Enslaved Vs Heavenly Sword – HD Screenshot comparison

Gamersmint writes : Heavenly Sword was a multi million dollar PS3 exclusive, made by Ninja Theory at a time when the PS3′s install base was less, and they needed to prove what the PS3 could do. Now these multiplatform developers are making an unique game called Enslaved which, believe us or not resembles Heavenly Sword a lot.

[Meisadragon]

both look so similar lol, cant believe heavenly sword looks so good.

[cyber_crysis]

The weapons' gameplay,graphics, looks better than Heavenly sword. The camera is closer too.

Looking forward to more gameplay videos! Hope the hit detection is better this time around.

[nveenio]

Am I the only person who has ever noticed the recycling of the Heavenly Sword heroine to the "new" game?

[WhittO]

Wow, heavenly Sword really was ahead of it's time, look at that detail in Narkos face! Looks better than alot of the characters in Heavy Rain!

[sikbeta]

Ah... please, now it comes teh comparisons, let me tell you IF this game don't look better than Heavenly Sword, a THREE YEARS OLD Game, well damn, there is a problem right there...

[Triella]

I don't agree, aside from a little screen tearing and slowdowns, Heavenly sword in motion is particularly beautiful :
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Cevapi88]

wait so NT rips on heavenly sword, yet they used Nariko in Enslaved....its basically the same character....now what was that about Heavenly Sword NT??? you were saying something about it?? hmmmmm

[Dacapn]

Damn. For some reason I never bothered to youtube that game. That is ridiculous for what was essentially a launch title. The game's cheap now, so ima definitely have to pick it up.

[ChineseDemocracy]

If i didn't know any better, I'd say all those screenshots were from the same game.

[ExplosionSauce]

I believe that's why the AA and shaders are better on Heavenly Sword.

It's a shame Ninja Theory were expressing themselves quite negatively about Heavenly Sword and blamed it on PS3 exclusivity. Yet HS looks better.
Although I do see some more fancy stuff going on in Enslaved compared to HS which was launch title. HS still holds up against it.

[Natsu X FairyTail]

Man Are you fools looking at the same pictures as me? Wtf is wrong with you people?

How in the world are you guys telling me HS looks better than enslaved? Is it because it's exclusive to PS3 you guys are FORCiNG yourselves to say it looks better?

http://www.gamersmint.com/w...

vs
http://www.gamersmint.com/w...

http://www.gamersmint.com/w...

vs

http://www.gamersmint.com/w...

Just look at the Details in the clothing in Enslaved.

I mean there'S no doubt HS looks good and Still does looks good at this day but CMON NOW.

[SilentNegotiator]

These low resolution screens "conveniently" don't show Enslaved's AA-less blocky-ness vs Heavenly Sword's 720p 4xAA.

Thanks for another "quality" comparison, gamersmint.

@Natsu
You've sure been back to your xbox trolling ways lately.
Here, instead of convincing yourself with cutscene screens, how about looking at gameplay shots instead?
http://www.videogameszone.d...

[Triella]

@Natsu :

http://www.thebitbag.com/wp...
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3...
http://i194.photobucket.com...
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3...
http://i194.photobucket.com...
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3...
http://www.ps2vicio.com/ima...
http://www.gamercenteronlin...

[Motorola]

@ Natsu
Those pics of HS that you posted look better than enslaved. The girl that looks like Nariko looks as if she has no skin under her armor....which isnt appealing

[Game-ur]

Hey is something wrong with your eyes? Character models are WAY better in HS in the pics you linked, and the game is much better in motion than the screens show, I have played it.

[Boody-Bandit]

I almost forgot just how awesome Heavenly Sword was to play.
Ahead of it's time indeed. It's ashame this series is not being carried on. I wish Sony would give it to Santa Monica.

@Natsu
I don't know what it is you think you are seeing but to me Enslaved looks like it could have come out 6 months after Heavenly Sword. I'm not seeing much, if any real, differences between the two. Enslaved should be a much bigger jump in visuals considering it's 3+ years removed from Heavenly Sword. If anything this shows Ninja Theory should have spent more time working on Enslaved and less time running their mouths to anyone that would listen.

