New Heavenly Sword screenshots

Gamepro just released this new batch of Ninja Theory's upcoming beat-em all for the PS3, Heavenly Sword.

[Bill Nye]

I was just about to submit this, hah. It's too bad they're so small.

[techie]

....can't breath....so proud of the ninjas. Wahhh...and the great thing is! It's HS week on gamepro! SOmething new every day. gameplay footage!?

I'm so sorry for doubting Sony marketting again.

Look at her in-game playable face...looks like their research into eye specular has paid off as well. Look at the lovely scenery - the grass and flowers and so many enemies! The shadows and the colours look great...ps3 games washed out my ass. (oooh that last sentence sounds strange...wouldn't need to go to woolworths then..)

[GeneYus]

You're the only person that is obsessed with this game on the same level as me. I've been watching this damn game for over two years now and the anticipation just grows with every bit of info. The shot of Nariko over the hundreds of soldiers has exciting potential! The shifting release dates are definitely driving me crazy though...

[techie]

Same here. I've always said it's about the games and I'll tell you this now. If HS was on the 360 I'd pick it over the ps3. Really this game is what dreams are made of lol.

I'm going to cambridge now to go and get a hands on test! Not too far for me. Dang. DOn't hype, don't hype. Calm.

Looks average... q: LOL no demo for a while figboy, it only entered Alpha last month.

Gene sounds like we have the same taste in games. I also can't wait for this or uncharted...David Jaffe said personally that Uncharted was breathtaking! hehe.

Note: I love these screens as they show of the scenery, but they are missing the bloom and HDR of previous gameplay...I'm sure that's coming back, and these are great to show the quality of the scenery and the colour to dispell the "ps3 games are washed out and uncolourful"...it also shows off the great shadows...really just look at the soft shadows on everything and the lighting of Nariko. It does look amazing...just want to see those Bloom affects back, because they gave a real atmosphere.

[wildcat]

the environments are stunning and detailed, the scenery is grand, and the amount of enemies on screen is going to be just spectacular. they've also improved the texture of her hair.

[ps360]

this game is evrything i hoped it would and more

OH MY GOSH you can even see the ditail on the persons foot on PIC #8

[Figboy]

i'm just as obsessed, if not moreso, with Heavenly Sword than you also!

it doesn't help that i actually got to get my hands on it for 3 oh so brief minutes at E3 last year.

oh, Nariko, you c*cktease you!

Sony really needs to get a demo out for this game asap. like, this month.

i know the Ninja Gaiden Sigma demo is hitting this month (man, i can't wait for that one either), but a Heavenly Sword, Lair, and Warhawk demo would really be a kick in the pants for the PS3.

it *NEEDS* demos of upcoming potentially AAA games, instead of demos of games that have been released already.

on topic, HS looks great, and i can't wait. i'm really hoping it doesn't come out in September like what's been rumored. a July release would be golden.

[GeneYus]

Getting to play a demo of this game and having to wait as long as you have thus far would be torture... I'm going crazy and I've just seen pictures and the few videos. These screenshots are so great cause they actually show off scenes that we havent seen before! I feel like the last year has been so sparse in terms of new HS goodness so this batch of screens is just amazing. Its scary how good this game is starting to look. I loved the 2005 vs 2007 comparison photos. This and Uncharted are without a doubt my most looked forward to games of the year.

[n4g sucks]

OH MY GOD , these screen shots just gave me goose bumps. i cant believe nariko strated out looking like a jap anime character but look at her now. her hair is no longer so choppy and the skin textures look off the hook.(look at the toes.) her face looks less asian inspired and she actually has a butt now. PLEASE give me more sony i NEED this game like a crack head needs rocks..i think this will be the first game to show off some of that cell processor power, 2200 characters at once.......excuse me why i go walk off my chubby

[SmokeyMcBear]

yummy

[wildcat]

yummy ass

[LSDARBY]

Nice, this game looks better every time i see it.

[Loudninja]

Man it looks even better!

[EnforcerOfTheTruth]

...so I'm pretty sure I'll love that game too...and damn, that thing looks hot!

[techie]

You know they've fixed quite a few things. The hair for one..observe how it sits over the sword, no cutting...and how it is more flowing and less "choppy". The shadows for another, turning down the bloom a little. And the Depth of Field is amazing as it is not as blurred as it used to be. And note the left buttock q:

ps. instead of gamepro providing two of each and zooming in and cropping on them they shouldve given us 720p screens damn it as I'm sure Ninja Theory provided them with! grr naughty gamepro.

