Heavenly Sword
Encyclopedia
Heavenly Sword is a video game developed
by Ninja Theory
exclusively for the PlayStation 3
console and published
by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. The game was released on September 12, 2007 in North America and Japan; September 14, 2007 in the United Kingdom and Ireland; September 20, 2007 in Australia
, New Zealand
and Mainland Europe; and November 15, 2007 elsewhere the rest of world.
For exploration and certain battles, the game also makes use of "Quick Time Event
s" (QTE). During a QTE, a symbol for a certain button or for an action such as moving the analog stick to the right or left appears on screen and the player must match what is shown to successfully complete the scene.
In addition to Nariko, a secondary character, Kai, is controlled for some portions of the game. Many of Kai's stages take the form of sniping missions, using her crossbow to pick off enemies, in some cases to protect characters; while Kai cannot perform hand-to-hand combat, in stages that do call for her to explore the level she is able to hop over objects, as well as free herself from an enemy's grasp by temporarily stunning them.
Projectiles can be maneuvered to their targets using the motion-sensing capabilities of the SIXAXIS controller through a feature known as Aftertouch. Such projectiles include guiding Kai's arrows after she has launched them, and for Nariko, guiding a cannon or rocket launcher, or picking up and throwing objects.
), the fierce red-haired warrior whose clan has long protected the "Heavenly Sword", a god's blade of immense power that drains its wielder of their life force. A power hungry ruler known as the evil King Bohan (Andy Serkis
) seeks to obtain the sword to gain its devastating power. Upon beginning the game, the player is immediately thrust into the final battle with Bohan's army. After slaying many of Bohan's soldiers, Nariko can no longer resist the sword's deadly curse. She falls to the ground as the characters of the sword engrave themselves deeply into her skin. After dying, she wakes up and finds herself in an empty clearing. Nariko laments the sword's decision to take her at such a critical moment and begins to recall the last five days before her final battle.
Five days previously, Nariko's clan is assaulted by the first strike of King Bohan's forces. Before she joins the fight, Shen (Ewan Stewart
) thrusts the sword into the ground next to her demanding that she take care of it. Nariko fights alongside her father and her clansmen as their defenses are weakened and stretched by scores of Bohan's warriors scaling the city walls accompanied by catapults. As the warriors and Shen escape from Bohan's Army, Nariko protects them until spotting a catapult moving toward the fort. As Shen had earlier instructed her, she flees, as the fortress is apparently destroyed behind her. While fleeing, she passes a large black bird with a golden head, which gives the impression that it is watching her. When Bohan's army captures her father and corners her in a retreat from the clan's city, Nariko has no choice but to wield the sword to defend herself in order to escape. She takes a flying leap off a cliff edge when Bohan's archers begin to fire at her.
Kai (Lydia Baksh) finds Nariko after disobeying Shen's orders to hide and informs her of the temple where her father and clansmen are being held captive. Nariko infiltrates the temple and is ambushed by Bohan's general, Flying Fox (Steven Berkoff
). She defeats Flying Fox for the time being and continues on to rescue her father. Meanwhile King Bohan plots to set up a trap for Nariko with his mistress Whiptail (Race Davies
). Nariko sees her father dangling from a chain and falls for the bait. Whiptail's guards ambush her but are unsuccessful in their attempt to kill her. Whiptail decides to take Nariko on herself and tells Nariko the truth behind her father's original feelings about her birth - Shen wanted to kill Nariko shortly after her birth, but was unable to bring himself to do so. Nariko tells her father to leave her and fights with Whiptail. After Nariko impales Whiptail with the sword, King Bohan turns up and brutally snaps Whiptail's neck in her dying moments. Nariko passes out and is captured by Bohan.
