Heavenly Sword - updated hands-on

What's really fun, though, is Nariko's ability to hurl stuff around and control it in midair. Just about anything can be picked up and thrown - discarded weapons, shields, hats, dead enemies - and if you hold down the button when you toss them, you'll be able to guide their slow-motion flight using the Sixaxis' motion controls. This opens up the door for all kinds of fun, whether it's bonking enemies with melons, bouncing a shield between their heads or bowling them over with one of their fallen comrades. It's also key to solving several of the game's puzzles (figuring out how to hit switches with flying shields, for example), and it's how you'll control rockets on the rare occasions Nariko finds a bazooka. We probably don't have to tell you this, but launching high explosives into crowds of sword-wielding baddies is endlessly rewarding.

The aftertouch controls are also key to the game's second playable character, Kai. You might have already caught a glimpse of Nariko's adopted sister in the Heavenly Sword demo; she's the waif with the funny hat and the creepy-cute insanity. Lucky for her, she's also a savant when it comes to firing a crossbow, and guiding her arrows straight into enemy faces with the aftertouch control is a lot of fun once you get used to it - although it's grueling until you do. Unlike Nariko, however, Kai is practically helpless in a toe-to-toe fight, so her sequences will revolve around staying as far away from enemies as possible and killing them at range. On the upside, though, she can guide her arrows around corners, through open flames (igniting them, naturally) and then straight into explosive barrels for massive damage. Here's a small sample of what she's capable of:

The whole experience is capped off by frequent (but not overly intrusive) God of War-style quicktime events and boss battles against King Bohan's nasty generals, the latter of which are usually preceded by fights against large hordes of baddies. Larger than any you might have already fought in the demo, anyway, although not nearly as big as some of the skirmishes in the final game, which we're told will feature Dynasty Warriors-style battles against hundreds of enemies in wide-open fields.