WWE Network Special: Mae Young Classic - Round 2 Review (Episodes 5-8) + Road to the Finals Special

The next four episodes of the Mae Young Classic are now available on demand, exclusively on the award-winning WWE Network.

With 16 women remaining in this historic tournament, viewers can now watch all eight Second-Round matchups along with the Quarterfinals and Semifinals in episodes 5-8.

As the historic Mae Young Classic continues, the competition heats up with the following Second-Round bouts:

Abbey Laith vs. Rachel Evers

Princesa Sugehit vs. Mercedes Martinez

Nicole Savoy vs. Candice LeRae

Mia Yim vs. Shayna Baszler

Kairi Sane vs. Bianca Belair

Dakota Kai vs. Rhea Ripley

Serena Deeb vs. Piper Niven

Lacey Evans vs. Toni Storm

This all leads up to the highly anticipated finale streaming live from Las Vegas Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 10 p.m. ET on WWE Network.

Episode 5

I'm still not feeling that they darkening the arena during matches. It makes this show look low budget when we know that's not the case with WWE backing this thing. On the plus side, at least this looks like a different crowd, but still at Full Sail.

Abby Laith def. Rachel Evers

Kassius Ohno is shown in the crowd to support his girlfriend, Rachel Evers. I didn't know that until I googled it during this match that they were dating. It seems weird that WWE would acknowledge that she's Paul Ellering's daughter, but don't allow her to use that last name.

Much like in Round 1, the story here continues to play up Abbey as the babyface underdog with Evers being the powerhouse. Evers is no Alpha Female, but there were some good spots in this match, with the colliding Yakuza Kick spot. Too bad that Abbey's Suicide Dive out of the ring was a bit sloppy on execution prior to that spot. Rachel put the exclamation point in this match on her offense with a sick top rope Powerslam, but ultimately fell to a Pop-Up Powerbomb followed by an Alligator Clutch for Abbey to pick up the win.

Definitely not a bad match to kick off these 2nd Round bouts.

Piper Niven def. Serena Deeb

There were tons of heavy hitting reversals in this match (no pun intended there) with Piper playing up her weight and size to her advantage over the scrawny looking Deeb. I hate to ask this again, but was Serena Deeb sick or something? I honestly don’t remember Deeb being this skinny prior, even without the implants when she was on the indies for last few years.

That being said, this was a fun match from bell to bell, despite having far too many rest holds for my taste. I thought it was very predictable that Piper was going to counter the Spear when Deeb went for it at the end, only to counter with the Michinoku Driver for the win. I know everyone keeps saying that Serena Deeb was the Brian Kendrick of this tournament, but I'm inclined to disagree with that logic. She's been in WWE previously, yes, but her return wasn't hyped up and showcased in a powerful manner like his was. That's not her fault at all, that's on WWE's behalf with their shitty narrative for this tournament for everything that's not related to MMA's Horsewomen. I want to add that this was another strong showing for Piper Niven in this tournament.

Mercedes Martinez def. Princesca Sugehit

The whole dynamic of this match had Mercedes' shoulder targeted by Sugehit over the course of this match, only for Mercedes to hit a Fisherman’s Buster and landing on her shoulder in the process, but still managed to pick up the win.

My only gripe here was Mercedes had no problem pulling that finish off after her shoulder was affected. At least she did sell it though. With Sugehit eliminated this early into the tournament, I guess we can pretty much rule her out from being signed. She's more likely set to go back to CMLL to make waves in that promotion after getting some mainstream exposure in a WWE ring.

Kairi Sane def. Bianca Belair

Okay, I changed my mind on what I said about Belair in the first round. She had a great showing here against the veteran Kairi Sane, especially for rookie at the Performance Center learning wrestling from scratch. If she can continue to work great matches like this then she definitely has a great future ahead of her in WWE.

Belair has an impressive power game on display in this match - stalling suplex, multiple Oklahoma Slam reversals, and even busting out a 450 Splash for a near-fall towards the end, even though she hesitated so damn long. She looked as nervous as Alexa Bliss does doing that Sparkle Splash from the top rope. Bianca Belair shouldn’t have repeated the hairwhip attack so much throughout as they completely exposed it. At one point I was stumped on how she was making that "crack" sound, but now I can see that Belair’s CLEARLY slapping her thigh for the sound effect.