Nariko awakens and realizes she has lost possession of the sword. King Bohan gleefully informs her that it is safely stored in his armory. Meanwhile, Kai makes her way to Nariko's holding cell. Kai is able to find where Nariko is imprisoned and begs that she comes home with her "like a good girl." Nariko explains to Kai that she needs to reacquire the Heavenly Sword to kill King Bohan. She asks Kai to retrieve the sword and Kai accepts the task. Kai eventually succeeds in finding the Heavenly Sword, only to also discover the corpse of her mother displayed as a gruesome trophy. In a flashback, it is revealed that, some years ago, Kai's mother was murdered in front of her eyes by Flying Fox. In the present day, Flying Fox suddenly appears and attacks Kai, who barely manages to escape with the sword. Bohan decides to throw a spectacle for his soldiers and forces Nariko to fight her own clansmen and Roach's monstrous pets, Orangumen, in a pit. During a battle with these creatures, Kai comes flying from the rafters and throws Nariko the sword. When Nariko defeats all the Orangumen, Bohan orders his own son Roach (Richard Ridings
) to murder Nariko. After defeating Roach, both Nariko and Kai flee from the pit. Bohan then commands Flying Fox to kill Kai. As the two try to escape the temple, Flying Fox cuts Kai off from Nariko's safety and they are separated. Nariko desperately tails Flying Fox in order to save Kai from being murdered. When she finally catches up with Flying Fox, he hangs Kai from a rope, dropping her from a great height. Believing Kai to be dead, Nariko screams in grief and rage, before beginning battle with Flying Fox. As Nariko and Flying Fox battle with each other, Kai suddenly stirs and reaches for her crossbow, shooting an arrow into Flying Fox. Her shot pierces his forehead and he falls to the ground, dead. Nariko releases the injured Kai from the noose and returns her to the care of the clan.
King Bohan rallies his men to launch a final attack to regain the Heavenly Sword. Nariko fights alongside her father and clansmen once more despite being outnumbered a thousand to one. Nariko kills countless numbers of Bohan's troops with ease and destroys his catapults. Despite her efforts, the game is brought back to the beginning of the story where she fell to the ground dying. But this time, Nariko reverses her death by making a pact with the sword to protect it from becoming a useless and dusty relic. Nariko descends back onto the battlefield as a glowing white goddess radiant with light. As Bohan looks out over his troops as they are slaughtered he turns to the huge, golden-helmeted raven that is seen repeatedly throughout the game and begs that it bestow him the power to destroy Nariko, referring to it as "my Lord". Bohan gets his wish and the raven spirit enters his body as a smokey black cloud, making Bohan the new, nigh-invincible Raven Lord. An epic battle ensues similar to the one foretold in the prophecy of the sword. After Nariko manages to defeat Bohan, the raven leaves his body, and, despite Bohan begging for mercy, pecks his eyes out and flies away into the sunlight, leaving Bohan screaming on the ground in blinded agony. As Nariko raises the sword to strike the final blow, Bohan's son Roach comes to his father's side and begs Nariko to let him take the pathetic, defeated King Bohan home, which Nariko allows. Though successful in protecting the sword from coming into the hands of ultimate evil, Nariko still must give her life for wielding it, for that is the price for using the almighty sword, and the story comes to its end.
Nariko reflects to her father that she believes they have fought in vain for the prophecy, that she is not a warrior sent from heaven, but rather she chose to be the one who was going to save her people from evil. She took the sword, paid the price and ultimately defeated Bohan's army, but nevertheless she was still a normal woman. She also implies that the sword is not from heaven, as they believed it was, but somewhere else. Nariko heals Kai and gives her the sword for safekeeping, before passing away. At the funeral, Nariko's body is placed into a boat filled with blossoms, and Kai and Shen cast her out to sea.
, a combination of Havok Physics and Havok Animation.
Actor Andy Serkis
, who is best known for his motion capture
and voice work for the character Gollum
in the The Lord of the Rings
movies, performs as the voice and motion capture actor for King Bohan, one of the major characters in Heavenly Sword; he also acts as Dramatic Director for the game and is one of the writers of the story of the game. Serkis is not the only familiar name attached to the game as main character Nariko is voiced by Australian actress Anna Torv
, who plays Agent Olivia Dunham
in the television series Fringe
. Nariko's facial features are also based on Torv's, who participated in motion capture for the game in March 2007.
