PlayStation's best swordfights, unsheathed

Ah, yes. Everyone loves a good gaming stabbing device. Whether you're slicing through demons or just giving bad guys a good poking, there's a swordfight for every occasion. Let's take a look at some of the very best that PlayStation has to offer

Oh, and if this leaves you in the mood for more weapon-based shenanigans, check out two of our most martial of features. There's one about the least practical armour in games, and another on the least practical swords in games - both accompanied by comment from real life weapons experts. Anyway, yeah, sword-fights.

From Softwares hard-as-nails dungeon crawler hates you unequivocally. Yet its still kind enough to offer you a huge array of slashing implements to enter into demon swordfights with. Whether its a piddling steak knife or a dirk the size of a Cadillac, variety is the spice of constant death.

Stupid Corvo. Why do your clanging metal-on-metal skirmishes have to be so much darn fun? When lopping off limbs is so satisfying, its only natural youd be tempted to bin off careful Blink-based sneakery to stab up every corrupt official in Dunwall. Go on, embrace your inner Errol Flynn. En garde!

Truly, the right stick is mightier than the sword. Without Raidens slo-mo stick-twirling Blade mode, the ninja would wield all the precision of a heart surgeon whos dropped out of med school to learn vascular procedures from Operation. Master his flurries of slicing and dicing to dominate in cyborg swordfights.

Daww, would you look at those adorable Danish plastic lumps? Put a pair of tiny cutlasses in the hollow claws of minifig Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush and you have a high seas Jolly Roger-off for the ages. Granted, all youre doing is pressing square, but this is still some damn cute swordplay.

Nariko really is a despicable cheat. The feudal warrior wins countless stabby encounters against overwhelming odds purely because her sword is essentially an eviscerating Transformer. Capable of morphing between two blades on a chain and a giant katana, it makes her the undoubted don of duels.

You insult my honour, sir. I challenge you to a duel uh, using plastic wands with glowing balls on the end. Still, if you cart your noggin off to Imagination Island, the short sword scuffles in this compendium of Move mini-games is fairly satisfying. Pity its light on the gorily graphic decapitations, mind.

Look, a lightsaber is definitely a sword, okay? Oh sure, they never get blunt and buzz more than a hive of hornets going medieval on Macaulay Culkins ass. Yet give an asthmatic robot man and a crew-cut dude two of em and you have one heck of a swordfight even if there are far too many QTEs for our liking.

If theres one thing The Princess Bride taught us, its that Andr The Giant is a dude. Oh, and pointy smackdowns between two opponents are hella noble. Soulcalibur is PS3s premier sword scrapper thanks to its agile combat, but samurais puncturing thong-flashing ladies is hardly dignified.

There are certain rules of engagement one should follow when it comes to proper duelling etiquette. One: dont fight in church. Two: avoid stabbing a mans cast. Nero and Dante cheerfully ignore both of these guidelines as they engage in a blade battle that destroys both Gods house and the formers arm plaster.