My feelings on the overuse of slapping the thigh for moves in wrestling is a much needed discussion for another day though...

Kairi Sane's offense was definitely on point for sure. She landed a sick spinning backfist rebuttal on her comeback. I doubt she slapped her thigh upon impact either as that hit was loud enough to make me cringe. That being said, I felt that her Diving Elbow looked a lot safer here on the landing than it did the first time.

By the way, did anyone else notice how much athletic tape that Kairi Sane has covering up her neck and shoulders hidden underneath her hair? That makes me even more scared for her longevity in WWE.


All round solid match to end these first set of Round 2 bouts.

Episode 6

Toni Storm def. Lacey Evans

I swear this gif is hypnotizing me...

This was a pretty short and sweet match with both ladies getting their spots in. Lacey Evans performed an amazing ring apron sweep and Slingshot Elbow Drop combination that I don't think I have ever seen anyone else do before. Despite having a losing effort here in this second round I thought Lacey Evans did fine here. She had nothing to be ashamed of from her two performances in this tournament. The folks at the Performance Center must think highly of her and Belair to be able to make it this far in this tournament, especially for being one of the two rookies.

Toni Storm gave me another reason to love her even more (other than her bootilicious appeal) with her Strong Zero finisher.

Shayna Baszler def. Mia Yim

Fun fact: Shayna’s first wrestling match after her shift from MMA was against Mia Yim. So you could say that this was a rematch of sorts.

Bayley, Charlotte, Becky (no Sasha for some reason) were at ringside for this match along with Baszler’s friends (Ronda Rousey and the rest of MMA's Horsewomen). WWE clearly teasing a Horsewomen vs Horsewomen match at some point. You know WWE is making a big deal out of this when they had to move Izzy out of the way and had to pull Bayley off a house show appearance to be on this show.

That being said, this was a great 2nd round opponent for Shayna as they each compliment each others’ styles with the reversals and counters. Mia Yim carried Shayna throughout this match for a much better spectacle than what Shayna had against the rookie Zeda during the first round. The finish came in the form of a 450 Splash by Mia Yim being countered into Shayna's Rear Naked Choke for the win.

Dakota Kai def. Rhea Ripley

Don't ask me why, but for some reason I was confusing Rhea Ripley with Rhia O'Reilly. They don't even look the same but I kept confusing them for some odd reason. Rhea Ripley was formerly known as Demi Bennett before signing with WWE. Gosh I feel stupid for confusing those two ladies...

Somebody call a dentist for Dakota Kai, please. 

As you can see from the image above, Rhea delivers a vicious Electric Chair Drop into ring apron to Dakota Kai. I'm shocked Kai didn't spit out a few teeth after a bump like that. The story of this match is pretty much that Dakota Kai is here to take all of the punishment that Rhea dishes out, only to sneak by with the win at the end.

Dakota Kai didn’t get in as many strikes as I would have liked here since both were hyping up their striking game prior to this for all of this tournament up to this point. Dakota Kai got the win with a Diving Corner Foot Stomp out of Rhea hanging in the Tree of Woe position for the win.

Candice LaRae def. Nicole Savoy

Nicole Savoy dominates bulk of this match with her technical, submission game with Candice barely hanging in there with last minute reversals and her sheer determination. Up to this point, I have to admit that I was not really too impressed with Gargano’s wife in this tournament, Nicole Savoy vs Shayna next round would’ve been the better bout for the Quarterfinal next round for the former Trifecta stable mates as Jim Ross pointed out on commentary.

I thought the match was fine for the most part, outside of their hesitation on setting up Candice’s finisher made the finish rather awkward in the end.

Episode 7

Mercedes Martinez def. Abbey Laith

I felt that the psychology here was off a bit. Abbey wasn’t the underdog here, but was working this match like she was the heel aggressor trying to exploit Mercedes’ “injured” shoulder. I'm not saying this was a bad match; it just seemed odd that they would change up Abbey's psychology at this point when she was doing well as the underdog babyface.