A demo was released to the PlayStation Store
on July 26, 2007 featuring a short, cinematic clip at the beginning and two brief enemy battles, lasting approximately five to ten minutes. An eight-second clip of the game was seen in an episode of the TV series Heroes
entitled "Parasite
", ostensibly being played by Jessica Sanders and her son, Micah
. It featured Nariko running across ropes as they were cut by Bohan's soldiers, before landing on the platform to face them. While the episode was broadcast over four months before the actual release of the game, the level displayed remained in the released build, including the rope sequence shown; the icons in the final game used to inform the player which buttons to press were changed from large, central icons as seen in the clip, to be smaller and positioned at the bottom of the screen. Sony and Ninja Theory have made five 'making of' videos about the production of Heavenly Sword, with each one detailing a certain aspect of the games production, from music to motion capture. The videos can either be unlocked while playing the game or downloaded from the PlayStation Store.
composed the music for the soundtrack. It was performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Stephen Hussey. Tameem Antoniades of Ninja Theory
said "we have our big orchestral soundtrack but we wanted to add a more ethnic element and marry those two together. There are actually very few musicians in the world who are experts in both areas. Nitin Sawhney is one of them." Sawhney stated that his creation of "musical textures take in everything from Hollywood, European and Chinese cinema to Indian and middle eastern instrumentation through the orchestras and soloists hovering between sonic tidal waves and reflective moments of intimate grace."
A series of Heavenly Sword animated episodes were released prior to the launch of the game itself, acting as a prequel to the events of the game. The series, which consists of five episodes, was produced by London production company Blinkink and animated by CHASE animation studios. The videos were made available both online and through the PlayStation Store
. The first two videos were also included on the retail version of the game; the latter three videos were not ready in time to be included. The videos are based on where the heavenly sword is from, the clan protecting the sword, the origins of Bohan, divine birth, Nariko's training when she was a child and battles before the game.
The style of the animated series differs from the graphics of the game itself. The animated series relies on a simple and stylized 2D
look, which allowed director Ben Hibon to "create a complete visual re-interpretation of the world and its inhabitants". The videos were produced using a combination of Adobe Photoshop
, Flash
and After Effects
. Initial reference frames were created with Photoshop, which were then animated in Flash and exported as separate layers into After Effects. The layers were composed onto a 3D stage with multiple foreground, middle ground and background elements, which allowed the use of 3D cameras and lighting to give depth and movement to the video.
An animated movie is currently in production, written by Todd Farmer and directed by Gun Ho Jang.
|-
|Game Rankings
|colspan=2|81% (based on 68 reviews)
|-
|Metacritic
|colspan=2|79/100 (based on 60 reviews)
|-
!Publication
!Response
!Award
|-
|Edge magazine
|6 out of 10
|-
|Game Informer
|8.75 out of 10
|-
|GamePro
|5 out of 5
|Editor's Choice
|-
|Gamespot
|8 out of 10
|
|-
|IGN
|7 out of 10
|-
|Official PlayStation Magazine (Australia)
|9 out of 10
|Silver Award
|-
|PlayStation Universe
|9 out of 10
|
|}
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
by Ninja Theory
Ninja Theory
Ninja Theory, Ltd. is a video game developer based in Cambridge, England. Originally founded as Just Add Monsters in March 2000, the company was purchased by former Argonaut Games CEO Jez San in November 2004...
exclusively for the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
console and published
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. The game was released on September 12, 2007 in North America and Japan; September 14, 2007 in the United Kingdom and Ireland; September 20, 2007 in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and Mainland Europe; and November 15, 2007 elsewhere the rest of world.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Heavenly Sword resembles a martial arts title focused on melee combat while featuring opportunities for ranged attacks. The main character, Nariko, uses a weapon called the "Heavenly Sword" which changes into one of three forms depending on what attack stance the player uses as part of a unique fighting style. Speed Stance, the default, provides an even balance between damage and speed, where the sword takes the form of two separate blades. Range Stance allows fast, long-ranging, but weaker attacks, with the sword resembling two blades, chained together. Power Stance is the most powerful, but slowest style, where attacks are made with the Sword in the shape of one large, two-handed blade.For exploration and certain battles, the game also makes use of "Quick Time Event
Quick Time Event
In video games, a Quick Time Event is a method of context-sensitive gameplay in which the player performs actions on the control device shortly after the appearance of an on-screen prompt. It allows for limited control of the game character during cut scenes or cinematic sequences in the game...
s" (QTE). During a QTE, a symbol for a certain button or for an action such as moving the analog stick to the right or left appears on screen and the player must match what is shown to successfully complete the scene.
In addition to Nariko, a secondary character, Kai, is controlled for some portions of the game. Many of Kai's stages take the form of sniping missions, using her crossbow to pick off enemies, in some cases to protect characters; while Kai cannot perform hand-to-hand combat, in stages that do call for her to explore the level she is able to hop over objects, as well as free herself from an enemy's grasp by temporarily stunning them.
