MAF and Drinky can attest that I was complaining about the watching not doing aspect of the combat before playing the full game. The demo made it seem like the kind of game where you press a few buttons and watch five seconds of combos. And I guess it is that sort of game, but when presented in context, I learned to quickly like it.
When I played the demo, I was playing it like you would most action games--proactively. I was trying to stay on the offensive the whole time, like in God of War. Playing the full game, it makes it clear early on that the combat is more like Ninja Gaiden, where the game rewards reactrive play, waiting for your enemy to make a move, and then countering. Actually, it's even ore reactive than Ninja Gaiden. The game rewards patient playing, which seems kind of weird when you are playing a game with a bajillion enemies on screen. But it works. It works pretty darned well. I really like the combat system.
Tangent, but I'd say that DMC3 is probably the best current happy marriage of proactive and reactive action. Ninja Gaiden is up there, too, but I think it leans a bit to the reactive side. Heavenly Sword, despite holding the crown in enemy numbers, is probably the slowest paced of the Fancy Fightin' genre games, but they make it work to the extent that I really enjoy it. They've addeda new wrinkle to the style.
I kind of rolled back my impressions from last night a bit, mostly because I can definitely see why some, heck a lot of people do not like this game. It's got a laundry list of problems pressing enough that I can see why people are writing the game off before even trying it, even. The game is kind of a paradox in technical terms, absolutely great looking, but glitchy enough and with enough slowdown and a wonky enough framerate that the graphics and frame rate whores should probably just skip the game entirely. The length of the game makes the game right out not purchase worthy (and yes, I put that same complaint against God of War). But there are still things to like here, things to really like. Ninja Theory is on my Developers to Watch list now, and I will be following their next game very carefully.
So there you have it. I wouldn't recommend the game for purchase to those with budgets, but it's worth a rental to see which camp you fall into. I kind of love it (with a bucket of caveats), and I think Ninja Theory could be a serious contender with their next game.
To get my requisite Neverwinter Nights 2 bashing in, this is a somewhat good game to compare it to, They both have technical issues and problematic gameplay issues, but Heavenly Sword is a 6 or 7, whereas Neverwinter Nights 2 is a 3 or 4. The difference between the two, quality-wise, is that Heavenly Sword has core gameplay that is good, and sometimes even impressive.
