as one large, two-handed blade. She swings it around and deals heavy damage to enemies, but the attacks are slower.
Most of the battles include fighting multiple enemies, though they do vary in abilities, difficulty and overall move sets. But with more bodies to cut down, it opens the opportunity to build up combos and perform super styles, they’re basically finishers for players to unlock.
At this point, the PS3 was still new, and so many games included brand new features. Within “Heavenly Sword” there’s a feature called Aftertouch, which uses the motion-sensing capabilities in the Sixaxis controller, a precursor to the DualShock 3.
After launching a projectile and continuously holding down the fire button, players can go into a first-person mode and control the projectile individually. This allows players to hit specific parts of the target, light arrows on fire by going through a flame or bend around walls or obstacles.
As with other titles in the mid-2000s, “Heavenly Sword” is full of quick-time events (QTEs) where certain parts of the game will prompt players to hit certain buttons or directions. It’s not a new phenomenon now, but during that time, developers took all the advantages the consoles could offer.
The battles are the highlight of “Heavenly Sword.” Most sections are just regular fights, but there are others that force players to use Aftertouch with different projectiles. When playing as Kai, players can only use her crossbow to shoot enemies. For certain battles, Nariko is equipped with a cannon to shoot giant catapults, or she can use a bazooka to blast away large amounts of enemies at once.
Spoilers for “Heavenly Sword” story beyond this point!
As many would have guessed, the sword takes its toll on Nariko, claiming her life in the end. But she does manage to defeat King Bohan and his army. Before this point, Nariko faces three major bosses. The first is Flying Fox, but this first interaction doesn’t result in either party winning or losing. It just postpones their final confrontation.
The first boss Nariko defeats is Whiptail, a serpent woman who uses her whip and the water in the environment to her advantage. The next boss is Roach, the giant son of King Bohan, who doesn’t seem to be an inherently bad person, but he is forced to fight and hurt people on his father’s orders. Finally, Nariko faces Flying Fox again when trying to save Kai.
After defeating his generals, King Bohan leads his final assault of Nariko and her clan. After buying her clan some time, she falls due to the sword draining her life force. Although, throughout the game, cutscenes of Nariko arguing with the screen pop up.
The final argument shows that Nariko has been fighting the sword the whole time, and she tells it that it must allow her to continue to fight or else her clan will be destroyed, and the sword will be locked away in Bohan’s vault.
After winning her argument, Nariko receives the sword’s blessing and ascends as a goddess, fulfilling the prophecy. She uses its power to defeat Bohan, who is blinded by a raven with supernatural abilities and carried off by Roach.
Nariko uses the last of her powers to heal Kai and entrusts the sword to her before allowing herself to finally rest and conclude her story.
“Heavenly Sword” received a lot of praise from fans, but wasn’t seen as viable to continue, so the trilogy that was planned had been scrapped.
The PS3 was one of the very first consoles I ever used, right next to the Nintendo Wii. “Heavenly Sword” holds a special place in my heart for how fun it was and how compelling the story is. I truly hope a sequel will come around and continue the story, but for now, Nariko continues to be one of my favorite characters in all of gaming.
Rating: 5/5
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