[SmokeyMcBear]

HAHA yeah didnt wanna say anything, but the ass shots were a plus, im sure GAMR would approve

[Loudninja]

At frist I thought it would be like 2 or 3 at a time but damn

[techie]

Secret...2200...or more. Mark my words.

[fenderputty]

I'm looking forward to the most right now. Did someone say HS week? New stuff all week? Awesome.

[Loudninja]

2,200 or more? running at a great framerate ?

[techie]

Not kidding. q:

Damn it I used up all my bubbles to tell you that! And I wanted to save them if someone came in hating. Oh well.

Boink. It's HS week at gamepro...something new everyday so gameplay footage has to be a must! :)

Ludwig...what's your point? The only difference is the blur...and that was gameplay footage from November last year...to me it looks better.

ps. give me more bubbles and I can answer all (most) your HS questions. :)

[kingboy]

look at that ,prepare to hit button combinations till your fingers bleed my friends

[quiddd]

playin

[DaTrooF]

this game was the game that got me interested on buyin a ps3.although their are orther great games coming out for the ps3 that i want,i would get the system even if that was the only game on it.*drools*:)

[MySwordIsHeavenly]

HOLY FRICKIN' CRAP!!!

I have it reserved. I'm so excited. It's unfortunate that many children will masturbate because of this game...

[AppleSlime]

But, really, this game looks amazing. It'd be great to get a demo sometime.

[DaTrooF]

well,i read somewhere that there will be big and small mythical monsters that you will be able to fight.anyone else knows about this?also does anyone know anything about boss battles?

[TheGoodMART]

Look at that (CG) picture from a month ago and now look at the real time game play. I think the game play one looks much better! Looks like she got a tan( like most of the American girls in winter)

[CrazzyMan]

This game definately will rock!
want to see in action, i think it will look like CG.
And this game coming in first year of PS3 live..
Imagine how will look the HS2... =)

[Boink]

if the in game screenshots looks this good, why not release some in game footage to help build the hype?

seems to make sense to me?

[jwatt]

Just go to youtube and type in heavenly sword, the videos are old but they should do.

[Boink]

the youtube vids are such crappy quality. I mean the company wants to take the time to capture these beautiful screens, why not capture some of the game and send it out?

I mean if it looks as good as these screens show, then that'll pretty much sell the game? it's basically free publicity.

[wildcat]

they will release gameplay videos and more screenshots. Remember, there was that period when there was nothing new of Heavenly Sword, and then all of a sudden they came out with screenies, trailers, and a commercial clip. I think some gameplay videos will be right around the corner, maybe I'm wishful thinking.

[Ludwig]

Are you people BLIND?...
http://img237.imageshack.us...

[jwatt]

I didn't think this game would look better. If they're still working on the graphics I don't mind when it comes out.

[wildcat]

The platforming looks cool, jumping from rope to rope. I want them to release like at least a 5 min. video just showing off the environments and some battle sequences. I want to see how far they've gotten as far as the fighting goes.

[DaTrooF]

but i have a feeling that this new screens that gamepro has just put out are about.....a couple of months old,but they are new to us.ny new info on gameplay?weapons?

[xg-ei8ht]

I can feel microsoft sweating already.

Bill is suddenly feeling hot hot hot.

Hot news on release, PS3 Sells another 3million. Game receives 10/10

[stingray9191]

I highly doubt bill is sweating it the xbox 360 has some really big heavy hitters coming out this year including Halo3, Mass Affect and Bioshok which I have already pre-ordered and they will all look better than this game...minus mass affect

[marison]

and have always be impressed, till now...

The art direction is amazing, but the lighting effects lacks too much for me now.

Hope they change this before launch.

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

you play games for lighting effects.
that`s un-fun.
i like lighting FX too, but don`t say that why your not impressed.

[original seed]

I was going to wait for Little Big Planet but if this turns out good i'll be picking up a PS3 for sure

[xg-ei8ht]

Same here, i'll be picking up my ps3 xmas:) Plenty of sweet games by then.

[StrboyM]

the best eye sockets in any polygon game. ever see the eye sockets on madden players....ughh scary

[DaTrooF]

how do you guys think she will sound when she talks.ive just watch all the videos realeased and she hasnt talk in any of them.

