Every so often Nariko turns to you, she looks at you from inside the monitor. She is your Priestess of War. She stares up at the God who is controller-ing her and implores you with soulful eyes and says, “What have you done to me?” She walks into a cut scene with a slight limp, the step of a martial artist who has seen many battles. Her facial expressions are so realistic that she leads you deeply into the uncanny valley. You’ll find yourself wrapped up in her story. You won’t even try to fast forward though it. This game is a must see. It is an event into itself. The graphics are spectacular. Backgrounds give a sense of scope and open spaces. The character art is some of the best ever, comparable to that of a PC game. Game play is varied and interesting because it has a purpose. Everything that you guide Nariko to do is for a reason, it isn’t just hack and slash mayhem alone. You are an integral part of her story and this title immerses you in her world in a way that you wish every game could do. But they all can’t. Maybe one out of one hundred games does what this game does. Everything has been highly charged with drama. She runs along ropes that have been cut, to sail into the air and land on a fragment of pavement. The camera dives and zooms along with her movements giving you the same sense of motion. You may not be able to play this game sitting down.

Game – Play takes several forms combat, puzzles, and shooting are mixed in to the story. The main form is sword combat. There are three modes called ‘stances’ which give Nariko fast, ranged and heavy attacks. She can dodge and roll with a flick of the right stick. Her chain swords can be unleashed with the L1 button. The circle button gives her a special attack. She can pick up and throw anything that she can find including corpses which is amusing.

There is a variety of deadly combos for her to pull off. She can also unlock more of them. The weapon on a chain has been in Soul Calibur and other fighters long before God of War. The chain sword isn’t her main weapon anyway. The Heavenly Sword is. The combat controls are more similar to Soul Calibur, but she doesn’t have the same refined ability to place the attack on the opponents body. For example when the enemies are wearing metal hats and carrying shields, you would like her to get low and do a sweep move. I’d like to have a little more direct control over the fighting. She flys spinning with kicks and lashing out with the lightest touch of a button. Her movements are so fast and so acrobatic, it is hard to complain about a little loss of control.

There are many areas where you need to discover where the next twitch control will trigger the next sequence. It is handy that you don’t have to actually make her climb ladders, but in some cases I would rather move her myself instead of having to do it with the twitch buttons. It is an even trade off for what she can do.

There is the nostalgia of seeing a little bit of Xena Warrior Princess for PS One in this game. There are puzzles that require you to pick up a round metal shield and throw it like a chakram to bounce off targets. With a new feature, that is badly named, but good anyway, called ‘after – touch’ you’ll be given a Frisbee’s eye view as if the camera is now on top of the flying disk and your eye is taken along with the projectiles. It is exciting and fresh, and it isn’t easy either.

In the level where you have to shoot cannons to stop three catapults from advancing on the fort, the controls are very difficult at first. It is unforgiving and even things that are physically impossible are in the game’s favor and you only have three minutes to do it. Nariko is told to shoot out of a cannon that is on a floating turret. It’s awkward and ungainly, there are no cross hairs. Then once you shoot and hold down the after – touch control button, suddenly you are given a cannon ball’s eye view. It is amazing. What an experience. I got up off the couch. You’ll twist and glide the controller as if you are flying along with the hot metal.

It is exhilarating. Forget about the two by fours that are impervious to cannon fire, forget about the klutzy makeshift cannon. The experience that this delivers is just superior. Following that hard to master level you are rewarded with a gimmie level that is a laugh. You are shooting at enemy soldiers from a distance, and the little icons blow up in the air all over the place, there is no blood and it is just hilarious. They look like Lemmings.

I remember some tech geeks mentioning how they thought that the SixAxis controller on the PS3 was very advanced, and had much more potential than the Wii remote. “Touching is good”, but after – touch is better. Feeling is believing. With the Wii you are interacting with the sensor in a different way than with the PS3 and it took a good while for me to get the hang of the difference at first.

In Heavenly Sword when you are using ‘after touch’ you really feel a center of gravity in the gyroscopic controller. Whereas with the Wii you may be smacking your dog in the face on one side and hitting your girlfriend on the other side. But with the SixAxis you are operating it in it’s own little plane, instead of swinging and swatting all over the place. Did you ever play with a gyroscope as a kid?

The graphics are outstanding. There are massive waterfalls and dogwood blossoms. There is so much to see that those with a large TV will be happy. The colors are bright and crisp. Even on a standard definition TV. The game does not blotch out the way that other games made for HiDef do. There are panoramic vistas that you will want to linger to explore them the way you do in an MMO. But that may be something left for the future. The camera controls are sadly limited. You can tilt the controller every which way to get a slightly different angle. But if you want to get a closer look at at a lovely setting, you aren’t permitted to pan and zoom the camera.

All of this is set to a great musical score. It has a flavor of the exotic. The sensual middle eastern influenced music suits the scenery and the era that is evoked by the buildings that you see and the way that the characters are dressed.

The innovation of this game isn’t just all the new things, it is the way that it is seamlessly woven together to form a 3D novel. The after – touch implementation on the ranged weapons, the use of playable female characters and the outstanding graphics make this more than a game, it’s an experience. Developers at Ninja Theory put an enormous amount of thought into this game and it shows. It reminds me of a quote. “The emotions of those who work hard will always reach others.” This game will reach you and Nariko will steal your heart.

The best part of this game is that the portrayal of a female role model is top notch. Finally. You’ll get to play not only as one female character but two. There is her cat eared friend who enjoys archery that they call ‘twing twang’. I tense up every time I play a new game, steeling myself for disappointment in the portrayal of women, or the complete lack of female roles in the games I test. But this time Nariko was a sigh of relief. The story draws you right in when she says that her people thought that she was “an omen of doom”. That is bound to speak to the heart of many gamers who have felt outcast at one time in their life or another. She is admirable in that she continues to try to make her father see her and appreciate her, and perhaps to forget for one minute that he would have rathered to have had a son.

2007 was a year where a feminist gamer had many incidents in the video game industry to point out for being sexist. Here is something that we can point to and say, “This is what we want, give us more of this.” Don’t think you know what women want? I’m guessing that all in one nice neat package it is Heavenly Sword.

She begins the game in a noble gown. But in the course of the attack on her people and having to fight, she has no time to get changed. Her shredded gown is what she has to make do with. That makes sense. That is a much better approach than having her walk out in a metal bra and a thong with bouncy breast physics. You may fall in love with Nariko, but it will be for her as who she is, a put – upon warrior. Not a sexual toy for men. Well done Ninja Theory. Nariko in Heavenly Sword is the best female character I played in ’07. At least this year we don’t have to pick a four legged female for our ‘Best Of’. There is very little to find fault with in this game. I give Heavenly Sword a 9.7 out of ten.