Expanding on the ever-popular "hot girls kicking ass" genre, Heavenly Sword introduces us to Nariko, a fiery redhead with ninja-like reflexes who's embroiled in a bitter war over the Heavenly Sword, a powerful weapon that drains the life out of anyone who possesses it.

Our heroine grabs the sword in a fit of poor judgment and spends the next few days hacking and slashing waves of enemies in an attempt to kill the scheming King Bohan, and save her people, before she dies.

This epic story unfolds with the help of true next-gen visuals and excellent voice acting, courtesy of Andy Serkis (as King Bohan) and a cast of semi-known Brits. Looks-wise, Heavenly Sword presents one of the most eye-appealing games to appear on the PS3 – each level is filled with gorgeous vistas, and the characters, down to detailed facial expressions, give an something that might even be called an emotional performance.

Sony truly sunk a big production budget into this project, and if cinematics alone made a game, Heavenly Sword would easily rival A-list titles like Halo 3-- but repetition, predictable boss battles and some tacked-on SIXAXIS shooting levels keep this game from reaching its full potential.

The combat system consists of some heavy button mashing, but also incorporates three different stances used to fight different types of enemies – fast, heavy and ranged. Lightweight foes can be taken out using the fast and ranged stances and larger enemies must be off'd with the heavy stance. Using these three different stances opens up a multitude of combo possibilities, and all three stances must be used to make it through the game – a nice touch. Cheap out and punch the same buttons over and over again – death will come knocking sooner than later.

While the combat design offers lots of variety, fighting wave after wave of the same enemies feels like a chore after a while. Generally, Nariko must fight her way out of a crowd of Bohan's warriors, killing them all before moving to the next area. That usually consists of using the ranged attacks to push enemies back and then targeting a few of them using the fast and heavy attacks.

There's no block button – a staple in most action games. Instead, Nariko blocks automatically, provided she's in the right stance. Put her in the heavy stance to block a heavy attack (indicated by an orange glow around her attacker) and the fast stance to block at fast attack (indicated by a blue glow around the attacker). Press the triangle button while blocking an attack allows Nariko to perform a counterattack that will quickly become one of your go-to moves.

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