Projectiles can be maneuvered to their targets using the motion-sensing capabilities of the SIXAXIS controller through a feature known as Aftertouch. Such projectiles include guiding Kai's arrows after she has launched them, and for Nariko, guiding a cannon or rocket launcher, or picking up and throwing objects.
Setting
Nariko's warrior clan believes in a prophecy of a warrior sent from the heavens with a godly blade (the eponymous Heavenly Sword), to save them from the evil and demonic Raven Lord. When the warrior was finished with his task he left the blade behind on earth. Many men were immediately drunken with the desire to wield its power and murdered over its ownership. It was then that Nariko's clan ended the violence and took on the dangerous undertaking of protecting the sword from such corruption. The clan believed that one day, in a year of the fire-horse (from chinese horoscope), a predestined male heir would be born and reclaim the sword as its rightful owner. Once this happened, peace and tranquility would return to the land and none would fight over the sword anymore. Their hopes were dashed however when the prophecy was nullified as on the day of the flaming mare, Shen's wife produced not a male child but rather a female child (Nariko) while dying in childbirth. Shen was first tempted to murder Nariko but guilt swayed him, and instead he brought the girl up and trained her to be a warrior.Story
The game follows the story of Nariko (Anna TorvAnna Torv
Anna Torv is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe.-Early life:...
), the fierce red-haired warrior whose clan has long protected the "Heavenly Sword", a god's blade of immense power that drains its wielder of their life force. A power hungry ruler known as the evil King Bohan (Andy Serkis
Andy Serkis
Andrew Clement G. "Andy" Serkis is an English actor, director and author. He is popularly known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he earned several award nominations, including the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Two Towers...
) seeks to obtain the sword to gain its devastating power. Upon beginning the game, the player is immediately thrust into the final battle with Bohan's army. After slaying many of Bohan's soldiers, Nariko can no longer resist the sword's deadly curse. She falls to the ground as the characters of the sword engrave themselves deeply into her skin. After dying, she wakes up and finds herself in an empty clearing. Nariko laments the sword's decision to take her at such a critical moment and begins to recall the last five days before her final battle.
Five days previously, Nariko's clan is assaulted by the first strike of King Bohan's forces. Before she joins the fight, Shen (Ewan Stewart
Ewan Stewart
Ewan Stewart is a Scottish film, television and stage actor.- Life and career :Stewart was born Andrew Ewan Stewart in Glasgow, and is the son of the late Scottish entertainer Andy Stewart. His mother Sheila is still alive and lives in Arbroath, Scotland. Stewart was educated at Edinburgh's...
) thrusts the sword into the ground next to her demanding that she take care of it. Nariko fights alongside her father and her clansmen as their defenses are weakened and stretched by scores of Bohan's warriors scaling the city walls accompanied by catapults. As the warriors and Shen escape from Bohan's Army, Nariko protects them until spotting a catapult moving toward the fort. As Shen had earlier instructed her, she flees, as the fortress is apparently destroyed behind her. While fleeing, she passes a large black bird with a golden head, which gives the impression that it is watching her. When Bohan's army captures her father and corners her in a retreat from the clan's city, Nariko has no choice but to wield the sword to defend herself in order to escape. She takes a flying leap off a cliff edge when Bohan's archers begin to fire at her.
Kai (Lydia Baksh) finds Nariko after disobeying Shen's orders to hide and informs her of the temple where her father and clansmen are being held captive. Nariko infiltrates the temple and is ambushed by Bohan's general, Flying Fox (Steven Berkoff
Steven Berkoff
Steven Berkoff is an English actor, writer and director. Best known for his performance as General Orlov in the James Bond film Octopussy, he is typically cast in villanous roles, such as Lt...
). She defeats Flying Fox for the time being and continues on to rescue her father. Meanwhile King Bohan plots to set up a trap for Nariko with his mistress Whiptail (Race Davies
Race Davies
Race Davies is a British actress. She is probably most famous for playing Jackie Owen in EastEnders from 1999 to 2000....
). Nariko sees her father dangling from a chain and falls for the bait. Whiptail's guards ambush her but are unsuccessful in their attempt to kill her. Whiptail decides to take Nariko on herself and tells Nariko the truth behind her father's original feelings about her birth - Shen wanted to kill Nariko shortly after her birth, but was unable to bring himself to do so. Nariko tells her father to leave her and fights with Whiptail. After Nariko impales Whiptail with the sword, King Bohan turns up and brutally snaps Whiptail's neck in her dying moments. Nariko passes out and is captured by Bohan.
