So the Heavenly Sword review is up on IGN, and while it's not awful, it's not the game I was hoping for.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/815/815721p1.html

I still plan on picking it up, because it's too beautiful a game to simply ignore, but I'm getting a little tired of the lack of good games being released.

Lair was looking good, but as you all know the reviews haven't all been that great. I know warhawk will be great fun, as many of you played the beta and have reported your gaming goodness, but I was really hoping for a fantastic single player game this fall.

I'll likely pick up ratchet and clank, but I could never really get pulled into the first or second game on ps2.

After playing games like motorstorm and resistance, I know the ps3 kicks ass, but I just wish there was a bit more content out there.

Is there a shining star ps3 exclusive out there that I have missed for this year?

Late fall you are going to have Uncharted, which is looking like a REALLY great title. I'm in the same boat but think I'll be shorter on time with CFB right around the corner. With that, HS, & Warhawk, I'll be plenty occupied into December.

You know, there is plenty of fresh air and sunshine still around until winter comes. Perhaps we should get out of the house every now and then.

Wow....uh....this sucks....

I had some HUGE hopes and expectations for HS; I even preordered it 6 months ago. But I've already cancelled my Lair preorder...don't really want to do it again...

I'll probably still be picking it up just for the fact that I want to support any developer that puts this much time and effort into a cinematic story--it's the kind of stuff I want to see more of in the future.

As for what's left to look forward to on the horizon for the PS3? I'll be picking up Warhawk, and possibly Rachet & Clank--though I've never been able to get into any of their previous games either. Err...other than that, the PS3 will probably remain a Bluray player solely until Killzone 2 hits around Christmas 08.

I would not let 1 reviewer decide whether I will like or dislike a game.

Is that how you lead your life, waiting for others to tell you what you should like or dislike?

The rest of the situation is ironical to the extreme...

When a game gets great reviews, a cohort of people come out and tell you how reviews are meaningless and vain.
When a game gets poor reviews, another cohort of people come out and tell you how that game is doomed and the worse thing since the plague.

I'll wait for reviews by EGM, 1UP, Eurogamer.net, GameSpot and GameSpy. If they all agree the game is flawed, I will rent it and check their findings.

I'm starting to get worried:

Lair = repetitive
HS = repetitive

and so far both are scoring mediocre. :(

The reviewer obviously cannot be trusted. Just look at what he listed under graphics:


Beautiful in every respect


There is NO WAY anyone could consider her hair beautiful!

Lol, I know that I don't need to rely on reviews to tell me whether or not to play a game, which is why I still plan on picking it up, but 90% of the time, I agree with the IGN reviews, especially when its a big complaint such as repetition. I fully intend on buying this game and enjoying it, but I was hoping for a fall blockbuster smash hit to give the ps3 a good name, and keep me entertained for a while.

Haze looks great.

I like the review. I don't know yet if I agree, but it holds up with my suspicions based on the demo.

Honestly, Roper's take sounds a lot like what I thought of the first God of War. It took until GoW II to hammer out the deficiencies in gameplay. I'm sure HS will be a blast to play through, and HS II could be a classic.

Haze looks great.

so does Heavenly Sword...

I don't sweat the reviews and rarely sweat others opinions on a game if I've played it. There was a lot of people pointing me towards NGS - along with many reviewers - and I found that game to be meh... It's getting traded in after going through 4 levels and lack of interest to complete. No story and just not keeping my interest - along with being very hard. One of the greatest games ever? Right....

I loved the HS demo - if it's a more polished version of the same and has an emersive story I'm going to like it.

I was in the Sony Metreon in San Francisco today and they have a full version of HS there on their main TV. Though it just ran in demo mode until one of the employees came over and played it. I watched him play for about 30 minutes.

The graphics looked freaking awesome. Shooting of the arrows was a very cool feature though it looked like he was having a really hard time hitting anything. I am not sure if he just wasn't all that good at playing (very possible) but, the boss fights look horribly repetitive. In one of them he was fighting what looked like a half woman-half fish character in a pool and the guy must have spent ten minutes running up to her and hitting her for a couple of seconds and then getting hit and pushed back by a lot of waves the boss created. Rinse and repeat again and again. People got bored and walked away.

I will be buying this one and making my own mind up on it. Like Stangs55 said above, I want to support any maker that makes this much of an effort in a game. I am just hoping that guy didn't know how to play because I can see that getting really old fast.

I am really looking forward to R&C since I never had a PS2 and will probably pick up Warhawk to play with a friend who really likes it.

It took awhile for the Xbox 360 to start getting their good game released so I am sure the PS3 will too. But, I thought they would have been able to do it faster than the Xbox 360 did.

EDIT: I just watched the IGN video review and it actually shows the boss fight I was talking about. I am happy to say that the employee had no idea what he was doing. Though it makes me wonder about the difficulty since he easily lived for 10 minutes doing pretty much everything wrong.

so does Heavenly Sword...

Haze has a developer with a great track record (ie Goldeneye and Timesplitters) to back it up, while the developer of HS made Kung Fu Chaos last. So my expectations are different.

Goldeneye was done by Rare.

Goldeneye was done by Rare.

The people who now make up Free Radical Design were (supposedly) some of the key people who worked on Goldeneye/PD at Rare.

I'm starting to get worried:

Lair = repetitive
HS = repetitive

and so far both are scoring mediocre. :(

I'm just trying to get my head around this. A game like RE4 seems like it was much more repetitive then HS will be, yet these people loved it....

Hell NGS could be called repetitive, but i love the action there and it's fun.

Played the demo,I'd buy it but not at full price.Granted,very few games I buy at full price anymore.