[Lich120]

@Sikbeta

And yet, Cyber gets disagrees for saying so.

[pixelsword]

For me anyways, the best scene from HS.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[morganfell]

This is just more proof of what I have said multiple times on this site. Heavenly Sword was one of the most unjustly damned games ever. The campaign to downplay or ignore and in several cases outright attack HS is unmatched except for the cold shoulder that was given to the first Uncharted when it released. (Uncharted 1 is viewed differently now but was played down when it launched).

HS was dismantled by the gaming press in a systematic fashion and for that they should be ashamed. This playtime issue was a load of horse dump. I love how reviewers set the easiest difficulty and then sprint through titles. I ran an actual clock stopping it whenever I took the slightest break, played on the hardest available difficulty, explored a little by messing around in areas after I had cleared them and it took me over 11.5 hours. Longer than HALO 3 on Heroic.

I do not personally know anyone that ACTUALLY PLAYED THE GAME who sprinted through it close to one of these fabled review times. Go back and play it now but remember. You know the game, how to beat certain areas, etc. It's pathetic that a game as cinematic as HS was attacked by idiots including Itagaki who denounced it's use of QTE. Of course he declined to make any comments about God of War.

[Godmars290]

You're praising the older game for looking as good as the newer one?

Nevermind its a launch PS3 game vs a multiplatform later in the cycle.

[raztad]

I would first need to see a better analysis but it is kinda worrisome the newer game (multiplat, UE3 based) is not leaps and bounds beyond a first gen PS3 game.

[Godmars290]

Its not helping that NT has been criticizing and downplaying their own, older work at every opportunity. Now they've turned around to make something that might looking slightly less or better.

[Reibooi]

I don't know how people can look at that and think enslaved looks better then HS does.

Looking at the character models in particular Enslaved is very weak when compared to HS. They seem much more Flat and dull when compared to the full of emotion and life of the HS character models.

The Enslaved environments look pretty nice but alot of that is due to the more lush colors then anything else. The graphics themselves are still behind HS. It's just the bright colors that make it a pop a bit more but on a technical level HS still wins.

Honestly the fact that HS still looks this good 3 years later is incredible to me. Another thing people need to remember is screens never really did HS justice and that seeing the game in motion was always the thing that blew you away.

I also find it funny that the Enslaved heroine is just a recycled Nariko with less detail. Basically cut her hair and gave her half a metal body and called it a new character. Aside from those 2 changes she is basically a clone of Nariko.

[Bhai]

Really?, can't say that...

Both have different weapons... Visual Fidelity wise, HS wins hands down... characters, backgrounds, physics(Havok Complete) and animation wise. And lets not forget the HS cut-scenes have been totally unsurpassed even by the greatest hitters lately, let alone enslaved!

Still don't think half-hearted UE3.0 work can compete with an exclusive engine...

[ABizzel1]

Enslaved looks better, but not by much.

In-game character models have more detail

the lighting is better, which is weird after seeing the 13 min. gameplay since the lighting was the problem I had with Enslaved (it was way too much).

And Enslaved is more saturated than Heavenly Sword (which makes games look more gamey)

Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but Enslaved looks a lot like Heavenly Sword. I mean too much. The female character is nearly identical to Nariko. They used the same combat animations (they may have added a few more).

My guess is that Enslaved was going to be Heavenly Sword 2, but Ninja Theory decided to go multiplatform, and tweaked the characters, weapons, combat, and script and that's why we have Enslaved.

Heavenly Sword was a great, game and needs another game. Sony Santa Monica or somebody needs to make it happen.

[Man In Black]

Heavenly Sword's graphics has definitely aged well, considering it's been about 3 years.

[TK421]

Heavenly sword was epic. I have some great memories while playing that game!
They need to make a part 2. Ninja Theory doesn't have to do it.

