Ben-DutkaIt seems like just about every last facet of Sony's upcoming E3 presentation has been leaked.
Of course, none of it is confirmed and we must apply the "rumor" label to such information. That being said, when I was perusing the speculative list , my eyes were drawn toward one thing:
The possibility of a Heavenly Sword 2 announcement. Could Ninja Theory finally be working on a sequel?
Sure, I want games like Uncharted 4 , The Order: 1886 , and a new God of War just like everyone else. I think Quantic Dream's project ( The Dark Sorcerer ) will be amazing whenever it decides to arrive, I can't wait to see what studios like Sony Japan and Sony London have in store, Media Molecule is forever the accomplished creative innovator, I'd love to see a Syphon Filter reboot, and an RPG from Guerrilla definitely got my attention.
But above all, HS2 is what I want. To this day, I think Heavenly Sword is one of the most underrated and under-appreciated games of the previous generation. I still remember writing the review and wondering how other critics could've seen fit to bash the game. I just didn't get it. The story was good – better than most action titles, that's for sure – and the acting and writing were unbelievable. Some will complain about the gameplay but honestly, I didn't have any problem. Shallow? Eh, depends on how you look at it.
Everything, from the setting to the character(s) to the combat, kept me absorbed from start to finish. Furthermore, I've always respected Ninja Theory; Enslaved: Odyssey to the West was another sorely under-appreciated game. It just seemed like this team always got the short end of the stick last generation, and if they do deliver Heavenly Sword 2 , I hope they're rewarded. I can almost guarantee that the audience will be very appreciative of the announcement at E3…if it comes.
Heavenly Sword has its rough edges–mainly in less-than-smooth scene transitions–but I agree, it's one of the defining experiences on PS3! In fact, it is second only to Mirror's Edge as my favorite game on the system.
This needs to be true!!
Mirror's Edge was broken, and I don't mean in a good way.
meh. I'm only mildly interested in a sequel here. I also didn't esteem Enslaved to be all that special either. Both games got all the respect they deserved from where I'm sitting.
The art direction for both is nice though, and the acting quality.
EDIT: … but seeing that PS3 remasters is all the rage these days, I wouldn't mind trying HS again at a solid and smooth frame rate. That could go a ways for those cannon ball sequences and heavy brawl-fests.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 5/8/2014 10:17:20 PM
Enslaved didn't get the sales it deserved though, not for the scores it pulled.
I'd rather a game have a great story and superb writing than excellent and innovative gameplay. Enter TLoU, the king of that collection of features.
World, I seem to remember it selling rather abysmally. Maybe it needed multiplayer then =)
Cabalavatar, ummm, no. The TLoU is a king of a great many things. And how can you hold it's game play suspect of lacking innovation when the stories that inspired it are not it's own either?
Innovation and implementation may be two different things but when implementation is done extraordinarily well it innovates in and of itself despite it's influences.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 5/8/2014 11:48:49 PM
That's what I said, it didn't sell even though it got high scores.
yah, World, I heard you. Sorry if it seemed as if I was suggesting something contrary to your assertion.
bah, stupid internet misinterpretations!
Honestly, it doesn't matter what Ninja Theory are working on at this point; I'm almost guaranteed to lose my s**t when I find out about it (unless it's another Fightback-styled mobile game. Ugh). All three of their last gen games are in my top twenty, and they're only getting better as they go along. Heavenly Sword 2 would make my knees go weak, though. An older Kai in full HD. Yes please. She was a cutey >.>
I don't want her that much older, I like em young 🙂
I need an adult…
Kai was adorable. I wouldn't mind it at all if she were the star.
Andy Serkis and his work made their first two games worth playing, the gameplay in both Heavenly Sword and Enslaved were average at best. DMC was pretty damn good though.
I hope it's somehow true too, but it would have to be a very early announcement because I don't think Ninja Theory can work on 2 AAA games at once and this July news doesn't look like Heavenly Sword 2:
http://www.gamepur.com/news/11422-ninja-theory-posts-new-footage-mystery-aaa-project.html
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 5/8/2014 11:17:44 PM
Apparently, one of their artists posted up a piece of concept art of the girl out of that video, and when people started asking what it was from the NT Twitter thread responded with:
"This isn't from an on-going project, just some art from a while back."
Here's the link. NT's response is the fourth:
https://twitter.com/NinjaTheory/status/446296797489528833
Last edited by Lawless SXE on 5/8/2014 11:33:40 PM
Thank God, so maybe there's a shred of hope.
Anna Torv's IMDB page has her voicing Nariko for a Heavenly Sword movie in 2014?
Yeah, it's coming from the same crew that are doing the Sly Cooper movie (or was it the Ratchet movie?). It was reported pretty much everywhere a few months back.
Heavenly sword was alright not great but not terrible and the only reason it did as well as it did was anybody remember the terrible PS3 Launch where Heavenly sword was about the only decent game
as far as ninja theory goes they don't deserve to be at E3 they made a mockery of Devil May Cry they turned the cool party guy that owned a pizza shop into an edgy guy that swears almost every line he says and on top of that they copied Dantes inferno for combat instead of keeping it traditional DMC combat
Ninja theory im hoping there game flops
You clearly never played Dante's Inferno if you think that DmC's combat is more akin to it than that of the earlier entries.
And I strongly disagree on your assessment of NT's treatment of Dante, but that's subjective.
Yeah that makes no sense man, Dante's Inferno copied God of War. DmC plays nothing like GoW.
For me the headliners are Media Molecule for two reasons: I am very interested in VR, and MM makes such wonderful atmospheric games.
But above all, Guerilla got my FULL attention. I even dare hope that the setting of their RPG is *not* the traditional fantasy setting. I'm already more excited about E3 than I thought I would be.
Last edited by Beamboom on 5/9/2014 2:58:31 AM
I bet Sony will think up a cool way to show the VR to the public with MMs production
I enjoyed Enslaved, despite the disappointing ending but Heavenly Sword is a game I just have never gotten along with. It is the first game I got with my PS3 with Resistance: Fall of Man but I shortly sold it after getting it because I just didn't care for it. It was an average game with some decent production value but I think what really killed it for me was the Six-Axis bow missions by the time I reached that I just had enough.
But you could change the settings so that you could control projectiles with the sticks!
Is that so? Never knew that, but even up to that point I found the experience un-fulfilling. I was enjoying Resistance: Fall of Man a lot more and just didn't care for the game. I can see why people enjoy it, it just isnt for me.
tbh id much rather a enslaved game, it had such amazing characters and such a thought provoking story!
combat was pretty decent too.
i seriously cant see NT ever doing a HS game, they have said it themselves countless times they dont want to do a sequel, and dont want to work on exclusive games anymore.
Wait…. the Dark Sorceror was real? I thought it was just a gag real they made to go with Beyond.
Not a gag reel; a tech demo. Whatever game they're working on probably won't be based on The Dark Sorcerer. It's basically what The Casting was to Heavy Rain, or Kara to Beyond.
I'm just looking forward to the announcement that FFXV will be renamed "Final Fantasy XVII vs. XIII: Noctis' Advent" which will serve as a prequel to FFXX.
i'll tell you what they really turned my head and got me excited when i say the list and i think alot of people are gunna be excited after E3 but we'll see
happy gaming =)
Completely agree!! Heavenly Sword had its shortcomings, mainly trying to do too much with sometimes choppy gameplay in hectic scenes, and not spending enough time finetuning & optimizing the game but other than that it was an awesome game with a great story & unique and fun characters!
HS was a much better game than Enslaved which didn't have nearly as interesting story or characters…