[BigE]

<sarcasm>

PS3 Sucks. There are no games for it. All the games rated 9.0 or above are on XBOX360. These new screens are not that good. Nariko or whatever her name is looks very ugly. No attetion was paid to the details. Her hair looks choppy .. e.t.c

</sarcasm>

But really guys what i dont get is... there was a vid at the last E3 that showed Nariko pretty much castrating a dude, the primary costume she is wearing shows nudity... yet there is NO BLOOD. I dont understand it. Maybe the devs are trying to set a diff tone from god.o.w. But why add elements like i mentioned above if theres no blood.. The game will already get an M rating from that alone so whats holding em?!?

AMAZING GAME THOUGH .. i might add. Will get this Day 1.

1

[GeneYus]

that the reason the game was delayed after the launch had to do with blood. Apparently they realised that the realism of the violence alone was going to stick them with an M rating and decided to just go all out. I really hope this is true because it means the game will be even crazier.

[griff]

ummm smoke i have a pm for you

[power of Green]

Lol...

[Keyser]

This...is a must have game. (obviously)

[Blasphemy]

Do they have a release date for this game yet? This is mainly what i bought my ps3 for.

[soccerstar]

sry stingray9191 but none of those look better than this game espeially halo 3 cuz it just looks like crap plain and simple(the other 2 look really good but not as good as HS) but graphics are not what is important about games its the gameplay and everybody always seems to forget that. That is the reason i go back and play my n64, cuz the games were fun even though the graphics are not good, like goldeneye, zelda, mario party and mario tennis.

[power of Green]

The close ups or cutscens of the chick look great the actual game is alright. I dont understand what you're talking about. It looks a smidge better than Tomb Raider with more going on or scenes that might be gameplay or some sort of scene, lets not get carred away. Be honest! look at the action carefully(Gameplay pics) and you'll see its looks great for whats been coming out for the PS3. I'm suprized #19 did not get ripped a new asshole for being honest, you havn't noticed the big time Sony fans fans are not in here talking sh*t, Yah! thats the reason.

[sak500]

360 had a game called 99 nights (N3) and HS are of the same quality. N3 was released year ago. What the hell is wrong with these fanbois?

[fenderputty]

Look like crap but, it's score isn't anything to write home about either. 5.6 at IGN.

This game looks way better then you two give credit.

[Robotz Rule]

Till Heavenly Sword for my Playstation 3!,It looks amazing!,and it's scheduled for a August release this year.

[PS360PCROCKS]

I'm really not trying to be biased at all here and I have looked at those pictures time and time again and I am hesitant to say anything so I don't get attacked, but I am so not impressed by these. Their are certain things that look good in every picture than their are other things that turn me off. Example: 1 looks like concept art look at her leg, #2 is good no complaints, #3 looks like a bunch of jumbled guys and she is all blurry, hardly any texture anywhere, #4 looks good no complaints, #5 looks horrible compared to that short clip we saw a month ago that was airing on Heroes, #6 detail, texture, hello??, #7-10 are all really good looking except for is their no hdr in this game, theirs like no realistic lighting at all, so many dark surfaces...all of this is so weird because I feel like the game has looked MUCH MUCH better than this in previous media. I really believe and HOPE these are super old because these don't excite me at all and this is one of my top 5 games I am excited about, as I tore through GOW 1 AND 2 earlier this year I really am waiting for another game like this...ok so after reading back through my comment I guess I don't really have that many complaints but I still think it will look 10 times better than this...

EDIT:: EVERYONE look at Number 19's post it totally makes my case make total sense...

[SmokeyMcBear]

wow simply wow, really can't believe you guys, the screens look amazing, and you are talking about #19, its a screen capture from the heroes teaser trailer, the game is running at 60 fps, and you wonder why its blurry on a screen cap. If you thing this game looks bad, well I feel sorry for you. These screens, plus the gameplay shown at E3, make this game blow out the competition. Ninja Gaiden has nothing on this game. Just step back and reevaluate your thoughts on games and gaming itself. The fanboys always show their true colors.

[wildcat]

You make a lot of good, honest points. They look like an improvement in some parts like her hair and the environment lighting, but it still looks like it needs improvement in the amount of textures in some areas. But there's a small part in this trailer http://www.games.net/video/... at 1:34 where it's showing gameplay and all of the textures and lighting look really incredible. I think it for sure looks way better when you're actually running it on an HDTV.