I don't know if it was planned or what but there was an awkward landing/fall off ring apron by Mercedes mid-match. With that spot in mind, I thought it was rather lame that Mercedes' shoulder “injury” had no impact on this match. If I'm being honest, I REALLY didn’t agree with the result here, as I felt that they should’ve went with Abbey in the finals but I believe WWE already signed her anyway. My only guess is that since Nicole Savoy is out, they wanted someone else who Shayna was familiar with work with her in the semi-finals.

Shayna Baszler def. Candice LaRae

This match opened with Candice LaRae hitting Suicide Dive to a Tornado DDT (Sami Zayn style) on the bottom of the entrance ramp. She follows that up with an Octopus Stretch a la AJ Lee (at least she applied it properly here unlike she did it half-assed against Savoy).

I want to add that Shayna’s doing better selling here than Mercedes Martinez was in the previous match. This match wasn't long at all but it's easy to see that WWE are clearly setting up Shayna as the top heel here much like Pete Dunne in the UK tournament.

Candice LaRae met her end as Miss LaRae’s Wild Ride was countered into the Rear Naked Choke by Shayna. Shayna Baszler maintains the hold post-match, while Johnny Gargano is struck with grief for heel heat. I'm pretty sure that Baszler could've taken Gargano too and that would've been a pretty fair fight too, but I'm just saying (laughs)!

This was pretty cool for getting heel heat on Baszler by kayfabe injurying Gargano's wife, who was the token babyface for Full Sail at this point since Abbey Laith already got eliminated earlier, but I was stomped on why the referee and officials on hand didn't simply reverse the decision and disqualify Baszler? They don't have to have her win the tournament if they want to establish her as a monster heel. The point was already made here. That being said, I guess it would be FAR too obvious if Kairi Sane won this thing at this point.

Toni Storm def. Piper Niven

I hope WWE signs Toni Storm just for I can oogle at her booty meat on the regular. Just DAYUM, girl.

Eye candy aside, this was my favorite match out of these next few episodes thus far. It was a fun match to watch, thanks to the chemistry between Toni and Piper. I hope people would cut Piper a break too. She's cute too for a "thick" gal. I hope WWE signs her too as they could use more "big girls" who can move and work like a powerhouse. I think the only thing that's stopping WWE if they haven't signed these two already is their commitments to both the UK promotions and STARDOM currently.

That was a impressive top rope back toss by Toni Storm to remove Piper from the top rope towards the end of this match, but I found the finish with the top rope leg drop to be pretty bland. That left me saying “That’s it?” when Toni Storm got the win off that. Other than that minor gripe with this match, I humbly suggest going out of your way to watch this match.

Kairi Sane def. Dakota Kai

I was glad to see more striking from Dakota Kai but much like Abbey/Mercedes it seemed like she was the heel aggressor here from the vibe that made this another odd match to watch.

The change in Dakota Kai's demeanor was obvious too as she changed up her hairdo, traded in her Bayley-esque ring gear, and wasn’t all smiles here.

Kairi Sane got her shots in too, so it’s wasn’t one sided in terms of offense.

There was a crazy reversal exchange towards the end of this match where Sane fell back into the Tree of Woe to avoid Kai's Diving Foot Stomp, only for Sane to get the Alabama Slam in rebuttal and follow up with the Diving Elbow Drop of Doom for the win.

That’s all she wrote here for this match as there was a bigger story to be told in a segment backstage.

So, the WWE Horsewomen and MMA Horsewomen stand-off backstage to tease a potential match for the near future. I'm guessing they are saving that for Survivor Series, but I could be wrong. Sue me, but I felt that the placement here was in really in bad taste. The focus of this tournament should be on the tournament entrants, NOT some celebrity outsiders and folks on the main roster already signed. Hype up a match between these two parties on RAW and SmackDown!, there's more than enough time on those two shows for that instead of taking time away from the hard-working women in this tournament. This would be like Gregory Helms getting in the face of Neville during the Cruiserweight Classic to egg on a future title match in the middle of that tournament.

Episode 8

Shayna Baszler def. Mercedes Martinez

The two remaining Trifecta (for some reason, Solomonster was convinced on his podcast that this stable didn't have a name since Lita and Jim Ross made no mention to it...) members going at it here, exchanging and matching each other hold for hold and strike for strike. Lita made her only keen observation of this tournament here on commentary, mentioning that Mercedes Martinez was the only person in this tournament that Shayna Baszler has bothered to shake the hand of out of respect.