[Carlos_Irwin_Estevez]

LOL look at the geometry, heavenly sword looks much better, but even more so if you see it in motion.

[PR0X1]

Guys the hardware has not changed in the pas 5 years. So ofc it's all going to look the same.

[nickjkl]

wrong sir

seriously i think you guys should actually study th epicture instead of just looking at it and going it wins you have to see what it is using and enslaved is above heavenly sword whether you want to admit it or not

[pixelsword]

HS looks better, plus it has hundreds of characters running around in a number of stages.

[cyborg]

IS this real? Never knew Heavenly Sword would look so similar to Ninja's new game! Damn, some of those shots are identical aswell!

[nickjkl]

thats what i was thinking after a while i was like wait a minute did they take that from heavenly sword

i know its made by the same devs but damn

and idk about you guys but in some points enslaved embarrases heavenly sword i mean come on look at nariko compared to the new nariko

[3sq]

Super seiyan???

[skrug]

it's spelt Saiyajin

[lokiroo420]

Heavenly sword looks better and is 3 years older.

[mrcash]

i just finished playing heavenly sword and based on the gameplay vids i've seen of enslaved, enslaved wins by a landslide which is expected considering hs is 3 years old.

[dc1]

Oh, wow.. respectfully,..
There is no way you could have just played HS on a HD screen and make that statement that "Enslaved wins by a landslide" based on pics.

HS was a remarkably made game that was ahead of the curb in several aspects as well as production value.

Edit:
In addition, the HS pics look a little dim/dull and is not representative of the gameplay cut scenes.

[mrcash]

HS was a beautiful game, the cinematics looked significantly better than the gameplay when it transitioned into gameplay the quality dropped. I'm not knocking HS one bit I think its a great game, but i've seen some vids of enslaved where the graphics do stomp on HS graphics.

[nycredude]

Mrcash

Stop trolling man and hyping up a multiplat game's graphics. It never ends well after they released. Enslaved looks good. But imo heavenly sword not only holds its own but looks better in many of those shots. Enslaved looks like an Unreal game but a good looking one.

This only shows that Heavenly Sword was severely underrated and bashed unfairly for being short. The game still looks incredibly good 3 years later.

[mrcash]

not trolling go look at some vids of enslaved most are low quality and look better than HS especially the lighting.

[talltony]

Heavenly sword has really great charachter models and cutscenes. They are still top of the line imo.

[talltony]

The only drawback was that it was so short. Still right after I beat it I beat it again on the hardest difficulty. I never do that for games. I really enjoyed heavenly sword.

[Nac]

Sony and Playstation fans would have supported it. An extremely under appreciated game.

[mrcash]

it was supported but unfortunately it was a bit pricey to make. It sold over 1 mil.

[ChronoJoe]

The sections with the girl with the bow, made the game kind of lame. In my opinion.

[Figboy]

jaded game reviewers who couldn't help but keep their bitterness that the PS3 was $600 out of the evaluation of it's games.

i think nearly every single Heavenly Sword review went like this: "the graphics are great, the story is great, the acting is great, the game play is rather good, but the game is short, and the PS3 is $600, and this one game doesn't justify the price of the console. never mind Resistance, Motorstorm, Virtua Fighter 5, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Warhawk, and the upcoming Folklore, Ratchet and Clank, Uncharted, and Unreal Tournament 3 are also on the system, Heavenly Sword, just like Lair, should have single-handedly justified the price of the PS3, so pass on this."

and most of the sheep listened, and didn't buy the game. even though it sold over 1 million units, the franchise was already tainted by the media calling it "Goddess of War," and painting the franchise in a negative light.

the presentation and game play of Heavenly Sword was great. especially when you consider it was a year one PS3 title, and Ninja Theory's first crack at the PS3 architecture.

PlayStation fans didn't kill Heavenly Sword, a vindictive, spiteful gaming media did. Folklore suffered similar treatment, despite it being a fantastic game also.

and now that Ninja Theory and Game Republic are making a multi-plat game, suddenly the gaming media is all praises for Heavenly Sword and Folklore, and calling them "hidden gems," when at the time of release, they trashed those games for not justifying the price of the PS3.

this generation just disgusts me when it comes to how the gaming media covers the industry.

