Ninja Theory unveiled a new playable character for the demo--Nariko's adopted little sister, Kai. Unlike her big sis, Kai is stealthy and less familiar with the art of organ-rupture-via-massive-sword-wound. She is equipped only with a crossbow and takes cover automatically when you press against a low wall. Kai is also dressed up like a cat, as any precious little sister should be.

The demo placed Kai in a rickety wooden box over a deadly drop. With enemy archers surrounding her, the box was soon destroyed, leaving Kai hanging upside-down with her crossbow ready. Antoniades proceeded to take out all the enemies using the crossbow, which lets players steer the arrow after it is shot, by tilting the Sixaxis. It's the same mechanic used for steering Nariko's shield, which was demonstrated in an earlier build of the game. The camera follows the arrow from behind until it reaches its target, and conveniently placed flames allow players to add a little of the old burny singeing to the standard arrow-through-skull death.

Antoniades claimed playing as Kai would take up about 20% of the game. I didn't get a hands-on with her character; hopefully her gameplay portions are well-implemented. Taking cover automatically sounds like it could be frustrating--even taking cover with a button press can be troublesome in some games. And though it's nice in theory to see the game breaking up the constant fighting with more deliberate gameplay, this element is neither unique nor easily executed. I slogged through the tedious sneaking parts in Shadow of Rome (PS2) as the "stealthy" Octavianus to get to the meat-market gladiatorial amputationfests of the ripped hardass Agrippa, but I certainly didn't enjoy the seemingly forced change of pace.

Antoniades also demoed more sword-slinging Narika action with a boss battle against the Fat Bastard-esque Roach, King Rohan's hideously obese bastard son. Roach wears plated armor covering his entire backside and sports twin scimitars. Like the previous boss battles I've seen, the greatest part of fights like this in Heavenly Sword is the ultra-realism. Even in the non-scripted moments, Roach's grunts and jarring movements paired with Nariko's blocks and superfluid slices make the actual gameplay incredibly cinematic. Though no crowd was present in this build of the game, Antoniades said the final version would have 2,000 individually rendered fans onscreen. Even without this element, the characters themselves exhibit such markedly spectacular animations and the game such smooth visuals that the battles are an incredible performance.

Even being awestruck by Heavenly Sword's pretty pixels couldn't distract me from some readily apparent flaws. My chief concern is that many battles are not only boring, but lengthy. I wasn't shown the full battle with Roach, but the gameplay during the time I was shown--probably a little less than 10 minutes--didn't change at all. The player beats on Roach until a context-sensitive God of War moment, during which Nariko jumps on Roach's back to remove a piece of his armor. Antoniades refused to show me the entire battle, but he repeated this action several times in the segment I was shown. In addition to flailing his fat swords around, Roach repeated two attacks throughout the battle: the now standard armadillo roll attack and a painful looking throw attack when Nariko got too close.

Having played against an earlier boss in a separate Heavenly Sword demo, the overly drawn-out boss fights seem like a consistent theme in the game. I would hope Ninja Theory still has time to make these fights more dynamic and engrossing before the game is released this fall. And maybe the sections with cat-girl Kai will actually turn out well. It does not bother me that a game like Heavenly Sword apes a lot of its concepts from past titles, as long as it comes together in a compelling package. The game has the potential to set a visual high bar for the industry; I just hope the gameplay can match it.

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Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword is set for release on PlayStation 3 this fall.