There is no question that Heavenly Sword is shaping up to be one of the best titles on the PlayStation 3 thus far. But sometimes, grasping how much work actually goes into this game is hard to understand.
That is why the article over at develop, which showcases the sound department of Heavenly Sword, is an essential read.
A massive amount of thought and attention to detail has been put into the sound system of Heavenly Sword. Ninja Theory’s Tom Colvin says it best when he comments that the sound effects and music to Heavenly Sword and all the little details make all the difference in an engaging experience.
"For me, sound is very ‘immediate’ to the player. Music has a well-established cultural language; sound is much less clearly delineated – but you can get straight to someone’s emotional responses with it – there’s little time for the brain to analyze. Sound is key in making this awesome weapon – the Heavenly Sword – come to life so you can sense its brooding power and almost hear it feeding off each kill," said Colvin via develop.
In addition to Colvin, Nitin Sawhney came on as the music composer for Heavenly Sword and by combining his unique Eastern style with the complex game engine — the game is actually able to understand when and where to play the appropriate music or perform important audio cues as the game progresses.
"In-game, we work a lot with his mix stems (e.g. perc, strings, woodwind) bringing them together in response to game events and status. Several factors (e.g. threat level) are weighted and combined to determine the exact music replay – but it isn’t just a universal ‘cross-fade, catch-all’ approach.
"We make the engine observe the music forms to allow (say) long emotionally-charged vocal phrases to play out properly, rather than being faded out just because the game state’s changed. This allows the music flow to be maintained – it keeps the connection to the action, without compromising musical sense," stated Colvin.
It’s amazing how much detail and thought has gone into just the sound department alone. It doesn’t hurt though that the PlayStation 3 is a powerful machine. With 10Gb of sound effects, hours of musical scores and over four thousand lines of dialogue, it is very clear why Blu-ray and the PlayStation 3 is the only platform where Heavenly Sword can reside.
Look for Heavenly Sword on the PlayStation 3 this September.