The whole match saw Shayna selling the shit out of everything that Mercedes threw at her until Mercedes ultimately fell to the Rear Naked Choke from out of nowhere for the win. At this point of this tournament, this pattern is getting old with Shayna getting beat on the entire match just to lock in her submission for the win. I didn't like it when AJ Lee made a record-breaking career during her Divas Championship reign and I sure as hell don't like it here. I would love to see how this is going to play out in the live final with the crowd’s split between Shayna Baszler and Kairi Sane.

I wasn’t too crazy about Triple H, Sarah Amato (who was dressed like she never wore a dress or wore make-up a day in her life), and Stephanie McMahon running into the ring to raise Shayna Baszler’s arm like she already won the entire tournament. It irked me even more to see Stephanie posing with Baszler like she already won.

Kairi Sane def. Toni Storm

I mentioned this during Episode 7 but I'm going to repeat myself here. Kairi Sane is wearing a TON of athletic tape behind her hair on her shoulders and neck. That makes me worry about the long term effects of her landing from executing that spectacular Diving Elbow Drop even more.

Toni Storm came closer to beating Kairi Sane in a believable manner than Mercedes did in the previous bout. The Bridging Armbar and the focus on her ailing shoulder and arm after the ringside spot (landing on the ramp grate) was all great psychology here. From reports online, this was the match where Sane suffered a concussion from that spot where she bashed her head against the side of steel grate at the bottom of the entrance ramp. I can believe it as it seemed like Sane was thrown off her game for the rest of the match that followed. These two have fought each other in a much better match in Stardom, so I'm inclined to believe that Sane's concussion here had an effect on her performance here. Don't get me wrong - this wasn't a bad match, but it wasn't the best performance for these two ladies to this point.

I’d hire Toni Storm just from how well she is as a worker and her ability to adapt to a variety of styles in this tournament. That would be a huge asset to the NXT women’s division in Asuka’s absence. I hope WWE gets with the program and opens their eyes to not only Toni Storm, but to a lot of the talented women in this tournament.

After the match, Sarah Amato, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H congratulate Kairi Sane but none of the theatrics of Shayna’s victory. That alone left a bad impression on me as they have their favorites pegged out on who's going to win right off the bat before the finals.

Road To The Finals Special

This special aired after the September 11, 2017 edition of Monday Night RAW, exclusively on the WWE Network recapping the tournament up to this point and providing an exhibition match for the entertainment of the Full Sail crowd.

Jazzy Gabert, Kay Lee Ray, and Tessa Blanchard def. Santana Garrett, Sarah Logan, and Marti Belle

Just about everyone in this match came off like a stars in this match. If WWE doesn't sign the bulk of these ladies, then they are fucking nuts. I'm glad to see that Tessa and Santana toned down the spray tanning or at least wiped off the excess off, so they don't look like Oompa Loompas here. The only person who seemed to missed a few steps was Marti Belle, but this match was a far cry from that colossal failure that was her match in the first round.

I thought the girls did great here with Jazzy Gabert being the shining star out of the entire thing, but if I had any complaint with this match, I thought it was too short. If they really wanted to make a statement with Jazzy's dominance, they should have had her lay waste to all three members of the opposing team in convincing manner instead of having Sarah Logan sliding in at the last second trying to break the pin.

If WWE does the Mae Young Classic again, I hope they use this commentary team of Nigel McGuinness, Tom Phillips, and Beth Phoenix. Beth Phoenix was a massive improvement over Lita in the insightful role as the veteran female talent. In all due respect to Jim Ross' legendary commentary status, but this tournament was not his best work. With one match, this team did miles above and beyond the work that the team of Lita and Jim Ross have done as a whole with this tournament. I'm honestly dreading going back to them calling the finals after SmackDown! live.

Following the match, the Full Sail crowd is chanting "Please Sign Jazzy" towards Triple H, who asks them to stop doing that as it cost him too much money during the Cruiserweight Classic, but adds that he wanted to take a moment to thank the WWE Universe for making this opportunity possible for women's wrestling.

That moment was all well and good, but it's times like this is where I feel like the Full Sail crowds come off extremely moronic. There were 5 other talented women in this match (Okay, Marti Belle not so much...) that deserved to be praised for their performance in this match and this tournament as well.