[wildcat]

Thank you Figboy, well f*n said. At that time, every title that came out had to single-handedly justify the price of the PS3. Heavenly Sword was among those 'no games' titles in 2007 which were wrongly ignored but were among my favorites this gen.

[amiga-man]

I actually really enjoyed using the bow, ill never forget taking out all the people on the bridge,while trying to catch the injured guy(think it was her dad lol) the last guy was right behind him about to strike the killer blow, my arrow was in the air, and i had to guide it over his shoulder to kill him.
classic

[divideby0]

FigBoy... spot on..

I really enjoyed HS... the use of motion was SPOT ON and first time used in such a way.

recall the idiots who trashed the game since it didnt have a jump button..

now we see Enslave, 3 years later and HS looks at least as good and I think better...

there is progress for you....
F multiplat titles... 1st party are the major games worth buying

[DaTruth]

You didn't like playing "twing twang"???

Did anyone else ever get the glitch when shooting on the bridge, the dude gets hit in the leg and then flies 30 feet in the air and you can shoot him ten times. Only happens like once every 50 guys(yes, I played that part that much).

[extermin8or]

I didn't get it because after buying the ps3 I didn't want to buy loads of games at the time, I had resistance and motorstorm and then uncharted and elder scrolls 4, enough to keep me going form xmas 07- mgs4 :)

[despair]

environments in enslaved look more detailed and just prettier(could just be the nice scenerey) but the character models are better looking in Heavenly sword even though they have less detail than enslaved.

Still a final comparison from retail game would settle the argument that no one asked for, I mean vids and actual gameplay sometimes differ a lot.

[Acquiesce]

has a thing for gingers.

[SexyPrawns]

I think we all do.

[duplissi]

apparently ninja theory and i have something in common then.

[jacobdevos]

http://www.hongfire.com/cg/...

i was pretty impressed.. like she has very similar facial structure and everything.

[dc1]

Wow.. i have not seen that before.
That has to be Ninja Theory/Sony issued. If not,. its one of the better CP ever. very well done!

[Kain81]

http://i.current.com/images...

http://nuvoleparlanti.blogo...

http://farm4.static.flickr....

http://farm4.static.flickr....

http://farm3.static.flickr....

http://farm4.static.flickr....

And Finally ANGELINA as NARIKO
http://th03.deviantart.net/...

[CimmerianDrake]

I'm sorry but, apart from the Angelina pic (which I still didn't like), those pics hurt my eyes. Looks like a fricking guy in the midst of a sex change. Ugh. jacobdevos, nice find.

[JohnApocalypse]

I think Enslaved looks better. Heavenly Sword has this weird glow

[ChronoJoe]

I agree.

HR has a little too much bloom. I think Enslaved looks better even if it seems to be pushing lower res textures, and polycounts - it's just more aesthetically appealing to me.

[nycredude]

That glow you guys are talking is called better, realistic lighting. The lighting in HS is better than Enslave, which looks cooked. Also look closely at some of the shots of Enslaved character you can see an outline of the bodies, looks like unreal engine.

Does anyone know what engine is the developer using?

Edit: NVM They ARE using Unreal Engine 3

[ChronoJoe]

I don't think Enslaved looks technically superior, I just think Enslaved looks better. Art is subjective after all.

I also think Katamari Forever looks better than Crysis 2.

[SexyPrawns]

Obviously Enslaved looks better.

I can't wait to play this!

I'm hoping people will appreciate NT now. They deserve it. Heavenly Sword was phenomenal.

[theonlylolking]

Enslaved WINS! in graphics

[Brklynty1]

And they both look similar....

[divideby0]

just shows you have good of a game HS was...
I thought HS was great..the use of motion to direct arrows to specific body parts and watch diff. resulting reactions.. first time motion was used to that xtent.

