The Game Dame™

Remember back in July when I said that Heavenly Sword and Lair were the only two games that could possibly make my PS3 worth a crap? Well, Lair was a total disappointment, but I have fallen in love with Heavenly Sword. Finally, there’s a PS3 exclusive worth playing and not just because it’s the best out there, but because it’s a game unlike any other I’ve experienced.

Sure, I’ve been excited about innovative games in the past. I’ve spent hours talking incessantly about robbing hookers of their money in GTA or how Condemned made me scream and bang my knees on the coffee table on more than one occasion. But never in my life have I been so inspired by a game that I’ve actually made a friend sit down and watch clips and making of videos. That is, not until I played Heavenly Sword.

I always rank games not only on the playability, but also the talent of the voice actors and whether the story is written well enough to make me care about the characters I encounter. If the plot stinks, or the voice actors are monotone, I’m disappointed. As I played through Heavenly Sword, I was amazed at the quality of the animation and the detail that went into each character’s personality. For the first time since I’d bought it, I felt like my PS3 held some value (crazy, I know.)

The actors were directed by Andy Serkis (Gollum) at Weta Studios (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) in New Zealand. Serkis not only directs the other actors, he plays an AWESOME evil king – one I grew to loathe by the end of the game so that when I defeated him in the final battle, I actually jumped up, threw my arms around my best friend and did a little happy squeal. I don’t want to give away any plot secrets, but I will say that there were points that nearly drove me to tears because I grew to love all of the characters. They felt real.

This game has gotten a bit of a bad rap for being “too short.” True, you can play it through in a weekend, but is that a fault? I say no. Over the last few years, the length of a game has somehow become part of the criteria for whether that title is successful or not. Sure, I understand wanting to get your sixty bucks worth of a gaming experience, but why can’t there be value in quality over quantity? Why can’t games be good weekenders worth a rent and a replay a few months down the road? I’d love it if other developers could find inspiration in the quality of the storytelling found in Heavenly Sword and create more games like it so that one day in the future, I could go to a game rental store and just pick out a title for the weekend. Other than my sick obsession with Oblivion, I’ve never really gotten into epic games. I want to get through it in a reasonable amount of time. I want to care about the character I play, and I want to win.

I respect developers who have the courage to step into the future of gaming the way Ninja Theory has with Heavenly Sword. It’s not easy to be the only one in the crowd willing to dedicate more time and money than others in an effort to position video games as a true dramatic art form. But I hope other developers are paying attention to the example they’ve set because these are the types of games I want to play. If you’re hesitant to buy this game (which you shouldn’t be) then at least rent it, but whatever you do, you HAVE to check it out. Let’s support this new art form and encourage developers to create more games like this one.