Women characters in games usually fall under two categories: 1) frail and dainty things whose only job is to get kidnapped or either being the healer of the bunch, or 2) the buxom bombshell who is nothing more than eye-candy, and who has more attention devoted to her jiggle factor than the depth of her character. For a change, it looks like women might just be getting their defining character in Heavenly Sword, a game where you not only play as a sexy woman, but one with some crazy sword skills as well, who could even put Kratos from God of War through some new paces.

In Heavenly Sword, you play as Nariko, the woman with blazing red-hair you've perhaps seen slicing and dicing in various screenshots and movies before. After your warrior clan and father have been defeated by a nefarious king, you take it upon yourself to brandish the Heavenly Sword, the titular sword of the game, which though immensely powerful, cannot be wielded by mortal hands without the life being drained from them. With sword now in hand, you'll embark on a tale of vengeance, to avenge your fallen people and bring justice to the king.

That's only the background of the story, but much like the game God of War, story actually seems to play a big part in the game, as the preview starts off with a nicely done cutscene, in which Nariko talks to some strange, younger woman about her plans, before she heads into action. The game is also set to feature Andy Serkis as the king, which is some pretty sizable talent considering he provided the motion capture for Gollum and King Kong in Peter Jackson's last films. By bringing such talent to the game, expect story to indeed play a major part in driving home the action at the heart of the game.

And jeez, talk about action. From beginning to end of the preview, it's nothing but one action packed moment after the next, starting it all off with a very cool QTE (quick time event) that has come a long way since the Shenmue and Dragon's Lair days of yore. In it, you find yourself running along a rope, trying to keep your balance, as enemy soldiers become aware of your presence, severing the rope to impede you. With a few quick button presses or directional movements, you'll lead your way to safety and to a stable battle platform. Though you can die during the QTE by not jumping at the right points, it doesn't penalize you for missing every one. If you fail to tap to run, Nariko might stumble, but she won't die. If you forget to push the square button, Nariko won't grab the enemy axe and dispatch them, but she won't die. However, you'll want to master these moments, not just because they look so much cooler than you failing and stumbling, but because they also increase what can only be considered a cool meter of sorts, which pays off with sweet, instant kills with flashy cinemas whenever you build up enough coolness for them.

You see, as you complete the cutscenes and perform swift weapon changes and long, extended combos and/or weapon juggles, the game awards you for how stylish you are playing, increasing a meter represented by a turning stone circle within the middle of your health. Build up enough cool and you'll complete one globe, which lets you perform an instant kill cutscene with the press of the circle button. If you build it up until two globes are glowing, you'll unlock another instant kill cutscene move, which is even more powerful than the last. And finally, if you complete all three, you'll get a stunning room clearing move, which has you attaching an enemy to your chains, wielding them around in a wide circle, and wiping everyone out. Very, very cool indeed.

And it's the coolness factor of the combo system that will have you experimenting, as there is quite a bit of depth to the combat, which might not be evident at first. When you first start playing, you'll think you're just randomly pressing buttons, trying to find something that works. However, as you see what combos lead to what, what weapons work best, and what enemies have defense against certain moves, you'll soon find yourself switching up and breezing through replayed levels even quicker, because you've become more adept at the fighting mechanics.

At the heart of the game is the Heavenly Sword, which has three forms: 1) a normal, 2) a quick, and 3) a strong. Without pressing any buttons but the square and triangle, you'll attack with the sword in its normal form, which has no real strengths or weakness, and is good all-around. However, by pressing and holding in the L1 shoulder button (for quick) or the R1 shoulder button (for strong) you'll be able to morph your sword into its other forms and wield it like that. If you switch it up to the quick, you'll find the blades attached to the long end of some chains, which spin and combo really fast, but do less damage at one time; however, the wide circumference of your swings should help you clear a path around yourself when the enemies get just a bit too close for comfort. Meanwhile, the strong sword is slower, but it packs a wallop, and is really needed with the more heavily armored soldiers, who like blocking every attack you throw at them. Finding out which weapon form works best when and against who is part of the fun, as well as seeing what combos are the best as well as you transfer from one to the next.

Sadly, our preview time spent with the game wasn't all that long, but it did give us a great taste of what to expect, namely a lot of sword swinging action and combos galore; and hey, we aren't complaining about that one iota. A solid, female character, great action, and a beautifully inspired Asian influenced world equals a game we simply can't wait to get some more hands-on time with later.