REVIEW -- Heavenly Sword (PlayStation 3)

Heavenly Sword is a video game developed by Ninja Theory exclusively for the PlayStation 3 console and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. The game was released on September 12, 2007 in North America and Japan.

Those of you who know me personally on Facebook probably saw my remark about people who whine and complain about me always playing games on my Xbox 360.

Post by Method To Madness.

Truth be told, I was house-sitting last weekend and I had access to a PlayStation 3 for the entire weekend. Normally, I would make a topic on Facebook and ask if anyone wanted to play some fighting games or do some co-op in something, but I said "Fuck that..." as I didn't want didn't want to hear the typical console bickering or debate for once. I'm playing what I want to play so I went out and bought a copy of a game I wanted to take the time and complete on my own free time since the PlayStation 3's launch - Heavenly Sword. I played the demo back before it's launch and this is one game I NEVER hear PlayStation 3 owners talk about.

Ninja Theory's work has intrigued me since Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (one of the best last-generation games that most people haven't played nor heard of), so I want to see what this previous work had to offer since it was one of the reasons Capcom trusted this studio to reboot the beloved Devil May Cry franchise as DmC back in 2013.

The Plot: (FULL Spoilers)

Setting

The game's story and mythos revolves around the titular Heavenly Sword, a blade said to have been wielded by an unnamed Heavenly deity against a demonic warlord called the Raven Lord. After the battle was won and the Raven Lord defeated, the sword was left in the mortal world, becoming the center of wars over its power. The fighting made the sword lust after the life of its users, eventually killing them after a short time. A warrior tribe finally took charge of the sword, ending the wars and pledging to keep it safe and unused for the world's own good. Among the tribe, a legend said that the sword's original wielder would be reborn in the year of the "fire-horse", and that this figure would unite the world's scattered tribes and lead the world to peace.

Characters

The game's narrator and primary protagonist is Nariko (Anna Torv), a red-headed woman who was born in the year of the prophesied divine warrior: because she was a woman, her clan saw her as a mockery of the prophesy and a portent of doom. The game's main antagonist is King Bohan (Andy Serkis), a tyrannical ruler who is determined to bring the world's tribes to heel and pave the way for a new golden age. Nariko is trained as a warrior by her father, Master Shen (Ewan Stewart), who both cares for her as a child and has difficulty coping with her role in the clan's seeming undoing and the death of his wife. Nariko's only friend is Kai (Lydia Baksh), a wild and erratic girl who is the last member of a clan destroyed by the armies of Bohan. Among Bohan's servants are his general, Flying Fox (Steven Berkoff): his serpentine mistress Whiptail (Race Davies): and Roach (Richard Ridings), Bohan's son, of whom the king is so ashamed because of Roach's obese appearance that he will not even acknowledge Roach as his own.

Story

The game begins in medias res, with Nariko fighting the forces of Bohan. As she is fighting and slaying, the sword finishes draining her life and she seemingly dies, waking in a field and speaking to the power within the sword about what has transpired previously. Five days before, Nariko's clan is assaulted by the first strike of King Bohan's forces. Before she joins the fight, Shen thrusts the sword into the ground next to her demanding that she take care of it. Nariko fights alongside her father and her clansmen as their defenses are weakened and stretched by scores of Bohan's warriors scaling the city walls accompanied by catapults. As the warriors and Shen escape from Bohan's Army, Nariko protects them until spotting a catapult moving toward the fort. As Shen had earlier instructed her, she flees, as the fortress is apparently destroyed behind her. While fleeing, she passes a large black bird with a golden head, the animal form of the Raven Lord. When Bohan's army captures her father and corners her in a retreat from the clan's city, Nariko has no choice but to wield the sword to defend herself in order to escape. She takes a flying leap off a cliff edge as Bohan's archers begin firing at her. Kai finds Nariko after disobeying Shen's orders to hide and informs her of the temple where her father and clansmen are being held captive. Nariko infiltrates the temple and is ambushed by Flying Fox. She defeats the general for the time being and continues on to rescue her father. Meanwhile, King Bohan plots to set up a trap for Nariko with Whiptail. Nariko falls into the trap, and Whiptail, after watching most of her personal guards defeated, tells Nariko the truth behind her father's original feelings about her birth - Shen wanted to kill Nariko shortly after her birth, but was unable to bring himself to do so. Nariko tells her father to leave her and fights with Whiptail. After Nariko impales Whiptail with the sword, King Bohan turns up and snaps Whiptail's neck in her dying moments, then captures the sword and an incapacitated Nariko.