[techie]

HDR and Bloom effects are very big in the game and is something they talk about since the begining and is something they've had since the begining...they have an amazing lighting guy. I believe these have those effects turned off..for reasons that may be to show off the enviroments and colour in screenshots...I'll try and get this confirmed from the devs. :)

[PS360PCROCKS]

Smokey I'm not bashing this game whatsoever, I am totally looking forward to this title I was just commenting on these pictures as they seem like a step backward in areas from previous screens. As for the video, unless I am mistaken, it was a gameplay video and it far exceeds these shots. Anyways my whole point was that these look horrible compared to past media, these shots will be blown away by finalized game code, I can almost guarantee that, and no I am not a "fanboy"

[DJ]

actually looks quite a bit better than this. But these still look fairly good. It's hard to say how old they are though since we're being kept in the dark. I have some other photos from another magazine attached; it was released back in December in the UK. Sony is basically saving their entire software onslaught for E3 in July.

[Rybnik]

Which Mag?

[Figboy]

i know. it's driving me crazy.

it was only the arena demo we've seen so much of, but it was so fun.

the controls were fluid and responsive, the animations were smooth and graceful, and the number of moves she had at her disposal between her various stances were sweet as hell, and fun to pull off. and that was nearly a *YEAR* ago! having worked in the gaming industry for 3 years, i know the type of tweaking that goes on during the last 2 to 3 months, so i can't even imagine the tweaking and perfecting that's been going on for the past 10 months!

at the very least, Heavenly Sword will be a fun game to play.

at the most, it will be very fun to play, and have a great story adding to it's backbone.

i really hope the rumors of it's September release are false, and that it's more closer to July (the month of my birth).

it was just one of the reasons last year that i decided the PS3 was for me. i understand that you have to wait for the good games to come (360ers waited a year for Gears of War, PS3ers have to wait for MGS4, Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, Home, Little Big Planet, etc).

well, the days have been going by at a decent pace for me lately, so it'll be Q4 before i know it. in the meantime, there's some good games hitting between now and then that should keep me busy (like Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and Lair), so i think i can whether the storm. i did it with the PS2 (possibly the bearer of the worst console launch line-up in gaming history), i'm sure i can do it again.

[wasted]

looks a little like god of war but with a bird character instead. no bad thing :)

[Maldread]

I would really want to see more in-game clips of this. A hands-on or demo would be even better, so we can hear a bit more of how it plays, which should be the most interesting question. With 2200 on screen, i want to see how smooth it runs too.

[nanometric]

If only they where bigger! But I'm not too impresed, don't get me wrong they look very good, but still... maybe I played too much GoW2 :D

[LightofDarkness]

Man, I've been following this game since it was announced on 360 all those years ago. And just look at her now. This may finally be the game that'll make me glad I bought my PS3 (it may be the sole reason I did it too). They have tweaked the visuals so well too, so they suit the art direction more. I've noticed that the self-shadowing and other lighting nuances have been removed or toned down quite a bit, but I think it makes for a better overall presentation.

Isn't this nice? No fanboy-ish comments in a 62 comment thread? Just people commenting on a game. Keep this up and this place might become hospitable again.

[achira]

wow !!! cant wait for this game!

[DiLeCtioN]

many games to choose from this year, i best start saving

[Lex Luthor]

Looks like a polished version of jade empire and i think they downgraded the game.

[Lex Luthor]

Looks like a polished version of jade empire and i think they downgraded the game.

[Raist]

http://cdn5.tribalfusion.co...

[J@D]

Wooooo everything look STUNNING!. This game 4 sure will rock on over the PS3 a System Seller without a doubt. I sense someone its crying out there hahahahaha.

[Anego Montoya FTMFW]

agreed?

[sak500]

xbox live titles look better than this

[J@D]

"xbox live titles look better than this"

^ Keep dreaming my friend, keep dreaming...

[VORODOR 2]

OH WAIT IT'S NOT COMMING OUT FOR THE 360 I FORGOT SORRY MARTY, YOU WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO FANTASIE ABOUT THIS GAME YOU BARREL OZZE. REMEMBER WHEN ALL THE MS FANBOYS THOGUHT THIS WAS A MS GAME HAHA, HOW WRONG THEY WERE.

[theagony]

these two names will be the assassins of ms

[theagony]

hell I do