Nariko awakens and realizes she has lost possession of the sword. King Bohan gleefully informs her that it is safely stored in his armory. Meanwhile, Kai makes her way to Nariko's holding cell. Kai is able to find where Nariko is imprisoned and begs that she comes home with her "like a good girl." Nariko explains to Kai that she needs to reacquire the Heavenly Sword to kill King Bohan. She asks Kai to retrieve the sword and Kai accepts the task. Kai eventually succeeds in finding the Heavenly Sword, only to also discover the corpse of her mother displayed as a gruesome trophy. In a flashback, it is revealed that, some years ago, Kai's mother was murdered in front of her eyes by Flying Fox. In the present day, Flying Fox suddenly appears and attacks Kai, who barely manages to escape with the sword. Bohan decides to throw a spectacle for his soldiers and forces Nariko to fight her own clansmen and Roach's monstrous pets, Orangumen, in a pit. During a battle with these creatures, Kai comes flying from the rafters and throws Nariko the sword. When Nariko defeats all the Orangumen, Bohan orders his own son Roach (Richard Ridings
Richard Ridings
Richard Ridings is a British actor and is best known for his portrayal of Allan Ashburn in the ITV television drama Fat Friends, and for playing Bernard Green in the BBC1 comedy-drama Common as Muck. He trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.Ridings was born in...
) to murder Nariko. After defeating Roach, both Nariko and Kai flee from the pit. Bohan then commands Flying Fox to kill Kai. As the two try to escape the temple, Flying Fox cuts Kai off from Nariko's safety and they are separated. Nariko desperately tails Flying Fox in order to save Kai from being murdered. When she finally catches up with Flying Fox, he hangs Kai from a rope, dropping her from a great height. Believing Kai to be dead, Nariko screams in grief and rage, before beginning battle with Flying Fox. As Nariko and Flying Fox battle with each other, Kai suddenly stirs and reaches for her crossbow, shooting an arrow into Flying Fox. Her shot pierces his forehead and he falls to the ground, dead. Nariko releases the injured Kai from the noose and returns her to the care of the clan.
King Bohan rallies his men to launch a final attack to regain the Heavenly Sword. Nariko fights alongside her father and clansmen once more despite being outnumbered a thousand to one. Nariko kills countless numbers of Bohan's troops with ease and destroys his catapults. Despite her efforts, the game is brought back to the beginning of the story where she fell to the ground dying. But this time, Nariko reverses her death by making a pact with the sword to protect it from becoming a useless and dusty relic. Nariko descends back onto the battlefield as a glowing white goddess radiant with light. As Bohan looks out over his troops as they are slaughtered he turns to the huge, golden-helmeted raven that is seen repeatedly throughout the game and begs that it bestow him the power to destroy Nariko, referring to it as "my Lord". Bohan gets his wish and the raven spirit enters his body as a smokey black cloud, making Bohan the new, nigh-invincible Raven Lord. An epic battle ensues similar to the one foretold in the prophecy of the sword. After Nariko manages to defeat Bohan, the raven leaves his body, and, despite Bohan begging for mercy, pecks his eyes out and flies away into the sunlight, leaving Bohan screaming on the ground in blinded agony. As Nariko raises the sword to strike the final blow, Bohan's son Roach comes to his father's side and begs Nariko to let him take the pathetic, defeated King Bohan home, which Nariko allows. Though successful in protecting the sword from coming into the hands of ultimate evil, Nariko still must give her life for wielding it, for that is the price for using the almighty sword, and the story comes to its end.
Nariko reflects to her father that she believes they have fought in vain for the prophecy, that she is not a warrior sent from heaven, but rather she chose to be the one who was going to save her people from evil. She took the sword, paid the price and ultimately defeated Bohan's army, but nevertheless she was still a normal woman. She also implies that the sword is not from heaven, as they believed it was, but somewhere else. Nariko heals Kai and gives her the sword for safekeeping, before passing away. At the funeral, Nariko's body is placed into a boat filled with blossoms, and Kai and Shen cast her out to sea.