As Shen escapes, Kai makes her way to Nariko's holding cell. Kai is able to find where Nariko is imprisoned and begs that she comes home with her. Nariko explains to Kai that she needs to reacquire the Heavenly Sword to kill King Bohan. She asks Kai to retrieve the sword and Kai accepts the task. Kai eventually succeeds in finding the Heavenly Sword, only to also discover her mother's skeleton. In a flashback, it is revealed that, some years ago, Kai's mother was murdered in front of her eyes by Flying Fox. Returning to the present, Kai is confronted by Flying Fox and barely manages to escape from him with the sword. Meanwhile, Nariko is forced by Bohan to fight before his army against Orangumen, pets of Roach's. During the battle, Kai arrives and throws Nariko the sword. When Nariko defeats all the Orangumen, Bohan orders Roach to murder Nariko. After defeating Roach, both Nariko and Kai flee from the pit. Bohan then commands Flying Fox to kill Kai while his soldiers take on Nariko. As the two try to escape the temple, Flying Fox cuts Kai off from Nariko and they are separated. Nariko desperately tails Flying Fox, but when she finally catches up, he seemingly hangs Kai in front of her. Believing Kai to be dead, Nariko flies into a rage and battles with Flying Fox. As Nariko and Flying Fox duel, Kai, who survived the drop, uses her crossbow to shoot an arrow into Flying Fox's head, killing him. Nariko releases the injured Kai from the noose and returns her to the care of the clan.

King Bohan rallies his men to launch a final attack to regain the Heavenly Sword. Nariko fights alongside her father and clansmen once more despite being outnumbered. Nariko kills countless numbers of Bohan's troops with ease and destroys his catapults. Despite her efforts, the sword kills her, bringing the events of the game full circle. But this time, Nariko reverses her death by making a pact with the sword to protect it from becoming a useless and dusty relic, since it needs her more than her clan needs it. Nariko returns as a goddess-like figure, and proceeds to slaughter Bohan's troops. Desperate, Bohan begs the Raven Lord (who has been seen repeatedly throughout the game watching Nariko or being with Bohen) to give him the power to destroy Nariko. Bohan gets his wish and the Raven Lord merges with him. An epic battle ensues similar to the one foretold in the prophecy. After Nariko manages to defeat Bohan, the raven leaves his body, and, despite Bohan begging for mercy, pecks his eyes out and flies away.

As Nariko raises the sword to strike the final blow, Roach comes to his father's side and begs Nariko to let him take Bohan. Nariko relents, then Roach and Bohan leave, with Bohan calling Roach his son for the first time. Though successful in protecting the sword from coming into the hands of Bohan, Nariko still must give her life for wielding it, for that is the price for using the almighty sword, and the story comes to its end. Nariko reflects that she believes they have fought in vain for the prophecy, that the sword was not from Heaven, but feels gratified that she chose to be the one who was going to save her people from evil: she took the sword, paid the price and ultimately defeated Bohan's army, but nevertheless she was still a normal woman. Nariko heals Kai, and gives her the sword for safekeeping, before passing away. At the funeral, Nariko's body is placed into a boat filled with blossoms, and Kai and Shen cast her out to sea.

The Verdict: 

Visuals & Sound: 

To say that this game was a launch title for the PlayStation 3 back in 2007, I have to admit that this game STILL looks amazing to this day. Ninja Theory definitely has some best motion capture and detailed character models in the gaming industry today. Everything from the environments, the character models, and even facial expressions are simply jaw-dropping to believe that this game was created back in 2007, yet still looks THIS good 7 years later.

As for the music in this game, good grief... The audio is just as beautiful to the ears as the visuals are stunning to the eyes. 

