Heavenly Sword promises to be the first epic exclusive game for the PS3. With huge battles and bone breaking attacks galore. An engaging story packed with emotion is also promised. Is this all too good to be true?

Taking a peek at the trailers, one might think from the combat that is shown, that Heavenly Sword is a God of War clone. Heavenly Sword looks like a more cinematic God of War filled with even more intense action sequences. Even the action sequences bear a resemblance when it requires you to fulfill a button pressing mini-game. Can Heavenly Sword supply us with something new and original?

With the release of demo on July 27th, you can get your hands soaked with blood with fierce battles. You are graced with Nariko, the heroine of Heavenly Sword. You start the demo with an intense ride on some ropes, requiring you to jump between ropes as well as run across them. This cinematic sequence is a mini-game of button pressing, similar to God of Wars action sequences with bosses. This camera follows behind Nariko during this sequence as she flips across the ropes and then performs a deadly attack on the enemies below.

In Heavenly Sword, there are three combat stances; Ranged (Hold L1), power (Hold R1), and Agile (Default). With ranged, Nariko wields the Heavenly Sword Kratos-style, flinging them around on chains hitting all nearby enemies. This stance is nice to get the advantage on enemies running your way by dealing a good amount of damage. Switching to the power stance forms the Heavenly Sword into a giant sword. Swinging the sword around is a slow task, but it can push back enemies that are pounding on Nariko. When you push back your enemies, you switch back to your default stance where Nariko wields the Heavenly Sword dual-blade style. In this stance, she is quite agile and quick in the attacks, and she can kill off the enemies quickly, especially after the powerful attacks from the power stance. Certainly, the combat has familiarities of God of War, but the different stances make Heavenly Sword stand out.

My first impression on Heavenly Sword is hopeful. With the demo being so short (only two minutes long), you can't tell what Heavenly Sword has in store. But the demo does succeed in making you want to go out and buy the game to play some more. Not to mention, the game looks absolutely gorgeous. My verdict is, despite the slight familiarities to God of War, Heavenly Sword is a unique, original experience.