Development
Heavenly Sword began development in 2002 with footage of the original PC version published on TeamXbox.com in 2004. It had, at one time, been up and running on an early Xbox 360 prototype, but this was abandoned in favor of the PlayStation 3 when the title was picked up by SCEE http://gamevideos.com/video/id/9955. The game was developed using Havok CompleteHavok (software)
Havok Physics is a physics engine developed by Irish company Havok. It is designed primarily for video games, and allows for real-time collision and dynamics of rigid bodies in three dimensions. It provides multiple types of dynamic constraints between rigid bodies , and has a highly optimized...
, a combination of Havok Physics and Havok Animation.
Actor Andy Serkis
Andy Serkis
Andrew Clement G. "Andy" Serkis is an English actor, director and author. He is popularly known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he earned several award nominations, including the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Two Towers...
, who is best known for his motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
and voice work for the character Gollum
Gollum
Gollum is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He was introduced in the author's fantasy novel The Hobbit, and became an important supporting character in its sequel, The Lord of the Rings....
in the The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
movies, performs as the voice and motion capture actor for King Bohan, one of the major characters in Heavenly Sword; he also acts as Dramatic Director for the game and is one of the writers of the story of the game. Serkis is not the only familiar name attached to the game as main character Nariko is voiced by Australian actress Anna Torv
Anna Torv
Anna Torv is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe.-Early life:...
, who plays Agent Olivia Dunham
Olivia Dunham
FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series Fringe . Olivia first appeared in the pilot episode on September 9, 2008. She is portrayed by actress Anna Torv....
in the television series Fringe
Fringe (TV series)
Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...
. Nariko's facial features are also based on Torv's, who participated in motion capture for the game in March 2007.
A demo was released to the PlayStation Store
PlayStation Store
The PlayStation Store is an online virtual market available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The Store offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games,...
on July 26, 2007 featuring a short, cinematic clip at the beginning and two brief enemy battles, lasting approximately five to ten minutes. An eight-second clip of the game was seen in an episode of the TV series Heroes
Heroes (TV series)
Heroes is an American science fiction television drama series created by Tim Kring that appeared on NBC for four seasons from September 25, 2006 through February 8, 2010. The series tells the stories of ordinary people who discover superhuman abilities, and how these abilities take effect in the...
entitled "Parasite
Parasite (Heroes)
"Parasite" is the eighteenth episode of the first season of the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes. It was unique in that, in some markets, the introductory phrase "Previously on Heroes" was written in Japanese and spoken by Hiro, unlike the English that had always preceded it...
", ostensibly being played by Jessica Sanders and her son, Micah
Micah Sanders
Micah Sanders, portrayed by Noah Gray-Cabey, is a fictional character on the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes. He is the son of Niki Sanders and D.L. Hawkins. He is a child prodigy and a technopath.- Beginnings :...
. It featured Nariko running across ropes as they were cut by Bohan's soldiers, before landing on the platform to face them. While the episode was broadcast over four months before the actual release of the game, the level displayed remained in the released build, including the rope sequence shown; the icons in the final game used to inform the player which buttons to press were changed from large, central icons as seen in the clip, to be smaller and positioned at the bottom of the screen. Sony and Ninja Theory have made five 'making of' videos about the production of Heavenly Sword, with each one detailing a certain aspect of the games production, from music to motion capture. The videos can either be unlocked while playing the game or downloaded from the PlayStation Store.
Soundtrack
Nitin SawhneyNitin Sawhney
Nitin Sawhney is an Indian-British musician, producer and composer. His critically acclaimed work combines Asian and other worldwide influences with elements of jazz and electronica and often explores themes such as multiculturalism, politics and spirituality...
composed the music for the soundtrack. It was performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra is a professional, philharmonic symphony orchestra, over 61 years old, predominantly it is composed of Czech and Slovak classical and jazz musicians...
conducted by Stephen Hussey. Tameem Antoniades of Ninja Theory
Ninja Theory
Ninja Theory, Ltd. is a video game developer based in Cambridge, England. Originally founded as Just Add Monsters in March 2000, the company was purchased by former Argonaut Games CEO Jez San in November 2004...
said "we have our big orchestral soundtrack but we wanted to add a more ethnic element and marry those two together. There are actually very few musicians in the world who are experts in both areas. Nitin Sawhney is one of them." Sawhney stated that his creation of "musical textures take in everything from Hollywood, European and Chinese cinema to Indian and middle eastern instrumentation through the orchestras and soloists hovering between sonic tidal waves and reflective moments of intimate grace."
