We forgot about Heavenly Sword week! This was Wednesday.
by Nick Doerr 
{ Apr 13th 2007 at 11:30AM }
How humiliating! We got so caught up in the news from everywhere else, we completely neglected to keep up with the Heavenly Sword week over at GamePro. No worries, though, we'll catch you up over the next couple of hours. Wednesday's feature focused on the three fighting styles available to Nariko and her sword, which is slowly draining the life out of her. These styles can be changed mid-attack, so it's not unlike Devil May Cry 3's switching weapons on the fly. Here are the three styles in basic detail:- Speed Style: This is the default battle stance primarily composed of rapid short-sword strikes. It's best used for close encounters.
- Ranged Style: These chain swords let you pick off distant foes, or hook one and slam him into the ground. Like Kratos, maybe, but we're going to say Ivy from Soul Calibur just to be different.
- Power Style: Slow, but can inflict... you guessed it... massive damage!
Stringing together long, custom combos sounds like a blast. As far as the controls, GamePro proudly announces that they're pretty intuitive and easy to get the hang of. As far as SIXAXIS goes, it gets a workout (moving the camera, influencing the direction a projectile is thrown, etc) but isn't central to the gameplay.
One last thing... heroic exploits. These are timed button-pressing sequences (or "on-screen prompts" if you prefer) that involve quick reflexes on your part for survival. We may be completely wrong about that, but there are points in the game where you take part in something beyond the normal slashing action. Maybe it's like Resident Evil 3 where you have to make a decision about how to act really quickly (Jill vs. Nemesis text-decisions)?
We'll bring you Thursday's feature in a little bit!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Wonderflex @ Apr 13th 2007 11:38AM
"One last thing... heroic exploits. These are timed button-pressing sequences (or "on-screen prompts" if you prefer) that involve quick reflexes on your part for survival..."
Maybe like Shenmue?
Stef Geiger @ Apr 13th 2007 11:58AM
No, they're precisely like what's in God of War. Remember when they aired a clip of Heavenly Sword on Heroes a couple months ago? The clip they used as actually one of those sequences - you can see the button prompts on screen.
Dolla Dolla @ Apr 13th 2007 12:00PM
I'm playing through God of War 1 right now, and that's what it sounds like. They have prompts that come up, for instance, when you fight the first hydra. An 'O' will appear on the screen above the Hydra's head, and you press it, and Kratos does these cool ass moves. And the prompts are followed by an 'X' or a Square and such, and he does different things.
It's quite sweet. I see Heavenly Sword will pretty much be a female version of God of War, practically. Which is all good and well, cause I'm having a blast playing God of War, and will look forward to God of War 2 shortly.
mccomber @ Apr 13th 2007 12:29PM
Yeah, it sounds exactly like those sequences from God of War. I'm really looking forward to this release, one of those things that will make having a ps3 come fall so very, very worth it.
sicklesdawg @ Apr 13th 2007 1:19PM
I'm just waiting for this game, $60 in hand.