Gameplay:

Controls: 

BASIC CONTROLS
L1 Button (Hold) aim
L1 Button (Hold) heavenly range stance (when in possession of the heavenly sword)
R1 Button (Hold) fire (when aiming)
R1 Button (Hold) heavenly power stance (when in possession of the heavenly sword)
D-Pad or Left Analog Stick move
D-Pad or Left Analog Stick target (when aiming)
Right Analog Stick evade
Right Analog Stick zoom (when aiming)
Triangle or Square Button attack
Triangle or Square Button fire (when aiming)
Circle Button drop object
Circle Button Superstyle attack (when in possession of the heavenly sword)
X Button pick up, use, fire, throw
Square Button stun enemy (when beside enemy while playing as Kai)
Square or Triangle Button Heavenly speed stance (when in possession of Heavenly Sword)
L1 Button (Hold) + Square or Triangle Button Heavenly ranged stance
R1 Button (Hold) + Square or Triangle Button Heavenly power stance
L1 Button + Triangle Button + Move Controller Up + Triangle or Square Button aerial combo
Triangle Button counter attack
X Button + Roll Controller throw object
Square Button (Hold) + Roll and Pitch Controller fire projectile
Triangle Button debris sweep (while in heavenly range stance)
Right Analog Stick evasive roll
Right Analog Stick + Square or Triangle Button attack (during a roll)
X Button smash pot for health (when near heavenly pot)
L1 Button (Hold + Square Button fire from cover (when playing as Kai)
L1 Button (Release) Hide behind cover (when playing as Kai)
Square Button           Evade enemy attack (when playing as Kai)

MOTION SENSITIVE CONTROLS
Roll Controller Adjust/Move Camera
X Button (Hold) + Roll Controller Aftertouch (for thrown objects)
Square Button (Hold) + Roll or Pitch Controller Aftertouch (for projectile weapons)
Move Controller Side To Side recover (when knocked out)

General Gameplay: 

I'm going to get this part of my review out of the way as I want to focus on the positives of this game rather the negative, so I'm going to start off what I absolutely hated about this game - the Aftertouch motion controls. Keep in mind that this game was a launch title for the PlayStation 3 back in 2007, a time BEFORE Nintendo revolutionized the motion control market with the Wii that caused both Sony and Microsoft to bandwagon off this concept. I'm not even going to sugarcoat it, the motion controls SUCK. 

Granted, it's a cool and innovative idea, but it's more of a distraction than an asset. As Nariko, I found it to be pretty cool to use it as cue to help her recover from knockdowns easier or to assist in aerial combos, but for the first (and occasional third) person shooter sections as Kai (or Nariko's sections behind a cannon or armed with a rocket launcher), it's easier to simply turn this feature off in the Options menu. I gave the feature a far chance until about halfway into the game, where you are given control of Kai for the duration of the entire level and I found it was making me get killed more than helping me. When I turned off the motion controls and guided my arrows/shots with the analog sticks manually, it was MUCH less of a hassle to control. This just falls into the category of "great idea, bad execution" - something that I could relate back to the review I wrote on Remember Me last week. 

Don't get me wrong, but I'm sure most casual players will agree with me and find those "shooter" sections more enjoyable if they just turn the motion controls off. Also, why the FUCK are those sequences timed? This game already is short enough, clocking in at roughly seven hours of gameplay that I finished in one sitting.

Hell Mode unlocks after you complete the game once, offering a harder difficulty setting for gamers looking for a challenge.

Combat: 

Nariko controls as well as expected, but the game does a bad job of registering guard breaks at times. I would break a soldier's defense, only for him to reel back and hit me like the blow did nothing. Plus, no matter how many ways you slice it, crowd control is a pain in the ass in this game. The ranged stance is worthless against shielded opponents in terms of crowd control while the power stance is often too slow to break the defenses of multiple foes at once. You are better off pulling off precise counters and unleashing level 3 Superstyles on stronger opponents because fighting them one-on-one is tedious and time-consuming. I found myself spamming the hell out of the Triangle, Triangle, Square, Triangle (or alternatively end with Square for foes who love to evade) sequence in the power stance since it was so effective on bosses and stronger foes.

Don't get me wrong. That doesn't mean that the combat here is brain-dead easy and lacks any depth. It's actually the opposite. There's aerial combos and juggles, but I thought it was strange that I completed the ENTIRE game after only using this technique roughly once. Most players will not realize that the speed stance can only block and counter attacks with a blue aura around them while the power stance can only block and counter attacks with an orange aura surrounding them. Once you realize this, countering in general becomes so much easier and makes combat a LOT easier once you master this concept. The same can be said about the ability to negate certain projectiles with the ranged stance. I loved how Ninja Theory gave you the basic idea to a lot of Nariko's abilities on the tutorial stage but left the door open for the players themselves on how far to take it in combat.

