WARNING: This review contains a spoiler about the game's ending. I don't like giving things away, but the ending had a big part of my final opinion of the game. If you don't want to have the ending spoiled, skip the second to last paragraph of the review.
This game is another example of PS3 trying to have a stand out exclusive title, but still coming up short. It has a lot of great content and has some original ideas, but the bulk of the game play is stale and somewhat boring. It is fun, but with other amazing games like God of War II and Conan available, it just doesn't stand up.
The basic action has a few cool ideas and there are a good number of combos to unlock, but most fights never really escalate above button mashing. There are three different fighting stances and each has it's uses. The heavy stance allows the the most powerful but slower moves. The light stance allows the quicker but weaker moves. The ranged stance is similar to God of War where your weapons are attached to chains and can hit enemies from a distance. Simply holding down the appropriate button enables each stance and is easy enough that many combos can actually contain moves from different stances. The problem arises when the realization sets in that many battles can be won simply by pounding the square button. Even when you get to enemies that block, you only need to know one block breaking combo to win those fights. I didn't use 90% of the combos in the game simply because there was never any reason to change it up. Near the end of the game, there is a level that is very reminiscent of Dynasty Warriors where you are basically attacked by an entire army. You must defeat over 500 enemies but each kill feels like you earned it, which is an awesome feeling.
There is one reason that the game definitely should be played, even if only as a rental. There are several shooting segments that have you firing many different weapons such as arrows, cannonballs, rockets, and more. The action in these segment is rather generic, but what makes them stand out is you ability to control the path of your projectile by tilting the controller. It is incredibly satisfying to guide an arrow over a wall, around a box, and into an enemies heart. Each enemy reacts fairly realistically and their deaths vary depending on where they are struck. I failed one of the segments at the very end and was actually happy because I wanted to play the section again.
The story is moderately entertaining. There are enough twists and turns that aren't expected and will keep your interest. The good guys are rather boring and generic. There were many times when I saw flashes of Lara Croft in the main character, who isn't a very interesting character to begin with. There was one humorous good guy. One of your character's good friends is completely insane and thinks every battle is a game. Unfortunately, she doesn't have nearly as many scenes as I would have liked. The bad guys, on the other hand, are the funniest cast of enemies to come along in a while. Some may not like (or even get) their off beat humor, but I truly enjoyed every one of their scenes. I actually felt bad every time I defeated one of them because each brought their own brand of laughs to the game.
The graphics look good at some parts, but the game has many of the same pitfalls of most other PS3 exclusives. The near complete lack of particle effects and shadows makes the game look very unrealistic at points. Some of the scenery in the background is a little too blurry to enjoy. The character models look good, but could use some more detail. The main enemy's facial expressions are some the best around and add a lot to his character. The player character's hair is modeled horribly. It jerks around in random directions (including straight up) and when it falls on her shoulders, it hovers a few inches above and bounces around until it works it's way behind her.
SPOILER ALERT: I really hate when a game decides to kill the main character at the end. It sucks spending hours on end becoming a character, only to have them killed. It is even worse when the game tells you they will die at the very beginning but then builds hope that they might not. The sword you get at the beginning is supposed to have heavenly powers that will kill you the more you use it. As the game progresses, you learn that the sword isn't heavenly and the powers aren't anything like what everyone thought it was, but it still kills you in the end. Your character even has a conversation with the sword late in the game where she says that she is taking control and the sword won't kill her. The ending put a very unexpectedly sour note on an otherwise good story arc.
The game does just enough right to get by, but doesn't
keep the action fresh enough to contend with the other games available. The game is fun and fans of the genre will enjoy it. It is fairly short, though, which plants this one firmly in the rental category.