I just LMAO at the jerks who based HS because it didnt have a jump button. To bad they didnt realize how good the combat system was ONCE you learnt it..

ES is looking good

[albel_nox]

Heavenly Sword still looks good but I believe Enslaved will turn out to be a way better overall game.

[HeroXIV]

Heavenly Sword has the best facial animation in any console game for sure.

[TheBreezyBB]

I can't believe people are actually saying that Enslaved looks better!! HS is 3 years old game and looks a lot better at least in the Character models.

[Chucky2003]

HS looks better,what do you expect enslaved uses Unreal engine 3

[3sq]

Well, Nariko is badass while the new girl had to blackmail that Bruce Willis wannabe super seiyan to fight for her and that guy just agreed to it? If someone put a dangerous device on my head, I will pay him/her back 2 or 3 times. "If I die you die" Pfffttt Well, how about let's us die together here now b1tch.

[CobraKai]

The new girl looks like Nariko's daughter or something. I haven't played HS in a while and seeing it again in these screens were jaw dropping. I will say that HS looks better than Enslaved.

[jacobdevos]

but a 5 hour game that tears consistently while you play it wasn't too great :/

Still loved it .. and it showed ps3 hope at the time i needed it .. but i still felt as though Heavenly Sword needed some work still when it was released.

[dc1]

I will agree that there are some tears...

But to say the the game is 5 hours is more than a stretch...
The game was just over 10 hours on my first play through. Sightly over 9 on my second.

I wouldn’t care aside from the fact that one of the major arguments against HS (when it was released) was its game length.

[jacobdevos]

fair enough.. i think the length that i'm describing is more so gameplay .. if you include cinematics it will be closer to 10

[shysun]

The game was worth it, well 60% of games now a days are under 10 hours. Funny how reviewers over looked it on those games.

[TronEOL]

Wow, that's actually pretty funny.
I never knew Heavenly Sword looked THAT good. It looks better than their Multiplatform title, not to mention Heavenly Sword was a PS3 Launch title.

Also, a tiny thing I noticed was even the tree's look worse than they do in Heavenly Sword.

So now I'm wondering why Enslaved looks worse than their first PS3 game (and one of the first PS3 games) when it's being released long after it. Not saying it looks times and times worse, but Heavenly Sword does look noticeably better.

[shysun]

HS looks better to me, or at least on par.

[magikmark8]

Both games look awesome, however i doubt the lip syncing in Enslaved won't be as good as Heavenly Sword.

[Demarco156]

my predictions for enslaved: it will sell 500k on both consoles

if it was a ps3 exclusive: it would look much better much more content it would sell 1500k and sony would make ninja theory a 1st party studio

[N4BmpS]

This article's title should have been changed to "Heavenly Sword vs Enslaved: Character similarities"; that's all I got out of this. But clearly they refined their skills for character modeling.

[southernbanana]

Heavenly Sword does look better as far as these screens have shown. I finally bought Heavenly Sword a few days ago because I wasn't really sure if it was a type of game I would enjoy. It's pretty fun for a Hack and Slash. Anyone know if there will be a sequel?

[jalen247]

Both look good but I think Heavenly Sword looks better by a fair margin. Character models and vistas look better in Heavenly Sword

[spunnups]

I don't know what the is going on with a Heavenly Sword sequel but someone like SCEA Santa Monica needs to get on that.

[skip2mylou]

hair still looks ugly fragging square blocked hair

[ZILLA]

the greatest games EVER made.im getting ENSLAVED day 1,looks amazing!

[SanMarco]

NARIKO is HOT! heavenly sword ftw!. bring number two!

[BrianC6234]

Too bad this game won't use the Sixaxis controls. Heavenly Sword did a great job using that feature. I still haven't seen a game use the controls as well. Besides Flower.

[gamer7804]

If you look past the bloom effect, they look extremely similar. If you like bloom effect in general, you'll probably like Heavenly Sword's graphics, if you don't then you'll probably like Enslaved's.

[Jamaicangmr]

Played Heavenly sword before i got my 1080p TV so i might have to revisit it.

