The player assumes the part of Nariko, a fierce red-haired warrior who is afraid of nothing and can kick as much ass as Bruce Lee on speed. Through this story she wanders through some gloriously rendered scenery to ultimately defeat Bohan and his band of creeps, saving her clan and the day.

As with many games of this style, it’s easy to get away with button mashing in most combat situations; in fact, the rather intrusive help which covers a good part of the screen and persists for ages, mentions this a few times. However, instead of using only face buttons to put together combos, once the heavenly sword is acquired, there are three different stances that have their own set of moves. Nariko can perform heavy, powerful but slow attacks when the R1 button is held. For dealing with enemies further away, the ranged attacks can be engaged by holding L1, causing the heavenly sword to be swung with menace on a long strong chain. This leaves Nariko's default stance for speed, allowing for quick kicks and thrusts.

The three stances work very well together, in that they can be combined mid-flow to create some impressive combos - with well over a hundred different moves, there's plenty to lap up and some look mightily impressive on screen. It's not all for show though, the nature of the enemies means that the different stances must be used in different situations. Smaller weaker enemies can be pummelled with the ranged attack, useful when many are on screen. The bigger and bulkier brutes block these less forceful hits meaning Nariko must use her heavier, more damaging moves. Changing tactics in this way keeps things fresh during the combat. All stances have some form of block-buster, which then allows the melee and bloody combat strikes to inflict pain upon the unlucky, so some skill can be adequately applied to the proceedings.

Inexplicably though, the more enjoyable hacking and slashing of Nariko with her heavenly body, is replaced by the awkward, slow and unfulfilling archery of Kai, even if she does have the most awesome face paint this side of Bozo the Clown. Whilst story-wise these two characters work together well, the clumsy shooting of arrows only serves as a matter of annoyance, and this goes equally for the ranged combat with the after-touch controlled by the motion sensor of the PS3 pad. Thankfully for sanity’s sake, this get served up as a small piece of the combat pie.

In between combat sessions are the puzzle sections. These mostly consist of pulling a few levers, bashing or throwing a shield at a gong to open a door so that the next round of combat can be engaged. Intellectually taxing it isn't, but it can be a welcome respite from the otherwise relentless onslaught of brainwashed drones whose only aim in life is seeing to the end of yours. Whilst there are dozens of enemies on screen at once, there's still a somewhat "wait your turn" edge to the combat. It isn't strictly one-on-one, and given the chance a sly stab in the back isn't unheard of, so it is important to be aware of everything in the arena, and this makes battles more interesting.

The boss encounters are a bit of an effort. There's a load of button bashing to knock down the exhaustive health bars, leading eventually to a quick-time event to deliver the final death blow. Fail this and the boss regains health and the whole thing has to be repeated (cue frustration). In some battles it's necessary to deprive a boss of his/her/its health a number of times, simply because the developers figured the game wasn't long enough probably. There's no real need for it because although things do get progressively harder, it's much of a muchness bashing away at the buttons, so why artificially prolong things?

Heavenly sword really is a cinematic experience, pushing forward its fluid, flowing graphics, in turn aided by well-voiced characters (featuring Andy Serkis amongst the cast), and lapping up with what is a well crafted and intriguing story. Character animations, especially in the cut scenes, portray facial expressions with recognisable emotion rarely experienced in a video game. This is perhaps a testament to how far motion capture and modelling has progressed. Nariko’s lips are luscious, almost kissable: a step away from digital porn; and King Bohan has an evil yet delightfully whimsical charm, bordering on the realms on insanity.

Ultimately it's the exquisite cut scenes that drive things forward; they really are quite special and are the highlight of the game. The villains of the piece are some of the most slimy and repulsive characters ever to grace the computer game screen – they are intricate, sublime and so well-acted that it really would be nice to be able to watch them over and over.

Heavenly Sword turns out to be a short experience, and one that isn’t going to challenge even the cerebrally impaired. It comes across with a feeling of ambivalence, lacking the immediacy of God of War and the panache of Devil May Cry; yet it's easy to warm to, especially with the artistic flair on offer. At times it's difficult to understand exactly what it wants to be and so sits somewhat uncomfortably between the two genre leaders. It is a title that gives the player just enough to get the dust shifted from the shiny black box, but surely not enough to get them flying off the shelves. If as much polish had been given to the combat as the aesthetics, it could have given Kratos a run for his godly powers.