PROMO: 10 Hot Female Killers From Video Games

It's been nearly 20 years since Kitana first slashed her way into Mortal Kombat II, and she is still holding down her spot on the hot female assassins list. Hell, for that matter, she's over 10,000 years old, and does not show the slightest sign of any saggage. Part of her mythology is that she has a twin sister, Mileena, who is even more deadly—but the truth is that Mileena is just a malformed clone of Kitana, and not her sister at all. We'll take the perfect one, thanks.

Nariko is long on sword skill and short on clothing, which is really the perfect balance. She wields a god-powered sword that can be used in three different forms depending on what the evil King Bohan is throwing at you. According to prophecy, the Heavenly Sword could only be handled by a male... and then prophecy got a look at Nariko, and was like, it's all good.

Fun fact: at the time Talim was introduced into the Soulcaliber world, in the game's first sequel, the objective was for her to appear as cute and androgynous. Well, she's cute, anyway. She also has the power to control the wind, and fights with two badass elbow blades that allow her to attack opponents like a one-woman (definitely woman) swarm.

Tifa Lockhart has long been praised as one of the strongest independent women in gaming, right up there with Lara Croft. We're praising her for that, and for being hot—maybe even hotter than LC, with her dark and mysterious vibe. Tifa does damage with her fists and feet, both of which are normally covered in red leather. Cloud Strife, the hero of Final Fantasy VII, is torn between Tifa and Aerith Gainsborough, who is also pretty cute. How did a dude named "Cloud Strife" get this lucky?

Maybe they went with the simple name so you'd always remember that the character sporting the long, powerful rocket launcher is in fact a chick. Not that the visual clues aren't ample; so many jokes to be made here about bazookas. In the end, this fierce warrior is one of the hottest females around.

If you like your virtual girls sporty, Faith Connors is for you. By trade, she's a Runner, which in her world means that she uses parkour badassery to deliver messages among the leaders of a resistance army. The totalitarian regime in charge of Faith's city wants to shut her down, and in evading death and trying to solve some complicated mysteries, her inner killer is brought to the surface. Thankfully, her killer body is always in plain sight.

Back in the day, telling someone that Samus was female was like showing them the money shot from The Crying Game. It was just too much to process. Eleven games later, we know beyond a doubt that under that power suit, Samus is all girl. She also has a cannon for an arm (literally, we're not talking sports here), and has blasted her way through some of the most dangerous missions in the galaxy, hunting Space Pirates and shooting down Metroids like creepy dudes at a bar.

Alyx Vance is brains, beauty, and toughness all rolled into one. She follows in a long line of hot resistance fighters, in her case fighting off the alien overlords known as the Combine. She can hack computers and handle firearms. She is also very sensitive, and has a sense of humor. The fact that she's smoking hot is almost beside the point.

Joanna Dark is the heroine of the Perfect Dark series of games, and if you dig Nikita-style assassin chicks, then "perfect" just about summarizes her entire package. She is another character who was originally intended to be androgynous, but then someone pointed out to the computer geniuses what a terrible idea that would be.

Mai Shiranui comes from a long line of female fighters practiced in the art of kunoichi, or the use of sex to distract opponents in combat. Mai's special trick is to jiggle her boobs. Sounds made up, but it's totally real. Once she's got you keyed in on her hooters, it's lights out.