Related media
PlayStation Store
The PlayStation Store is an online virtual market available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The Store offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games,...
. The first two videos were also included on the retail version of the game; the latter three videos were not ready in time to be included. The videos are based on where the heavenly sword is from, the clan protecting the sword, the origins of Bohan, divine birth, Nariko's training when she was a child and battles before the game.
The style of the animated series differs from the graphics of the game itself. The animated series relies on a simple and stylized 2D
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
look, which allowed director Ben Hibon to "create a complete visual re-interpretation of the world and its inhabitants". The videos were produced using a combination of Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
, Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
and After Effects
Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects is a digital motion graphics and compositing software published by Adobe Systems, used in the post-production process of filmmaking and television production. Its main uses are the origination of 2D and 2.5D animation, visual effects compositing and finishing...
. Initial reference frames were created with Photoshop, which were then animated in Flash and exported as separate layers into After Effects. The layers were composed onto a 3D stage with multiple foreground, middle ground and background elements, which allowed the use of 3D cameras and lighting to give depth and movement to the video.
An animated movie is currently in production, written by Todd Farmer and directed by Gun Ho Jang.
Reception
Compilations of multiple reviews|-
|Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
|colspan=2|81% (based on 68 reviews)
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|Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
|colspan=2|79/100 (based on 60 reviews)
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!Publication
!Response
!Award
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|Edge magazine
|6 out of 10
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|Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
|8.75 out of 10
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|GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
|5 out of 5
|Editor's Choice
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|Gamespot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
|8 out of 10
|
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|IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
|7 out of 10
|-
|Official PlayStation Magazine (Australia)
Official PlayStation Magazine (Australia)
Official PlayStation Magazine is a magazine published by Media Factory Pty. Ltd. The magazine was previously called Official PlayStation 2 Magazine but changed its name to coincide with the release of the PlayStation 3...
|9 out of 10
|Silver Award
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|PlayStation Universe
|9 out of 10
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Heavenly Sword sold over one million copies by May 2008. The game has been praised for its graphics and combat system, while criticism has stemmed from the short length of the game and lack of online capabilities. Currently the game holds an average score of 79 out of 100 on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
(based on 60 reviews), while Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
has an average score of 81% (based on 68 reviews).
GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
featured Kai in the article "Freakish Fashion" in 2007, and Nariko as a "game babe" sex symbol
Sex symbol
A sex symbol is a celebrity of either gender, typically an actor, musician, supermodel, teen idol, or sports star, noted for their sex appeal. The term was first used in the mid 1950s in relation to the popularity of certain Hollywood stars, especially Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte...
in 2007 and 2009. In 2009, MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
featured Nariko in the article "Gaming's Hottest Babes". UGO featured her among the "Top Animated Hotties" in 2008 and in their list of the best girls in video games in 2010, and also in the article "11 Strong Gaming Girls We Never Saw Again".
Possible sequel
According to Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades, the story for the sequel has already been written; in fact a whole trilogy is being planned. He stated, "We've had the story for the sequel for a while now. Hopefully, if this game is successful, then there's no reason why there shouldn't be a sequel and we'd very much like to go into that."On March 21, 2008, on G4's Attack of the Show it was listed on the scrolling banner that Ninja Theory is not planning to create a sequel for Heavenly Sword, and instead has decided to work on a new project (most likely Enslaved: Odyssey to the West). Though information on the decision and the aforementioned project was sparse, it was stated that production time for the new project will span well over two years, and that the project, like Heavenly Sword, will be extremely cinematic.
On May 21, 2008, IT Manager “Peonic” announced that a follow-up to Heavenly Sword would be extremely unlikely due to Ninja Theory's decision to pursue opportunities within multi-platform development:
- "We’re not abandoning HS just on a whim because we want to go off and do something different - there’s a great huge raft of reasons behind us taking the direction we are - and it’s also the nature of the business that I’m not allowed to share any of those reasons with you. As for the ‘you’re just not doing HS2 NOW’ comments - well one thing you learn in this industry is that you never say ‘Never’. So I’m not going to say we’ll “never” go back and make HS2 - but it’s something I personally see as extremely unlikely."
Nevertheless, since SCE
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
retains the IP
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
of Heavenly Sword, there is always the possibility of production on a sequel being outsourced to another developer.