Developer Ninja Theory knew that they had a hit on their hands with Heavenly Sword all throughout development. Using the Havok physics SDK and animation system engines, the game created an unprecedented level of realism, delivering a true next-generation gaming experience.

Indeed, while sales figures may show the success of Heavenly Sword from a retail perspective, middleware company Havok have taken it upon themselves to highlight the success of the hit PS3 game from a development level.

“Heavenly Sword is a fantastic game on a number of fronts. An emotionally rendering storyline, a beautiful heroine, a wide range of villains, epic scale destruction, in a beautiful environment, with the realism of Hollywood visuals offers the player an incredible gaming experience, especially on PlayStation 3,” said Havok CEO, David O’Meara.

“This game is a great example of how a talented development team can use cutting edge physics and animation technology to bring games to a whole new level and leverage the power of Havok’s PlayStation 3 optimizations. We are very proud to be involved in the latest evolution of this next generation console game.”

Co-Founder & CTO at Ninja Theory, Mike Ball added: “Havok Complete allowed us to enhance game-play in Heavenly Sword by enabling us to create characters that responded to a complex physical world, with a rich set of physical interactions. The characters respond in a convincing way to physical forces they experience, such as getting back up in a realistic manner when they have fallen down or negotiating obstacles they encounter. "

"Additionally we were extremely happy with the ability of Havok Complete to fully utilize the spectrum of available processing power on the PlayStation 3's Cell processor. As developers, it truly enabled us to create the level of destruction you would expect from a next-generation martial arts epic, especially in scenes with high character count.”

As you have read, the PS3 exclusive is gaining success not only in sales and review scores, but also by the creators of the engine that Heavenly Sword runs off of. This further creates the picture that development on the PlayStation 3 may be arduous at times, but the quality of the final product speaks for itself.

Source: Develop Mag