I rather enjoyed this game for the characters, world and presentation. The platforming was the worst example of this gen's automated platforming trend where you literally can't jump the wrong way. Somehow by combining a number of gameplay elements though I enjoyed it more than each of the simple gameplay elements would suggest looked at one by one.
I like Pigsy's Perfect Ten though the ending frustrates me to no end. Man I hate Pigsy. But I really liked that they developed a whole different style of gameplay for a DLC add-on. Pretty good play length for a linear piece of DLC too.
I really wish Ninja Theory would have been able to make a sequel to either Heavenly Sword or this. Both are flawed games that I think could have had pretty great sequels. Good piece you wrote here.