Goddess of War: Heavenly Sword

One look at Heavenly Sword’s main character — Nariko, a scantily clad female ninja who wields two giant swords — and it becomes glaringly obvious why this game has generated so much pre-release buzz interest. Now, after more than a year of hype, the game is finally here, and it has beautiful graphics and tons of action-packed combat. Still, as hot as its heroine is, we can’t shake the feeling that she’s actually another video-game character in drag — specifically Kratos, the demigod who stars in the hugely popular God of War games for the PS2.

Both Nariko and Kratos are revenge-hungry warriors who brandish a set of twin blades that can be whipped around on chains. And like God of War, Heavenly Sword provides players with only the slightest control of the camera, which can result in the awkwardness of engaging in fights with enemies the player can’t see. The titles’ ancient-Greek and feudal-Japanese settings look quite different, but the general feel of the games — fight through waves of disposable enemies to get to the next section — is remarkably similar.

To its credit, Heavenly Sword steals from the best. The pacing is excellent, with major battles interspersed with some simple puzzles (which usually involve finding a switch to open a locked door). The script is typical sword-and-sorcery gibberish, but the top-notch cast of voice actors (including Andy Serkis, Gollum in The Lord of the Rings movies) gives enthusiastic performances, at least on par with a made-for-cable sci-fi flick — a true rarity, even with today’s multimillion-dollar game budgets.