How does IGN get a 7.0 for a total when they got 5 sections three of them having 9.0 and one with a 7.0 and one with a 5.0. They must have some kind of weighted score going on but even if that was the case wouldn't the 5.0 for the "laqsdting appeal" score not be wroth as much as the other 4 scores. Something smells fishy....

^Those numbers average out to a 7.8.Seems the lasting appeal is the real issue.Ehh,I never pay much attention to final scores,moreso to the actual review text.

How does IGN get a 7.0 for a total when they got 5 sections three of them having 9.0 and one with a 7.0 and one with a 5.0. They must have some kind of weighted score going on but even if that was the case wouldn't the 5.0 for the "laqsdting appeal" score not be wroth as much as the other 4 scores. Something smells fishy....

They clearly state right next to their "7" score... OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average) Yes they use a weighted score, they always have.

http://www.gamepro.com/sony/ps3/games/reviews/130968.shtml

4.5/5

I get a different feel of the game from the Gamepro review, it seems like this is one of those games some people will love/hate. This is a must buy for me, but it might have to wait a month or 2 since there are other games I want on the way.

I'll probably still be picking it up just for the fact that I want to support any developer that puts this much time and effort into a cinematic story--it's the kind of stuff I want to see more of in the future.

If you wanna give to charity, why not just donate to the local food bank or something?

I would not let 1 reviewer decide whether I will like or dislike a game.

Is that how you lead your life, waiting for others to tell you what you should like or dislike?

There were what, 1700 games for the PS2, right? Maybe from reading the back of the box, roughly 700 of them would interest me. I don't have the time or money to play them all, so I need to filter out the bad games. Reading reviews serves that purpose.

I read reviews for anything that costs more than $25 or so, if I can find them. There is too much junk sold these days.

If you wanna give to charity, why not just donate to the local food bank or something?

Because they make crappy games ;)

I thought the IGN review seemed very unbiased and believable. Playing the demo even seemed a little repetetive, but the graphics were awesome. I will probably pass on this....there are too many other great games coming out/out already on another system I own....but in the mean time Ive been picking up Blu-Rays like they are a drug addiction!

There were what, 1700 games for the PS2, right? Maybe from reading the back of the box, roughly 700 of them would interest me. I don't have the time or money to play them all, so I need to filter out the bad games. Reading reviews serves that purpose.

I read reviews for anything that costs more than $25 or so, if I can find them. There is too much junk sold these days.

I do the same...really.

If there are PS2 games that you missed out on, then buy them until your most wanted game is released. I'm replaying San Andreas again for the third time. Haven't bought a new PS3 game since Double Agent was released.

The problem, and reason it got a 7, was because it is super short. Only 6 hours is really unacceptable. If it were 8-10 hours, I'm sure it would have gotten an 8-8.5.

After playing games like motorstorm and resistance, I know the ps3 kicks ass, but I just wish there was a bit more content out there.

Is there a shining star ps3 exclusive out there that I have missed for this year?

This year's exclusives:

Aug 28: Warhawk
Sept 4: Lair
Sept 12: Heavenly Sword
Oct. 4: Folklore
Oct. 23: Ratchet + Clank: TOD
Oct: 25: Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
Nov. 6: Unreal Tournament 3
Nov. 13: Singstar (for my wife...really)
Nov 20: Haze
Nov 20: Uncharted

Oh, and Home on Oct. 4, but that's more a diversion not a game...

This year's exclusives:

Aug 28: Warhawk
Sept 4: Lair
Sept 12: Heavenly Sword
Oct. 4: Folklore
Oct. 23: Ratchet + Clank: TOD
Oct: 25: Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
Nov. 6: Unreal Tournament 3
Nov. 13: Singstar (for my wife...really)
Nov 20: Haze
Nov 20: Uncharted

Oh, and Home on Oct. 4, but that's more a diversion not a game...

Ratchet and Clank,Uncharted,and Unreal for me.Gran Turismo 5 also,which I hear is supposed to be free download

The problem, and reason it got a 7, was because it is super short. Only 6 hours is really unacceptable. If it were 8-10 hours, I'm sure it would have gotten an 8-8.5.

For those who's buying decisions are based on reviews, apparently the October EGM gives Heavenly Sword an 8,8,9 (3 reviewers).

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=184517

So, everyone happy now?

So HS has a good story, great graphics and sound and great combat and is a bit short (6-10 hours, depending on who you ask). It sounds like a winner to me.

As to the "fight the same guys over and over" repetitive claim, which game of the genre isn't the same? God of War, Ninja Gaiden - both are like this! Hell even Gears of War was fighting the same 2-3 guys for 8-10 hours with really shallow boss fights. This kind of game is about mastering the combat and enjoying the story and scenery. It's a 6+ hour interactive movie. Would you rather have a 30 hour mediocre game?

Ratchet and Clank,Uncharted,and Unreal for me.Gran Turismo 5 also,which I hear is supposed to be free download

GT5 Prologue will be a free download...

That is not the full game! It is a demo version...

I plan on buying Heavenly Sword right away, I'm a sucker for these types of games.

And, UT3, will be unfreakingbelievable....I can already tell..

DAMN this is disappointing. Hopefully people will have better things to say once they've had their paws on it for a while - but I have a feeling what we're hearing is the real deal :(

Well I usually find myself agreeing with IGN reviews more so than EGM (thus why I canceled my subscription lol), but it's good to hear that the reviews aren't all bad :)

GT5 Prologue will be a free download...

That is not the full game! It is a demo version...


Link please. It's not a demo; AFAIK they will be charging for it.

Link please. It's not a demo; AFAIK they will be charging for it.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=897176