[Raoh]

those two characters are so similar that its why i'm slightly dissapointed with ninja theory and i dismiss this game a bit..

heavenly sword didnt sell to your liking so you want to go multiplatform? i get it..

no heavenly sword 2? ok i get it but sony owns the ip

then i see a world, game, characters that are similar to heavenly sword..

kind of sad if you ask me

i'd be dissapointed with bungie if their next game was a bunch of large crayons with guns in a bland yet colorful map..

it makes you a one trick pony...

it's one thing to stick with one franchise but to make two games that are similar...

its quite sad

[RyuCloudStrife]

They BOTH look pretty much the same but ill give the edge to Heavenly Sword...

[dragon82]

Heavenly Sword is still one of my favorite games this generation. Its just sad that it was torn apart in reviews just because it was a PS3 exclusive. I don't trust any reviews from the first year the PS3 was out. Almost all of them were biased because the PS3 was $599.

[RyuCloudStrife]

Heavenly Sword is awesome and i hope we get a Heavenly Sword 2

[AnchorMan]

unshaven red bush like a wild fire

[artsaber]

Heavenly Swords character models, especially in motion are hard to beat. HS had a Hollywood level production level. They shoulda made a movie off this game. Enslaved looks good, but what most people are seeing and don't realize is a brighter and more vivid color palette... it kinda resembles the color palette of Fable games to me. But Heavenly Sword's character models, beautiful animation, and the fact that it is 3 years old is a phenomenal testimony in its favor. People hated on this game from its release, especially the gaming media, when they knew good and damn well, nothing else was close to it on its day of release in the before mentioned categories.

Games like Heavenly Sword push gaming forward and encourages progression and enhancement. Without Heavenly Sword, there probably wouldn't be an Enslaved... Ninja Theory seems to think so as well since they found a way to trojan her into Enslaved as another character.

Wanna see something cool, overlay Heavenly Sword with Enslaved's color palette, add a few more levels... then you get the best of both worlds. Hell make Heavenly Sword 2 even.

[xtremeimport]

HS was such a fun game.
i wish they made a second..:(

[yewles1]

Holy s***! NT cried over HS and Sony to hype THIS to the moon? *facepalm*

[Whackedorange]

Hopefully Enslaved will have a better gameplay than HS did cause i dont look so much at pixels. Its the gameplay that counts unless you are a graphic*******

[CharlesDCI]

Come on Ninja Theory. Give us a Heavenly Sword 1.5 and get it over with lol

[zero_cool]

Considering heavenly sword is a PS3 exclusive & was designed & optimized for PS3 hardware & enslaved wasn't then odds are the qaulity is going to look sharper,more detailed,more fluid,larger scaled ect..then enslaved because the developers can put all their efforts & time into that one platform then a multiplatform game.

[prettyboy1]

that even after 3 years hs still looks on par wit enslaved.thats kinda sad,but anyways id rather see another hs game cuz that enslaved game doesnt apeal to me at all,i mean come on ur fightin freakin robots thats so cliche

[Tru_Blu]

Please?

[Tru_Blu]

I know reply to myself but, that game was the shet. Top 5 all time for me. Please oh please my Heavenly Sword 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Manberg900]

And it's over 3 years old LOL.

[clarkdef]

HS has too much bloom lighting effect, and I remember playing it, it had a lot of tearing and frame drops. This game don't look any better and having the same art direction means I will not consider it.

[DA_SHREDDER]

you people who say enslaved looks better than HS are nothing but trolls. GTFO with your noob asses.

[fOrlOnhOpe57]

was the very first PS3 title that truly blew me away - not just graphically but its animation, cutscenes, dialogue, voice acting, storyline, musical score - in fact the whole package that goes into making a game really outstanding.
HS did (and still definitely does) deserve a sequel, or a trophy patch at the very least. Enslaved doesnt push any of my buttons so far, the way HS did.

[Tru_Blu]

How HS got hated on is beyond me. Short and sweet, like most games these dayes only HS was soooo sweet.