Keep in mind that if you turn off that Aftertouch motion controls in the Options menu, you have NO access to Nariko's aerial combos. I thought that was pretty stupid that there wasn't a manual command for that instead of shaking the Sixais controller. This is yet another action-game that thinks it was a wise in terms of game design to NOT have a lock-on/targeting button. There's a few occasional instances where Nariko doesn't face the appropriate opponent properly, causing your attacks to whiff completely. Unlike Remember Me, I can forgive this somewhat since this was a launch title for PlayStation 3.

The Superstyle guage and the counter system were two things I wish Ninja Theory brought to the table in the Devil May Cry (DmC) reboot. While the counter system wasn't exactly perfect, but it showed promise that it could have been even better in the Devil May Cry engine if it was implemented in a fashion of a reversal/counter system found in the current Ninja Gaiden series. While I didn't have a problem with the challenge, I thought it was rather cruel of Ninja Theory to expect players to master the counter system by the end of the game as it was a necessary tactic to defeat the final boss. To be fair, you got "practice" of familiarizing yourself with this tactic fighting Flying Fox, but it was like a complete wake-up call when you face the final boss.

Narrative: 

I went into this thinking it was going to be one of those cliched hero sacrifices himself (or rather herself in this case) to save everyone, but I didn't expect her to actually be able to wield the sword's power properly. I thought whatever deity they were saving it for was going to possess her and save her clan by the end of the game from the Raven Lord. I was thinking this game would go the route of Sega's PlayStation 2 run with the Shinobi/Nightshade series and set the stage for a noble sacrifice since everyone's conception of the sword was false.

I loved how they turned the tables around and had Nariko point out that the sword has no power at all since it needed to be held by someone - currently her. She bent the sword to her will and made her own legacy instead of waiting on a foolish prophecy instead of the cliched nature in these types of stories where the protagonist allow themselves to be controlled by these inanimate objects of power. If that doesn't qualify Nariko as a bad-ass then I don't know what does.

In terms of acting, Andy Serkis stands above the rest in his portrayal of King Bohan. Just everything about him screamed great villain in this game - from his delivery of his devilish lines to his mannerisms captured for this game. Runner-up goes to both Lydia Baksh as Kai and Anna Torv as Nariko. Don't get me wrong, but everyone involved here puts on a great performance in this game, but those three individuals stand above the rest. (Laughs) If you don't fall in love with Kai's character then I have absolutely no respect for you. By the way, where are people getting the "lesbian romance" between Nariko and Kai? I saw their relationship as surrogate mother-daughter relationship from their bond.

Seriously though, it doesn't hurt to have more strong female protagonists like Nariko in gaming narratives. I think The Last of Us' Elle and The Walking Dead's Clementine proved that over the last two years, right?

By the way, did anyone catch the God of War reference in Bohan's armory? Kratos' Ares armor is hanging up in the background when Flying Fox confronts Kai when she finds the Heavenly Sword. Speaking of Kratos, Nariko and Kratos should totally team-up or hook up or something. That pairing would be amazing. Just imagine their kids!

Closing Words: 

If you own a PlayStation 3, then you should either have this game in your library or at least had the pleasure of playing this game from start to finish at least once. Take my word for it, it's definitely one of the underrated gems of the last-generation of gaming. 

The only major shortcomings with this game are the Sixasis motion controls and it's over a bit TOO soon, capping the adventure at only 7 hours of gameplay. The stunning visuals, engaging narrative drama, and gameplay easily make up for that. 

I'm giving Heavenly Sword a 8.5 out of 10. 

With the PlayStation 4 out now around the world, I'm crossing my fingers that Ninja Theory will consider revisiting this world and give Heavenly Sword the sequel that it deserves. Who knows, maybe that upcoming Hellblade game that they just announced could be a Heavenly Sword sequel in disguise? We can only hope. You can't deny that the character here looks a LOT like Kai.

Last but not least, if you're one of those retards who whines and complains about me NEVER reviewing PlayStation games, you can shut up now.