Dante’s Inferno: I’ve been complaining and talking shit about this game for a long time, but after trying the demo (Twice!) I found that Dante’s Inferno is a fun game! I mean, it’s God of War with a Christian thematic. It feels like GoW, plays like GoW and amuses like GoW. If you don’t like Dante’s Inferno… well, then you probably don’t like GoW. Easy as that. Pretty cool cinematics, though.

• Opinion: Positive. The demo was perfect. Good presentation of the most important events in the story, introduction to all the features and a cleverly placed cliff-hanger at the end of the demo. I will buy it PS3 (I noticed that the cinematics have better quality in the PS3 version)

MAG: I like “Battlefield” kind of games. The premise of fighting with lots of people in a huge battleground has been always attractive, but fighting with other 255 is a big deal (And somehow, new). I downloaded the Open BETA expecting something like Battlefield and something like Battlefield is what I found. A pity that I couldn’t join a big battle… that’s a pleasure that only LV10 (or more) players can enjoy.

• Opinion: Positive. As I said, it was a pity that I couldn’t taste a bit of what MAG is all about, but still, looks like a pretty solid game, well focused and optimized. Between Bad Company 2 and MAG, I may choose MAG just to give an opportunity to new franchises.

Dark Void: This is the perfect example of a highly hyped game that got lost somehow in the middle of it production. I really was expecting something way better, story, graphics and gameplay wise. Of course there are a couple of things that I liked, like the variety of controls, switching between flight stages and cover based scenarios, and the music (yes, why not…) was pretty good. Still, I found a bland, uninspired and technically outdated game.

• Opinion: Negative. The demo was just horrible. No introduction to the character or the Universe you play in. Boring and confusing. What happened to this game? It looked fantastic 1 year ago!

ModNation Racers: There are two reasons that sums up pretty well why I love a game like this already: my predilection for Mario Kart games and my respect for games that provides tools for the community. I’m still trying out the BETA, but I already know that this game has to be part of my PS3 collection.

• Opinion: Positive. A game that rewards your imagination and your will to contribute with custom created content? Yes, please.

Back in 2007, when the PS3 was about to be released, a few games were chosen by SONY to show off the amazing technical possibilities that this new console was bringing to the customers. Heavenly Sword was conceived to be one of these games, and it was one of the first games released for Playstation 3. This could only mean two things:  they didn’t have any problem with the budget, since they were supported by SONY, and second, they were constantly stressed by SONY’s demands. Did the game have enough time to be properly finished and polished? Did it turn to be a good representation of the Playstation 3’s possibilities? Here is my opinion:

LIKED:

A cinematic experience: 3 years have passed since this game was released and its cut scenes are still looking amazingly well done. This is one of those games that you play just to watch the following cutscene. It feels like a rewarding experience after completing a level. Just drop the controller and enjoy another awesome cinematic.

Characters with souls: There are many characters appearing in this game, but the story only spins around 3 of them: Nariko, Kai and Boham. These characters are perfectly designed. They are simply perfect: how they look, how they act, how they talk, their motivations, their weaknesses. Is not an easy job to conceive a believable character from zero in a game, and the people from Ninja Theory were able to create, not only one, but 3 of them. This may not look like an important point, but think how many good games don’t have a believable main character, offering just a plain generic excuse for a character instead.

Is not just about hacking and slashing: The game is short, actually shorter than expected, but at least they often try to entertain the player with a variety of gameplay styles, from the shooting range with the crossbow as a gimmicky excuse for the Sixaxis, to the unnecessary QTEs that often pop up on screen when you least expect them. However, the game is not just an endless gallery of combats in different locations thanks to this variety of gameplay situations. Could they be better… yes, I think so. But still, is a good point.

DISLIKED:

Performance issues: At first, I thought that this issue was only noticeable when fighting with hundreds of enemies at the same time (which happens a couple of times in the game), but then I realized that the whole game moves slow most of the time. In a fast paced action game like this, the frame rate must be higher than 30FPS all the time. I had the feeling that the game was moving at 20FPS (or less) continuously.

An excuse for the Sixaxis: SONY was proud of their new invention, and they forced developers to include set pieces in their games where the usage of the Sixaxis was required to progress in the adventure. Everybody knows about LAIR, and why it sucked. So, Heavenly Sword also forces the player to use the Sixaxis in a bunch of shooting range minigames in order to progress in some levels, not giving the possibility to choose between the standard analog control and the motion controlled one. I liked these minigames, but I hated that I couldn’t choose how I wanted to play them.

Without replayability values: The only reason why you could play this game a second time is because you don’t have any other to play with. The only reward you can get by playing it again is a bunch of pictures (good ones, I must say) that you cannot even export to your PS3 HDD and a couple of videos of the Making Off. Why not alternative costumes? Why not an arena mode? And… fucking hell… where are the trophies?

In conclusion, Heavenly Sword, still, is a good game. It has some flaws, although the overall experience is very satisfactory. Probably the game needed a few more months to be properly polished, but all games do anyways. It’s a fun game, short but intense with a respectable plot. Worth trying.

My veredict: 7/10

It took me 4 fucking years to create this must-have section in this website, and it is finally available! Most of the content works for old or outdated mods, but still, you can browse the content and download whatever you are interested in. Some of them include VMF maps or materials that you may find useful for your projects.  If you have any suggestion or comment about this new section, please, let me know.

You can find the new section in the left sidebar (or HERE if you feel lazy)

Thanks for your patience and enjoy with the new/old content!

Well, it has been a long time since the last update, but as I always say: this mod is not dead, it is just being painfully slow developed. My job takes away much time and motivation to continue with this project, but whenever I have some spare time, I try do some progress on the mod. This stuff is like a year old, but I thought it would be great to share  it with you and prove again that SDK-Project is, not only alive, but also in progress. Enjoy and leave feedback!

Thanks to Harry64 for giving me the idea of creating a brand new custom menu for the mod!